Pretty Good

There are better movies of two hours length. I loved the actress'performance.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

The acting in this movie is really good.

PORRIDGE was without doubt one of the greatest (if not the greatest) sitcoms ever produced on British TV,and two years after it's final episode (and a year after the sequel GOING STRAIGHT),everyone involved decided to produce a big screen version with all the familiar elements at hand.Looking at the rather cheap-jack and crude attempts in previous years (STEPTOE AND SON,ON THE BUSES and ARE YOU BEING SERVED? instantly come to mind among others),most critics and audiences would have dreaded such a prospect,as the film version of another great sitcom DAD'S ARMY was the only one that adequately cut the mustard.The cinema version of PORRIDGE generally comes across rather well,though with definite flaws.The first half-hour or so is certainly the best,with plenty of very funny incident and occasionally hilarious one-liners,with such performers as Brian Wilde,Richard Beckinsale,Fulton Mackay,Peter Vaughan and of course,the brilliant Ronnie Barker,more than effectively repeating their memorable comic characterisations from the classic TV series.In the film's final two-thirds however,inspiration begins to flag,with a somewhat over-stretched plot involving the smuggling out of a new con (Barrie Rutter) during a football match.And much unlike virtually every episode of the TV version,the incidents depicted become rather foolish,flabby and lacking in credulity,which inevitably would have been far more subtle,taut and concise in it's regular half hour sitcom format.Being filmed almost wholly on location in the middle of winter also doesn't help;it all looks very bleak and morose which gives the film a rather pessimistic mood,in stark contrast to the TV version which despite the obviously grim countenance of a prison,still managed to amuse with spectacular success with a minimum of location work,and mainly being set in a convincingly constructed studio set with less harsh lighting,which despite it's claustrophobic feel still managed to produce a consistent vein of optimism.Still,the performances from Barker,Beckinsale,Mackay and co. remain as good as ever to the final shot,and there's enough amusing moments to prevent the film from being anything near the vapid quality of most TV to film spin-offs from this period of British film history.With the execption of the forgettable sitcom BLOOMERS,it was sadly the final released work to feature the immensely talented young actor Richard Beckinsale;he had previously made a name for himself in the slight but amusing sitcom THE LOVERS,before he really hit the big time with his performances in PORRIDGE and another great sitcom of the 1970's, RISING DAMP (arguably the best example of this genre the ITV network ever produced) opposite Leonard Rossiter.He would undoubtedly have become a very big star in the 1980's and 1990's had it been not for his tragically premature death of a heart attack in 1979 aged only 31.Like his fellow co-stars,his performance isn't quite as good as it was in the peerless TV series,but it is still a perfectly acceptable epitaph to his talents and a genuinely classic BBC TV original.RATING:6 and a Half out of 10.

Porridge is a spin off film from the successful TV series of the same name that aired on British BBC1 between 1974 and 1977. It's directed by Dick Clement who also co-writes with Ian La Frenais. It stars Ronnie Barker, Richard Beckinsale, Fulton Mackay, Brian Wilde and Peter Vaughn. Lets face it, and lets be honest here, for many Brits who grew up with the TV show, Porridge is simply one of the greatest shows Britain has ever produced. Sharp and on the money in writing and characterisations, and boasting a cast that were always irresistible, it still manages to enthral millions today during continuous reruns on cable and satellite TV. In light of the regard and popularity the show had, it was perhaps inevitable that a film production was just a matter of time, because, well, all the great British comedies of the past had feature films made. But of course not all were particularly any good. So it's with much relief to find that the film version of Porridge is a very decent offering. The plot sees Fletcher (Barker) involved as the manager of the prison football team, to which, unbeknown to the wily old lag, is being used as a front for an escape attempt by Oakes (Barrie Rutter), and naturally the smarmy menace of Grouty (Vaughn) is pulling the strings. Fletcher & Godber (Beckinsale) then accidentally get caught up in the escape and thus have to break back into the prison before anyone catches them! This set-up is wonderful and makes for some very funny comedy, executed with aplomb by Barker, Mackay and co. True that taking the characters out of the confines of the prison strips away much of what made the TV series so special, but the characters are so strong, the actors chemistry so evident, film stands tall enough to not sully the reputation of the show. It's a delightful way to spend an hour and half with your feet up, as a stand alone film it entertains those not familiar with the TV show. While for us fans? It sits nicely alongside the show as an extended viewing of comic genius behind and in front of the camera. 8/10RIP fellas, your legacy lives on always.

I am also a big fan of Porridge and of all Ronnie Barker's work. Porridge is the absolute best example of a British sitcom (don't care what the public vote was!), and this film didn't disappoint.Although there were a few repeated jokes (the alternative version of 'Scotland the Brave' is a particular favourite), it is the finest example of top comedy actors performing work by top comedy writers.The fact that there are so many top quality quotes on this site from the film says it all. It's also a credit to Ronnie Barker's talent that he can appear in two vastly contrasting sitcoms as completely different characters at the same time (this, and Open All Hours), and be so believable in both roles.There's no coincidence that Olivier said he was his favourite actor!

England was writhe with crime, in the cinematic sense, toward the end of the decade that had brought us Glitter Rock and Punk Rock. Toward the end of the Seventies and with the crossover into the Eighties, prison movies were to include the brutal Scum (1979), the Houdini exploits of McVicar (1980), and not forgetting the vicious ladies known as Scrubbers (1983), these Made In Britain misfits are amongst the serious and uncompromising hardcore collection of the riffraff prison underclass of that time.This era's theme of imprisonment had also been the subject of light relief and comic substance, to the happy go lucky tune of life's misplaced souls that were doing Porridge, (as the movies American title suggests Doing Time): the English term for being imprisoned, you were "Banged to Rights" you were "Doing Time" and "Doing Porridge".Nineteen seventy-four saw the release of British comedy sitcom Porridge; written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, this later turned into the spin-off movie of the same name. Fundamentally an extension of the early seventies comedy show, we have the enduring and ever wistful Norman Stanley Fletcher, with his unforgiving contempt for authority and the establishment alike. The two writers here have not deviated from his original persona; a charm and charisma that transcends from television play and onto the movie screen, with his wise old owl intellect that knows best and never throws caution to the wind. Though the script is the classic all-round family entertainment variety, the actual storyline is somewhat basic and considering the genre here, apt.Richard Beckinsale (1947 - 1979), as Lennie Godber, father to the beautiful Kate Beckinsale, born 1973, of Underworld (2003) and Van Helsing (2004), fame sadly passed away shortly after the making of Porridge, of a heart attack. While too young, his legacy has been passed on through his daughter, he would have been extremely proud to have seen her accomplishments. The world of light entertainment would never be quite what it was without him. Porridge is awash with the best of British, such as Fulton Mackay (1922 - 1987), Brian Wilde, Derek Deadman, Ken Jones and of course the greatest modern English comedy writer and actor the late Ronnie Barker (1929 - 2005).This extension of the small screen had to have direction that was capable of retaining the attention span of an audience used to only the weekly half hour shows. The big screen adaptation is classic British cinema; the titters and chuckles among the theatregoers is only contagious. Humour abound, with its pessimistic and anti-establishment overtones that, while nonconformist, only reminds these prisoners of their individual plight. Here we see the pecking order of the hierarchy that are the building blocks of any modern day society. With its top dog Grouty, with his bodyguards Samson and Delilah, then there are the gofers, the go for this and go for that, the illiterates and we have the young and naive first offender Rudge, played here by Daniel Peacock, for example. In between this, we have the officers, just as misfit and imprisoned, though physiologically, as their jailbird counterparts. All bound together by a very wonderfully sharp and intelligent script, bringing about the adage sarcasm is the lowest from of wit, well this is not sarcastic humour, nor is this toilet humour, this is well written and thought out superlative comical fun. Any wonder then that during 1980 Porridge had won the Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Comedy.