Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4775 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-04-14
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Full Screen, PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 90 minutes

Synopsis

This feature-length version of the Porridge [1979] TV series continues to follow the exploits of prison inmates Norman Stanley Fletcher (Ronnie Barker) and Lennie Godber (Richard Beckinsale). A new officer (Christopher Godwin) makes Mackay (Fulton Mackay) look postively timid and, to make things even more exciting, an escape plan which Fletch wants no part of is developing.

Customer Reviews

Classic British comedy
The fine and amusing story of Fletch and his pals of circumstance (what with them being locked up together and all that).
If you were a fan of the series then this is definitely a must see, a classic gem from the heyday of British comedy.
Fletch (Ronnie Barker) gets up to all his usual scheming and bartering with highly amusing results...at one point he even has to break back into prison.....
The musics good, the jokes are superb, and the acting inspired.

True it is quite old and not a visual feast, but the plot/jokes/acting easily compensate for that.

IF you like British comedy in any form at all, this is for you.

Brimful of wit and Barker's long diatribes.
Clement and La Frenais are two of the most prolific, commercially successful and funny contributors to British television situation comedy and comedy drama, but their excursions onto the big screen have been of variable quality. Their feature film version of the earlier TV series "The Likely Lads" was a poor relation of its small screen origins and suffered from the regular malaise of such projects - the inability to sustain a half-hour entertainment format for thrice that time period. Clement and La Frenais seemed to have learned from that experience, as this film very nearly succeeds where so many efforts have fallen woefully short. Much of the credit must go to Barker's faultless performance as the cynical seasoned lag, and his ability to sustain the interest in his character and his humour throughout. In fact, his role is pivotal to the comic element of both the film and the TV series - virtually all the oral humour comes from his utterances and his philosophies of life (both within and outside of prison), and from his reactions to the circumstances on which the sitcom is based. Although the support playing is strong, the humour of the other characters arises wholly from Barker's reaction to and interaction with them. But the film also succeeds because the writers have resisted the temptation of complicating the plot (or attempting to cram the story-lines from three TV programmes into the action), but instead have utilised the fairly basic plot to expand the dialogue, which is as brimful of wit and Barker's long diatribes and anecdotes as the originating TV series. As a result, devotees of the television version should not be disappointed by the feature film, which retains all the qualities which gave rise to its merited popularity.

A brilliant tribute to a classic comedy series...
Unlike a lot of 70's tv comedy spin-off movies, Porridge succeeds in capturing the essence of what made the original show so great. The main characters are all given a fair amount of screentime in this movie - in particular Fulton Mackay is just as superb as he was in the series. Barker and Beckinsale are comedy legends who never fail to make me laugh...
It's great to see top dog, Grouty, making an appearance in the movie too...
Overall, a brilliant comedy movie based on a legendary British comedy series.