Steptoe and Son (film)
| Steptoe and Son | |
|---|---|
_poster.jpg) | |
| Directed by | Cliff Owen |
| Written by | Ray Galton Alan Simpson |
| Produced by | Aida Young |
| Starring | Wilfrid Brambell Harry H. Corbett Carolyn Seymour |
| Cinematography | John Wilcox |
| Edited by | Bernard Gribble |
| Music by | Roy Budd Jack Fishman Ron Grainer |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | MGM-EMI Film Distributors |
Release date |
|
Running time | 98 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Budget | £100,000[1][2] or £178,000[3] |
| Box office | £500,000[4] |
Steptoe and Son is a 1972 British comedy drama film and a spin-off from the popular British television comedy series of the same name about father-and-son rag-and-bone dealers. It starred Wilfrid Brambell and Harry H. Corbett as the eponymous characters, Albert and Harold Steptoe respectively, and features Carolyn Seymour. A sequel, Steptoe and Son Ride Again, was released the following year.[5]
Plot
During a stag do at a local football club, Harold meets one of the acts, a stripper called Zita. After a whirlwind romance, the couple are married, although the actual wedding ceremony is delayed when Albert, acting as best man, loses the ring somewhere in the yard. They eventually find it in a pile of horse manure, and since they have no time to clean up, the smell of the manure on their clothes has noses twitching in church.
Harold and Zita fly to Spain for their honeymoon, but Albert refuses to be left behind. His constant presence begins to drive a wedge between Harold and Zita. When they are finally alone and begin to consummate their marriage, they are interrupted by Albert's cries of distress from the adjoining room, and discover that he has contracted food poisoning from some of the local cuisine.
The only available flight back home at short notice has only two seats, and Harold feels obliged to fly home with Albert, leaving Zita in Spain to follow as soon as possible. Back home, Albert quickly recovers, while Harold frets over Zita not writing. When he finally receives delayed postcards and a letter from her, she tells him she has decided their marriage cannot work and has taken up with a British holiday rep at the hotel where they were staying. Harold is heartbroken, and, despite his earlier scheming to get rid of Zita, Albert is sympathetic.
Some months later, Harold tracks down Zita and finds that she is pregnant, and when he assumes he is the father she does not disabuse him. Harold offers to take care of them both and persuades Zita to go with him, but on returning home Albert makes it clear that he does not like her and she flees. A short while later, the two men find a baby in the horse's stable. Harold assumes that the child is Zita's, and, with Albert's help, takes on its rearing. They argue over what name to give the baby, with Albert insisting he have his name, and Harold eventually compromises by naming him Albert Jeremy at the christening but always refers to him as Jeremy.
Returning from work one day, Harold finds the baby has been taken from his pram while Albert was asleep. An unsigned note left in the pram convinces Harold it is from Zita wanting the child back. Searching for her, Harold comes across her stripping in a local rugby club where she is grabbed by some men in the audience. Attempting to save her, Harold is beaten up and is only rescued when Zita and her musician save him by taking him into her dressing room. Harold hears a baby's cries but, when he pulls back a curtain, he finds a mixed-race baby. It turns out that Zita and her musician, who is black, are a couple. Harold then realises that 'Jeremy' was not Zita's baby and was not his child.
Cast
- Wilfrid Brambell as Albert Steptoe
- Harry H. Corbett as Harold Steptoe
- Carolyn Seymour as Zita Steptoe
- Arthur Howard as Vicar
- Victor Maddern as Chauffeur
- Fred Griffiths as Barman
- Joan Heath as Zita's mother
- Fred McNaughton as Zita's father
- Lon Satton as Pianist
- Patrick Fyffe as Arthur (as Perri St. Claire)
- Patsy Smart as Mrs. Hobbs
- Mike Reid as Compere
- Alec Mango as Hotel Doctor
- Michael Da Costa as Hotel Manager
- Enys Box as Traffic Warden
- Barrie Ingham as Terry
Production
The film had investment from the Robert Stigwood Organisation.[6]
Reception
The film was a success at the box office and made a profit of five times its cost.[1][2][7]
References
- ^ a b Alexander Walker, National Heroes: British Cinema in the Seventies and Eighties, Harrap, 1985 p 114
- ^ a b NAT KING COHEN: To the cinema-going public he is the name at the start of the credits, But to the industry he is a dominant force in production, dustribution, and exhibition Murari, Tim. The Guardian (1959-2003) 17 November 1973: 9.
- ^ Oakes, Philip (20 August 1972). "Digging for TV Treasure". The Sunday Times. No. 7784. p. 38.
- ^ Ooh, you are awful, film men tell Tories. David Blundy. The Sunday Times (London, England), Sunday, 16 December 1973; p. 5; Issue 7853. (939 words) – this article Cohen says the budget was £200,000.
- ^ "Steptoe and Son Ride Again (1973)".
- ^ City comment: Thanks to the pound Swan, Hunter; Stigwood, Robert. The Guardian 2 August 1972: 16.
- ^ Harper, Sue (2011). British Film Culture in the 1970s: The Boundaries of Pleasure: The Boundaries of Pleasure. Edinburgh University Press. p. 269. ISBN 9780748654260.
External links
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- 1972 films
- 1972 comedy-drama films
- Adultery in films
- British comedy-drama films
- Films about dysfunctional families
- Films based on television series
- Films directed by Cliff Owen
- Films scored by Roy Budd
- Films scored by Ron Grainer
- Films set in London
- Films set in Spain
- Films shot in London
- British pregnancy films
- Steptoe and Son
- Films about striptease
- EMI Films films
- 1972 comedy films
- 1972 drama films
- 1970s English-language films
- 1970s British films
- British comedy films
