The Supergrass | |
---|---|
Directed by | Peter Richardson |
Produced by | Elaine Taylor |
Written by | Peter Richardson Pete Richens |
Starring |
Adrian Edmondson Jennifer Saunders Dawn French Peter Richardson Keith Allen Nigel Planer Alexei Sayle Ronald Allen Robbie Coltrane |
Distributed by | Recorded Releasing |
Release date
|
November 1985 |
Running time
|
107 minutes (theatrical) 93 minutes later version |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Box office | $1,818 |
The Supergrass is a 1985 British comedy film written and directed by Peter Richardson. The film starred Richardson, Adrian Edmondson, Jennifer Saunders, Dawn French, Keith Allen, Nigel Planer, Alexei Sayle, Ronald Allen and Robbie Coltrane.
The Supergrass was the first feature-length film by the 1980s alternative comedy group The Comic Strip. The soundtrack to the film featured original music from Keith Tippett, plus music from P.P. Arnold, Grace Jones and Bob Marley, among others.
After returning from a holiday in the West Country, Dennis Carter (Adrian Edmondson) tries to impress a girl by untruthfully boasting of being a drug smuggler. The girl is unimpressed; however, he is overheard by the police, who persuade him to become a supergrass and inform on his associates. The more Dennis lies, the bigger hole he digs for himself.
The version of the film initially released in the cinema ran to 107m 09s, which was subsequently released on VHS running to 102m 53s due to PAL speed-up. On 13 March 1988 the film was screened by Channel 4 as a prelude to the fourth series of The Comic Strip Presents, but this was a version cut down to 93m 26s - equivalent to 97m 20s in the cinema, so missing some 9m 49s. All subsequent VHS and DVD releases - included the "complete" Comic Strip box-set - use the shorter version.