the best movie ever?
Am I the only one, who think this is the best movie ever???
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MovieChat Forums > The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain (1995) Discussion > the best movie ever?
I just watched it for the first time. Unfortunately, I was a bit disappointed. After getting off to a good start, I thought it really dragged. There just wasn't enough story for a full-length movie. I gave it a six out of ten.
shareI think it also. It is definitely the best movie ever. I love especially Jones the Trains:-)
shareOne of the best certainly, one of Hugh's best too.
The right to free speech stops short of shouting "Fire!" in a crowded theatre. Mark Twain
This movie is highly underrated. Very clean comedy with some good acting and wonderful music. Though not the best movie ever, it certainly deserves 7.5-8 /10.
shareI liked it, particularly all the dozens of names the villagers had to identify particular people.
The eyes are open, the mouth moves, but Mr. Brain has long since departed, hasn't he, Perce?
In my opinion, this is not the best movie ever, but it is a great one. I first saw it with my girlfriend (now my wife) about six years ago and we really enjoyed it.
shareI love this film (maybe it's not the best ever,but it's really very good)
I live in Wales and I could see certain recognisable traits of a typical Welsh village.(well-it's more modern now,obviously)
I found this movie hysterical because of bits of the Welsh language in it, and it felt like a bit of an "in-joke" for the people who understand the language.
For instance Thomas Twp and Thomas Twp Too.Because "Twp" is Welsh for stupid.
(hence their reactions to their nicknames).
My favourite bit has to be when the machanic is on about why the car won't be working.He say's something like "I know whats wrong with it,you have a problem with the 'Be ti'n galw'."
"Be ti'n galw" is acctually welsh for "a what-do you call it".
Great film.Good Cast.
Thanks! That was very helpful. I wonder if they have some DVD version which has at least a few such explanations.
Any way, I am gonna watch it again very soon !
Very good but not best.
I just saw it for the second time. Watching it now I noticed how many things slipped right over my young head the first time ; )
The woman Betty kinda gets on my nerves though.
But no, it's very good.
~ I guess it comes down to a simple choice really. Get busy Living, or get busy dying~
welllll, she is playing a Cardiff girl, they are meant to get on your nerves.
I should know, me mam's one!
On another note I must say I love this film, simple, sweet and heart warming.
I am not Welsh - neither am I English, Scottish, Irish nor a Britisher of any kind. I am not a European, nor am I an African or an Asian. I happen to be a United States citizen. And while I am not cosmopolitan nor continental, I can honestly say that I caught just about all the quips and jokes in this delightful little film. I watched half of it last night and it gladdened my heart (the same way Dear Heart does). I will try to catch the rest this evening.
shareI think this is by far one of the most under-rated movies of our time. It's not glitzy or glamourous, not dark and depressing, it's just a plain movie about plain people doing something extrordinary.
I think it's the subtlety I enjoy the most. I must have seen it twenty or thirty times (my wife and I show it to anybody who will sit still) and I still catch something new almost every time.
I guess it's not only under-rated, but understated. :)
This movie proved to me what a fine actor Ian Hart is. Never been a Hugh Grant fan because he is almost always the same in everything he does so the novelty of the " English Fop" has worn off for me. Tara Fitzgerald always plays the sexy girl and, to be honest, I have never been a fan of her acting style, despite doing a good welsh accent. No, this film for me, which, despite my criticism of the leads, is one of my favourite movies because of its fantastic supporting cast. Colm Meaney is always good value and Ian Mcniece always adds quality to everything he does. However, getting back to my opening statement, it was Ian Hart's performance that moved me the most. It goes to prove that you don't have to have many lines or a leading role to turn in a masterful performance. In every scene he appeared in, he just excelled. To portray someone who has suffered the horrors of the trenches of World War 1 is not easy and it would have been easy to overdo it but he doesn't. The scene on top of the mountain after the lightning strike where, mentally, he is transported back to the horrors of the trenches, was truly moving. When Williams brings him back to the pub, again, despite what is going on with other characters and their dialogue, we are drawn to him. He truly owns the scene.
In every scene that we see him in, it is the haunted look that we see on his face, in his eyes, that truly encapsulates the underlying theme of this movie - the desire for something good to come out of such hard times; a community that has lost so much desperately trying to recapture its pride by ensuring Ffeyn Garw is retained as Wales first mountain. Johnny is one that came home when the rest of the villages young men are unlikey to. He is one that the village is trying to cling onto although, most of the time, he is just beyond their reach. He is there in the flesh but not truly in spirit.
Pivotal moments - standing up and speaking about the trenches at the village meeting. I loved the Reverand Jones reaction to Johnny speaking - the tears in his eyes, trying not to break down. Johnny is the one, probably the only one in the village, who is able to make the Reverand and Morgan the Goat set aside their differences.
I loved the shot of Johnny after the breakdown when the voiceover speaks of the days of rain that followed. In one frame, Hart perfectly captures the haunted and damaged young man that Johnny is.
I loved it when Johnny tells the Schoolteacher to " Stop acting so English"
and I absolutely ADORED Johnny's epiphany near the end of the movie where he decides it is time to stop being afraid and face his fear. The camera zooming right into him so that the entire screen is his. The village applauding his arrival to the top of the mountain was magical. One of their sons was home at last. He was finally back with them.
Of course you could just see this movie as a heart warming comedy - and sure, it can be enjoyed this way but I would urge all of you, if not already, to go back and watch it again from the perspective I have illustrated.
As an actor, Ian Hart is a master, and in his portrayel as Johnny Shellshocked, a master is truly at work. Any aspiring actor would do well to get this man's entire back catalogue on DVD to see how it ought to be done.
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Perhaps not the best ever - but it seems a very divisive movie...
My experience has been that you either love it or hate it.
Those who hate it do so because there's not much story. And there's not, that's true. These people are very linear. They see it as a mathematical equation. So it really boils down to "Town loves mountain, men measure mountain, say it's not a hill, town wants it to be a mountain, town makes it a mountain. And when you look at it simply as a sequence of events, it seems very inconsequential.
Not to generalize - but these are the sort of people who never stop to smell the flowers. The delicate subtleties of art - not just cinema - will be generally lost on these types of people. They will watch this movie, and become angry. "This is stupid!" they will say. Okay, so I generalized.
Then there are those who like it - and they do so because it is the quintissential character-driven comedy. The joy comes not from the inherrent worth, the substantial value of the accomplishments made over the course of the film, but from the interraction between an enjoyable cast of characters. In those terms, it is a beautiful tapestry of characterization.
Oddly enough, I know several of the "This is stupid!" people, and all of them to a one enjoy "reality-TV" while I detest it. I wonder what that says about us all?
I agree it is in my Top 10!
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