Dirty Weekend * (1993, Lia Williams, Rufus Sewell, Michael Cule, Sylvia Syms, David McCallum, Ian Richardson, Sean Pertwee) – Classic Movie Review 7772

Director Michael Winner’s unpleasant 1993 British movie Dirty Weekend turns Helen Zahavi’s praised feminist book into a female version of Winner’s own Death Wish movies, in which Lia Williams stars as Bella, a woman justly full of rage because men want to oppress her.

She moves to Brighton and her own flat but finds she is being spied on and harassed by a man living across from her. So then she takes her anti-men rage scarily too far when her idea of teaching men a lesson includes murdering them in cold blood.

Dirty Weekend is a deeply worrying psychological action thriller, made with little regard to subtlety or sensibilities, and the acting and handling are remarkably shaky for these good, highly professional actors and the extremely competent, veteran director. There are some very ugly scenes of sex and violence, but, despite the modern Nineties trimmings, it still seems deeply old-fashioned, rooted back in the Seventies.

Winner called it a ‘Nineties Death Wish and much more. It deals with the patronising, put-down attitude that still exists for women, and they have had enough.’

Also in the cast are Michael Cule, Sylvia Syms, David McCallum, Ian Richardson, Sean Pertwee, Shaughan Seymour, Christopher Ryan, Nicholas Hewetson, Christopher Adamson, Jack Galloway, and Matthew Marsh.

Dirty Weekend is directed by Michael Winner, runs 102 minutes, is made by Michael Winner Ltd and Scimitar Films, released by UIP, is written by Michael Winner and Helen Zahavi, based on Helen Zahavi’s book, is shot by Alan Jones, is produced by Michael Winner and Robert Earl, and is scored by David Fanshawe.

Winner made only one more film, the 1998 Parting Shots, and he was still on the Death Wish trail, this time as a black comedy.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7772

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