''Derek and Clive Get the Horn'' is a 1979 British
documentary comedy film
A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...
that chronicles the recording of
Peter Cook
Peter Edward Cook (17 November 1937 – 9 January 1995) was an English actor, comedian, satirist, playwright and screenwriter. He was the leading figure of the British satire boom of the 1960s, and he was associated with the anti-establishme ...
and
Dudley Moore's 1978 comedy album ''
Derek and Clive Ad Nauseam
Derek is a masculine given name. It is the English language short form of ''Diederik'', the Low Franconian form of the name Theodoric. Theodoric is an old Germanic name with an original meaning of "people-ruler".
Common variants of the name are ...
'', their third and final outing featuring their controversial alter-egos
Derek and Clive
Derek and Clive was a double act of comedic characters created by Dudley Moore (Derek) and Peter Cook (Clive) in the 1970s. The performances were captured on the records '' Derek and Clive (Live)'' (1976), '' Derek and Clive Come Again'' (1977), ...
, two foul-mouthed lavatory attendants who banter at length about their surreal day-to-day existences. The footage was shot in early September 1978. The film was the
feature film directorial debut of
Russell Mulcahy
Russell Mulcahy ( ; born 23 June 1953) is an Australian film director. Mulcahy's work is recognisable by the use of fast cuts, tracking shots and use of glowing lights, neo-noir lighting, windblown drapery, and fans. He directed music videos i ...
, who would go on to direct ''
Highlander''.
Cast
*
Peter Cook
Peter Edward Cook (17 November 1937 – 9 January 1995) was an English actor, comedian, satirist, playwright and screenwriter. He was the leading figure of the British satire boom of the 1960s, and he was associated with the anti-establishme ...
as
Clive
Clive is a name. People and fictional characters with the name include:
People Given name
* Clive Allen (born 1961), English football player
* Clive Anderson (born 1952), British television, radio presenter, comedy writer and former barrister
* ...
*
Dudley Moore
Dudley Stuart John Moore CBE (19 April 193527 March 2002) was an English actor, comedian, musician and composer. Moore first came to prominence in the UK as a leading figure in the British satire boom of the 1960s. He was one of the four writ ...
as
Derek
Derek is a masculine given name. It is the English language short form of '' Diederik'', the Low Franconian form of the name Theodoric. Theodoric is an old Germanic name with an original meaning of "people-ruler".
Common variants of the name ar ...
*
Judy Huxtable
Judy Huxtable (born 4 July 1942) is a British actress.
Early life and career
Born in Surrey, England, to wealthy parents, Huxtable was initially a society débutante and then became a fashionable figure in 1960s "swinging London" and, as a mode ...
as Judy Cook
* Nicola Austine as Lady who came in and took her clothes off
*
Richard Branson
Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson (born 18 July 1950) is a British billionaire, entrepreneur, and business magnate. In the 1970s he founded the Virgin Group, which today controls more than 400 companies in various fields.
Branson expressed ...
as Man with a beard
Release
The film was intended for a theatrical release, but in October 1980, the
British Board of Film Classification
The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC, previously the British Board of Film Censors) is a non-governmental organisation founded by the British film industry in 1912 and responsible for the national classification and censorship of f ...
rejected it outright
on the grounds of its sustained and excessive use of
very strong language (the uses of "
fuck
''Fuck'' is an English-language expletive. It often refers to the act of sexual intercourse, but is also commonly used as an intensifier or to convey disdain. While its origin is obscure, it is usually considered to be first attested to aro ...
" and "
cunt
''Cunt'' () is a vulgar word for the vulva or vagina. It is used in a variety of ways, including as a term of disparagement. Reflecting national variations, ''cunt'' can be used as a disparaging and obscene term for a woman in the United Stat ...
"), and
blasphemy
Blasphemy is a speech crime and religious crime usually defined as an utterance that shows contempt, disrespects or insults a deity, an object considered sacred or something considered inviolable. Some religions regard blasphemy as a religiou ...
.
Cook instead chose to release the film
straight to video
Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, TV series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strategy was p ...
, a format that was at the time unregulated, but this plan also ran into trouble when several hundred copies were impounded by "God's copper"
James Anderton
Sir Cyril James Anderton (24 May 1932 – 5 May 2022) was a British police officer who served as chief constable of Greater Manchester from 1976 to 1991.
Early life and career
Born and brought up in a coal mining family in Wigan, Lancashire, ...
of the
Greater Manchester Police
Greater Manchester Police (GMP) is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement within the metropolitan county of Greater Manchester in North West England.
, Greater Manchester Police employed 6,866 police officers, 3,524 memb ...
, sending the small company behind the release spiraling into bankruptcy. ''Derek and Clive Get the Horn'' was finally granted an uncut 18 certificate in 1993
and was released as a sell-through video by
PolyGram
PolyGram N.V. was a multinational entertainment company and major music record label formerly based in the Netherlands. It was founded in 1962 as the Grammophon-Philips Group by Dutch corporation Philips and German corporation Siemens, to be a ...
.
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Derek And Clive Get The Horn
1979 films
1979 comedy films
1979 documentary films
British comedy films
British documentary films
1970s English-language films
Films directed by Russell Mulcahy
Direct-to-video documentary films
Documentary films about comedy and comedians
Films shot in London
Universal Pictures films
1979 directorial debut films
1970s British films