''That Sinking Feeling'' is a 1979 Scottish

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 ...

written and directed by

Bill Forsyth William David Forsyth (born 29 July 1946). known as Bill Forsyth, is a Scottish film director and writer known for his films '' Gregory's Girl'' (1981), '' Local Hero'' (1983) and '' Comfort and Joy'' (1984) as well as his adaptation of the Ma ...

, his first film as a director. The film is set in his home city of

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

(the Calton, Bridgeton and

Parkhead Parkhead ( sco, Pairkheid) is a district in the East End of Glasgow. Its name comes from a small weaving hamlet at the meeting place of the Great Eastern Road (now the Gallowgate and Tollcross Road) and Westmuir Street. Glasgow's Eastern Necrop ...

areas) in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

. The young actors in film were members of the Glasgow Youth Theatre. The film also features Richard Demarco, the Edinburgh gallery owner, playing himself. The four main actors went on to feature in Forsyth's following film ''

Gregory's Girl ''Gregory's Girl'' is a 1980 Scottish coming-of-age romantic comedy film written and directed by Bill Forsyth and starring John Gordon Sinclair, Dee Hepburn and Clare Grogan. The film is set in and around a state secondary school in the Abronhil ...

''.

Plot

Ronnie ( Robert Buchanan), Wal (Billy Greenlees), Andy (

John Gordon Sinclair John Gordon Sinclair (born Gordon John Sinclair; 4 February 1962) is a Scottish actor, voice actor, singer, and novelist. He is best known for portraying Gregory in the 1981 film '' Gregory's Girl''. There was a Gordon Sinclair already register ...

) and Vic (John Hughes) are four bored, unemployed teenagers from Glasgow. One day, Ronnie comes up with the idea of stealing stainless steel sinks from a warehouse and selling them. Their plan involves dressing up as girls and using a strong tranquiliser ('stop-motion potion') on the driver of a bread van (Morton's Rolls). During the robbery they encounter a ninja style thief (

) who asks to join them. They steal 74 sinks but do not manage to sell many. Richard Demarco buys four in a pile as an artwork at the bargain price of £200. They still have many to sell, still in the back of the bread van, when they accidentally take an identical van and end with a load of doughnuts. Meanwhile the heavily tranquilised van driver ends up in hospital, and it is thought he will awake in 2068.

Cast

Production

Forsyth said "I couldn't actually afford real actors, and I certainly hadn't had any experience working with them. So I asked the teenagers at a Glasgow community centre if they would appear in my movie at no pay. Actually, I promised them points in the film (a percentage of any profits)."

Locations

Filming took place on location around the city of Glasgow; scenes featured locations such as

Kelvingrove Park Kelvingrove Park is a public park located on the River Kelvin in the West End of the city of Glasgow, Scotland, containing the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum. History Kelvingrove Park was originally created as the West End Park in 1852, and ...

Dennistoun Dennistoun is a mostly residential district in Glasgow, Scotland, located north of the River Clyde and in the city's east end, about east of the city centre. Since 2017 it has formed the core of a Dennistoun ward under Glasgow City Council, ...

Springburn Springburn ( gd, Allt an Fhuairainn) is an inner-city district in the north of the Scottish city of Glasgow, made up of generally working-class households. Springburn developed from a rural hamlet at the beginning of the 19th century. Its ind ...

and

Bishopbriggs railway station Bishopbriggs railway station is a railway station serving Bishopbriggs in East Dunbartonshire, Scotland. It is located on the Glasgow to Edinburgh via Falkirk Line, north of , but is currently only served by services on the Croy Line. History ...

Cowcaddens Cowcaddens ( sco, Coucaddens, gd, Coille Challtainn)
...

Sighthill Sighthill may refer to: * Sighthill, Edinburgh Sighthill is a suburb in the west of Edinburgh, Scotland. The area is bordered by Broomhouse and Parkhead to the east, South Gyle to the north, the industrial suburb of Bankhead and the Calders ...

Whiteinch Whiteinch ( gd, Innis Bhàn) is an area in the city of Glasgow, Scotland. It is situated directly north of the River Clyde, between the Partick and Scotstoun areas of the city. Whiteinch was at one stage part of the burgh of Partick, until that ...

and Woodside.

Dubbed soundtrack

The film was released in the United States four years after the United Kingdom, following the success of ''Gregory's Girl'' and '' Local Hero''. For the American market, (

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 ...

) the soundtrack was re-dubbed using more mainstream accents from Edinburgh. The MGM version cost more to re-dub than the entire budget for the film itself.

Reception

In 1987 Forsyth said the film earned $90,000, "and we still haven't seen any profit from it." Philip French, writing in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', described the premiere of ''That Sinking Feeling'' as "Among the happiest surprises of my years as a movie critic", writing that the arrival of the film marked Bill Forsyth as a "major new talent".

Vincent Canby Vincent Canby (July 27, 1924 – October 15, 2000) was an American film and theatre critic who served as the chief film critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1969 until the early 1990s, then its chief theatre critic from 1994 until his death in ...

, in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' wrote that "''That Sinking Feeling'' doesn't have quite the panache of

and Local Hero" but nonetheless praised it as "amiable", "funny" and "gentle". A review in ''

Empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...

'' gave ''That Sinking Feeling'' four stars out of five, calling it "funnier, meaner and less wistful than orsyth'ssubsequent successes".

DVD release

In September 2009, a restored copy of the film was re-released on DVD by

2 Entertain 2 Entertain (stylized as 2 , entertain) is a British video and music publisher founded in September 2004 by the merger of BBC Video and Video Collection International in 2004. Under CEO Richard Green, the company operated as a joint venture b ...

. This has generated controversy however due to the use of the re-dubbed soundtrack, which had the effect of impinging upon the delivery of the dialogue and character of the film. The

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery (United Kingdom), National Lot ...

, through their Flipside arm, released the film on DVD and Blu-ray on 21 April 2014, with the original Glaswegian dialogue track restored. This release also featured an audio commentary by Bill Forsyth and critic Mark Kermode, as well as other short films Forsyth was involved with.

References

External links

* * {{Bill Forsyth 1979 films 1979 comedy films Scottish comedy films British heist films British teen comedy films 1980s English-language films English-language Scottish films Films directed by Bill Forsyth Films set in Glasgow Films shot in Glasgow Bridgeton–Calton–Dalmarnock 1979 directorial debut films 1970s English-language films 1970s British films