Water ** (1985, Michael Caine, Valerie Perrine, Brenda Vaccaro, Leonard Rossiter, Billy Connolly, Maureen Lipman) – Classic Movie Review 10,368

Co-writer/ director Dick Clement’s 1985 British film Water is a feeble Ealing Studios-style comedy, with good players, perhaps encouraged by the thinness of the script, to be too generous with the scale of their performances.

Coming off best are Michael Caine as Baxter, the governor of a British Caribbean island where Americans look for mineral springs, Leonard Rossiter as Sir Malcolm, our man on the spot when rebellion looms, Billy Connolly as Delgado, and Maureen Lipman as Mrs Thatcher.

Water runs 115 minutes and offers occasional laughs but has too many damp patches. It is produced by George Harrison as executive producer for his esteemed HandMade Films company. The original story and screenplay by Bill Persky emerges on screen as also written by the famed writing partnership of Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais.

Also in the cast are Valerie Perrine, Brenda Vaccaro, Dennis Dugan, Jimmie Walker, Fulton Mackay, Dick Shawn, Fred Gwynne, and Chris Tummings.

Water is directed by Dick Clement, runs 115 minutes or 94 minutes (DVD), is made by HandMade Films, is released by Rank Film Distributors (1985) (UK) and Atlantic Releasing Corporation (1986) (US), is written by Dick Clement (screenplay), Ian La Frenais (screenplay) and Bill Persky (story and screenplay), is shot by Douglas Slocombe, is produced by George Harrison (executive producer), Denis O’Brien (executive producer) and Ian La Frenais and scored by Mike Moran, with Production Design by Norman Garwood.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 10,368

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