Percy (1971 film)

2022-08-18T05:51:52Z

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{{for|1989 Indian Gujarati film|Percy (1989 film)}}
{{short description|1971 British comedy film directed by Ralph Thomas}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2016}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2016}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Percy
| image = Percy VideoCover.jpeg
| image_size =
| caption =
| director = [[Ralph Thomas]]
| producer = {{ubl|[[Betty E. Box]]|[[Nat Cohen]]}}
| writer = {{ubl|[[Hugh Leonard]]|[[Michael Palin]]|[[Terence Feely]]}}
| based_on = ''[[Percy (novel)|Percy]]'' by [[Raymond Hitchcock (author)|Raymond Hitchcock]]
| narrator =
| starring = {{ubl|[[Hywel Bennett]]|[[Denholm Elliott]]|[[Elke Sommer]]|[[Britt Ekland]]|[[Cyd Hayman]]}}
| music = [[Ray Davies]]
| cinematography = [[Ernest Steward]]
| editing = [[Roy Watts]]
| studio = Welbeck Films
| distributor = [[Anglo-EMI Film Distributors]]
| released = 11 February 1971
| runtime = 103 minutes
| country = United Kingdom
| language = English
| budget = £300,000<ref name="nat">[http://find.galegroup.com/stha/infomark.do?&source=gale&prodId=STHA&userGroupName=slnsw_public&tabID=T003&docPage=article&searchType=BasicSearchForm&docId=FP1800820471&type=multipage&contentSet=LTO&version=1.0 Blundy, David. "Ooh, you are awful, film men tell Tories." Sunday Times [London, England] 16 Dec. 1973: 5. The Sunday Times Digital Archive.] Web. 29 Mar. 2014.</ref><ref>{{Cite book|page=102|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dQZ0DwAAQBAJ&q=%22emi+films+and+the+limits+of+british+cinema%22&pg=PA1|title=EMI Films and the Limits of British Cinema|first=Paul|last= Moody|publisher=Springer|date= Oct 19, 2018|isbn = 9783319948034}}</ref>
}}

'''''Percy''''' is a 1971 British [[comedy film]] directed by [[Ralph Thomas]] starring [[Hywel Bennett]], [[Denholm Elliott]], [[Elke Sommer]] and [[Britt Ekland]].

The film is based on the 1969 [[Percy (novel)|novel of the same name]] by [[Raymond Hitchcock (author)|Raymond Hitchcock]], and features a [[Percy (soundtrack)|soundtrack]] by [[The Kinks]]. It was followed by a 1974 sequel, ''[[Percy's Progress]]''.

==Plot==
Edwin (Bennett), an innocent and shy young man, is hit by a nude man falling from a high-rise building while carrying a [[chandelier]]. Edwin's [[Human penis|penis]] is mutilated in the accident and has to be amputated; the falling man is killed.

Edwin becomes the recipient of the world's first [[penis transplantation|penis transplant]]: he receives the very large penis of the womanizer killed in the same accident. With his new bit of anatomy (which he names "Percy"), Edwin follows the womanizer's footsteps, meeting all his women friends, before settling happily with the donor's mistreated widow.

==Cast==
{{cast listing|
* [[Hywel Bennett]] as Edwin Anthony
* [[Denholm Elliott]] as Emmanuel Whitbread
* [[Elke Sommer]] as Helga
* [[Britt Ekland]] as Dorothy Chiltern-Barlow
* [[Cyd Hayman]] as Moira Warrington
* [[Janet Key]] as Hazel Anthony
* Tracey Crisp as Miss Elder
* Antonia Ellis as Rita La Rousse
* [[Tracy Reed (English actress)|Tracy Reed]] as Mrs. Penney
* [[Patrick Mower]] as James Vaile
* Pauline Delaney as Sister Flanagan
* [[Adrienne Posta]] as Maggie Hyde
* [[Julia Foster]] as Marilyn
* [[Sheila Steafel]] as Mrs. Gold
* [[Arthur English]] as Pub Comic
* [[Angus MacKay (actor)|Angus MacKay]] as TV producer
* [[Rita Webb]] as Mrs. Hedges
* Charles Hodgson as TV interviewer
* [[Sue Lloyd]] as Bernice
* [[Denise Coffey]] as Operator #1
* [[Edward Malin]] as Elderly patient
* [[Margaretta Scott]] as Rita's Mother
* [[Graham Crowden]] as Alfred Spaulton
* [[T. P. McKenna]] as Meet the People Compere
* [[Tony Haygarth]] as Purdey
* [[Jane Carr]] as Nurse
* [[Ronnie Brody]] as Reporter
* [[Penny Brahms]] as Football Spectator
* [[George Best]] as Himself
}}
==Production==
Producer [[Betty E. Box]] discovered the novel when she and director [[Ralph Thomas]] were meeting a publisher about optioning the film rights for another book. They were not available at the time, but the publisher gave them a manuscript by Raymond Hitchcock about a penis transplant. Box took it back to the office to read. "I zipped through it, laughing aloud as I read", she wrote. "Very unusual. I might sometimes smile at a book, but I hadn't laughed like this since I read Richard Gordon's ''Doctor in the House''."<ref>Box p 270</ref>

Ralph Thomas enjoyed the book too so they decided to option the rights. These ended up costing four times more than Box originally thought after Hichcock had his own agent, as opposed to the publisher, do the negotiations. Box and Thomas paid for the rights themselves "not without a fair amount of heart-searching", Box wrote, "as we didn't expect it to be a straightforward financing operation – with the amount required to make a film it seldom is – but this was certainly not a subject I expected Rank, our traditional partners, to finance. They very soon turned it down without even reading it."<ref name="Box p 272">Box p 272</ref>

Finance was obtained from [[Nat Cohen]] at [[EMI Films]] - they provided the entire budget.<ref>{{Cite book|page=85|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dQZ0DwAAQBAJ&q=%22emi+films+and+the+limits+of+british+cinema%22&pg=PA1|title=EMI Films and the Limits of British Cinema|first=Paul|last= Moody|publisher=Springer|date= Oct 19, 2018|isbn = 9783319948034}}</ref> The poster was designed by John Troke, a publicist who had introduced Box to the book of ''Doctor in the House'' 15 years earlier.<ref name="Box p 272"/> A script was prepared by [[Hugh Leonard]] while Thomas and Box filmed ''[[Doctor in Trouble]]''. The film was shot at [[Elstree Studios (Shenley Road)|Elstree Studios]] and [[location shooting|on location]] in [[London]]. The film's sets were designed by the [[art director]] [[Robert Jones (art director)|Robert Jones]]. [[Ray Davies]] of [[The Kinks]] wrote the film's soundtrack ''[[Percy (soundtrack album)|Percy]]''.

During the making of the film, another comedy about a penis was being shot, ''[[The Statue (1971 film)|The Statue]]''. Box always regarded this as a rip off.<ref name="Box p 276">Box p 276</ref>

==Reception==
===Release===
The film was not screened in Australia until the "R" certificate was introduced.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article110667533 |title=Comedy film awaits the 'R'. |newspaper=[[The Canberra Times]] |date=14 July 1971 |access-date=17 December 2015 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>

===Box office===
''Percy'' was the 8th most popular film at the British box office in 1971.<ref>Peter Waymark. "Richard Burton top draw in British cinemas." Times [London, England] 30 Dec. 1971: 2. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 11 July 2012.</ref> By June 1972, it had earned EMI a profit of £43,000.<ref>{{Cite book|page=83|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dQZ0DwAAQBAJ&q=%22emi+films+and+the+limits+of+british+cinema%22&pg=PA1|title=EMI Films and the Limits of British Cinema|first=Paul|last= Moody|publisher=Springer|date= Oct 19, 2018|isbn = 9783319948034}}</ref> Eventually, according to [[Nat Cohen]], it made a profit of £500,000.<ref name="nat"/>

Box says that Raymond Hitchcock was delighted with the film and thought Hywel Bennett was very close to his original James Anthony.<ref name="Box p 276"/>

Thomas and Box agreed to make a sequel provided Nat Cohen finance a film they wanted to make about the Byron-Shelley story, ''The Reckless Years''. However Cohen reneged on the deal and only made the sequel.<ref>Box p 281</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
*{{IMDb title|id=0067568|title=Percy}}

{{Ralph Thomas}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Percy}}
[[Category:1971 films]]
[[Category:1970s sex comedy films]]
[[Category:British comedy films]]
[[Category:British sex comedy films]]
[[Category:Films shot at EMI-Elstree Studios]]
[[Category:Films directed by Ralph Thomas]]
[[Category:Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films]]
[[Category:Films about organ transplantation]]
[[Category:Films produced by Betty Box]]
[[Category:EMI Films films]]
[[Category:Films based on British novels]]
[[Category:1971 comedy films]]
[[Category:Films set in London]]
[[Category:Films shot in London]]
[[Category:Films with screenplays by Hugh Leonard]]
[[Category:Films with screenplays by Terence Feely]]
[[Category:1970s English-language films]]

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Percy (1971 film)