The Limey
Encyclopedia
The Limey is a 1999
American crime film
, directed by Steven Soderbergh
and written by Lem Dobbs
. The film features Terence Stamp
, Lesley Ann Warren
, Luis Guzmán
, Peter Fonda
and Barry Newman
.
Filming locations included Big Sur
and L.A.
to investigate the death of his daughter Jenny, who is reported to have died in a car accident
. While adjusting to the United States, he finds allies in Jenny's friends Eduardo and Elaine and comes up with a suspect: Jenny's boyfriend Terry Valentine, a record producer
. Valentine has connections with drug trafficking through his security consultant Avery. After locating the warehouse of the drug importer with whom Avery had done business, Wilson is overpowered and beaten by the drug trafficker's thugs, who also insult his daughter's name. After he is thrown out, Wilson retrieves a back-up pistol, goes back and kills all but one of the employees, shouting at the last to "Tell him I'm coming!" The employee relays this threat to Avery who reports it to Valentine.
Wilson reminisces with Elaine and Eduardo about his past relationship with his daughter, whom he only remembers as a child. As he recalls, Jenny always threatened to call the police when she found her father had committed crimes. He states she did not because she truly loved him. His criminal life put strain on his wife and child, but they never left him. He ended up in prison after the thieves he was associated with confessed to his involvement in their crimes.
Wilson and Eduardo infiltrate a party at Valentine's house, where Wilson searches for evidence. He finds and steals a picture of Jenny. Attracting suspicion from Avery, Wilson is accosted by a guard, who Wilson then throws over a ledge, killing him. Wilson and Eduardo flee, and are chased by Avery who shoots at them with a shotgun. Wilson rams Avery's car into a ditch and he and Eduardo escape, but not before Eduardo makes the mistake of calling out Wilson's name within Avery's hearing. Afterward, Avery hires an hit-man named Stacy (Katt), who tracks down Wilson and Elaine. DEA
agents prevent the attempted killing, and escort Wilson and Elaine to meet a DEA agent who is investigating Valentine. After the meeting it is clear the agent will not interfere with Wilson. Stacy and his partner then plot a double cross on Avery and Valentine.
Avery moves Valentine and his girlfriend to a safe house in Big Sur, with Wilson following them. That night, Avery's guards shoot an intruder, who is revealed to be Stacy. Avery and the guards engage in a shootout with Stacy's partner, resulting in several deaths. Valentine flees to the beach with Wilson in pursuit. After he falls and breaks his ankle on the rocks, Valentine admits that Jenny found out about his drug business and threatened to call the police. Attempting to restrain her, he accidentally broke her neck. Avery then staged her death as a car accident. Wilson is haunted, knowing that Jenny would not have turned him in. Wilson decides to return to London, saying goodbye to Elaine and Eduardo.
The narrative structure of the film is presented in disjointed flashbacks by Wilson during the plane trip home.
sequence. It includes scenes from another Terence Stamp movie, Ken Loach's
1967 directorial debut Poor Cow
. Soderbergh uses the scene to create a hazy back story. Wilson often speaks in a Cockney rhyming slang
. The title refers to the American
slang Limey, which refers to Briton
s.
utilizes a variety of unorthodox editing techniques in The Limey. The film frequently features dialogue and background sound from previous or future scenes juxtaposed with a current scene. Dialogue from one conversation, for instance, may find itself dispersed throughout the film, articulated for the first time long after its chronological moment has passed, as a sort of narrative flashback superimposed over later conversation, to complete a character's thought or punctuate a character's emphasis. Background sound may be disjointed in the film and shifted to enhance another scene by suggesting continuation, similarity, or dissimilarity, For example, Wilson is in a hotel
room, and turns on the shower, and Wilson is in a plane looking out the window, and the shower can be heard.
on May 15. It was also featured in various festivals including: the Toronto Film Festival, the Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema
, and the Hong Kong International Film Festival
. It was released in the US on October 8, 1999 in a limited basis and did poorly at the box office. Its first week's gross was $187,122 (17 screens) and the total receipts for the run were $3,193,102. The Limey was in wide release for seventeen weeks (115 days). In its widest release the film was featured in 105 theaters across the country. Its gross paled in comparison to its $10 million budget, thus making the film a financial flop.
reporting 92% of critics gave the film a positive review, based on seventy-nine reviews.
Edward Guthmann, film critic of the San Francisco Chronicle
, praised the direction, and film's screenplay, and wrote, "The Limey...is a first-rate crime thriller and further proof that Soderbergh is one of our great contemporary film stylists. Taut, imaginative and complex, this is one of the best American films of the year and a wonderful antidote to the numbing sameness of [some] movies." Critic Janet Maslin wrote of Terence Stamp's work, "Stamp plays the title role furiously, with single-minded intensity, wild blue eyes and a stentorian roar shown off in the film's early moments...Glimpses of young, dreamily beautiful Stamp and his no less imposing latter-day presence are used by Soderbergh with touching efficacy."
The film critic for Variety
magazine, Emanuel Levy
, lauded the crime drama and liked the direction of the picture, the acting, and the screenplay, yet thought the film "lacks secondary characters and subplots." He wrote, "The Limey, Steven Soderbergh's new crime picture, continues the helmer's artistic renewal, evident last year in the superbly realized "Out of Sight." Pic's most interesting element is the positioning of two icons of 1960s cinema, the very British Terence Stamp and the very American Peter Fonda, as longtime enemies in what's basically a routine revenge thriller...[and] one has no problem praising the bravura acting of the entire ensemble and the pic's impressive technical aspects. Warren, Guzman and Barry Newman give maturely restrained performances in line with the film's dominant texture. A supporting turn by Joe Dallessandro, Andy Warhol's and Paul Morrissey's regular, accentuates pic's reflexive nature as a commentary on a bygone era of filmmaking."
1999 in film
The year 1999 in film involved several noteworthy events and has been called "The Year That Changed Movies". Several significant feature films, including Stanley Kubrick's final film Eyes Wide Shut, Pedro Almodóvar's first Oscar-winning film All About My Mother, science fiction The Matrix, Deep...
American crime film
Crime film
Crime films are films which focus on the lives of criminals. The stylistic approach to a crime film varies from realistic portrayals of real-life criminal figures, to the far-fetched evil doings of imaginary arch-villains. Criminal acts are almost always glorified in these movies.- Plays and films...
, directed by Steven Soderbergh
Steven Soderbergh
Steven Andrew Soderbergh is an American film producer, screenwriter, cinematographer, editor, and an Academy Award-winning film director. He is best known for directing commercial Hollywood films like Erin Brockovich, Traffic, and the remake of Ocean's Eleven, but he has also directed smaller less...
and written by Lem Dobbs
Lem Dobbs
Lem Dobbs is a British-American screenwriter, best known for the film The Limey. He is the son of the late painter, R.B. Kitaj...
. The film features Terence Stamp
Terence Stamp
Terence Henry Stamp is an English actor. Since starting his career in 1962 he has appeared in over 60 films. His title role as Billy Budd in his film debut earned Stamp an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor and a BAFTA nomination for Best Newcomer.His other major roles include...
, Lesley Ann Warren
Lesley Ann Warren
Lesley Ann Warren is an American actress and singer. She has been nominated once for an Academy Award and Emmy Awards and five times for Golden Globe, winning one....
, Luis Guzmán
Luis Guzmán
Luis Guzmán is an actor from Puerto Rico. He is known for his character work. For much of his career, he has played roles largely as sidekicks, thugs, or policemen....
, Peter Fonda
Peter Fonda
Peter Henry Fonda is an American actor. He is the son of Henry Fonda, brother of Jane Fonda, and father of Bridget and Justin Fonda...
and Barry Newman
Barry Newman
Barry Foster Newman is an American film, television, and stage actor, famous for his interpretation of Kowalski in the movie Vanishing Point. He has been nominated for a Golden Globe and Emmy awards.- Life and career :...
.
Filming locations included Big Sur
Big Sur
Big Sur is a sparsely populated region of the Central Coast of California where the Santa Lucia Mountains rise abruptly from the Pacific Ocean. The name "Big Sur" is derived from the original Spanish-language "el sur grande", meaning "the big south", or from "el país grande del sur", "the big...
and L.A.
Plot
Wilson, recently released from British prison, travels to Los AngelesLos Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
to investigate the death of his daughter Jenny, who is reported to have died in a car accident
Car accident
A traffic collision, also known as a traffic accident, motor vehicle collision, motor vehicle accident, car accident, automobile accident, Road Traffic Collision or car crash, occurs when a vehicle collides with another vehicle, pedestrian, animal, road debris, or other stationary obstruction,...
. While adjusting to the United States, he finds allies in Jenny's friends Eduardo and Elaine and comes up with a suspect: Jenny's boyfriend Terry Valentine, a record producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
. Valentine has connections with drug trafficking through his security consultant Avery. After locating the warehouse of the drug importer with whom Avery had done business, Wilson is overpowered and beaten by the drug trafficker's thugs, who also insult his daughter's name. After he is thrown out, Wilson retrieves a back-up pistol, goes back and kills all but one of the employees, shouting at the last to "Tell him I'm coming!" The employee relays this threat to Avery who reports it to Valentine.
Wilson reminisces with Elaine and Eduardo about his past relationship with his daughter, whom he only remembers as a child. As he recalls, Jenny always threatened to call the police when she found her father had committed crimes. He states she did not because she truly loved him. His criminal life put strain on his wife and child, but they never left him. He ended up in prison after the thieves he was associated with confessed to his involvement in their crimes.
Wilson and Eduardo infiltrate a party at Valentine's house, where Wilson searches for evidence. He finds and steals a picture of Jenny. Attracting suspicion from Avery, Wilson is accosted by a guard, who Wilson then throws over a ledge, killing him. Wilson and Eduardo flee, and are chased by Avery who shoots at them with a shotgun. Wilson rams Avery's car into a ditch and he and Eduardo escape, but not before Eduardo makes the mistake of calling out Wilson's name within Avery's hearing. Afterward, Avery hires an hit-man named Stacy (Katt), who tracks down Wilson and Elaine. DEA
Drug Enforcement Administration
The Drug Enforcement Administration is a federal law enforcement agency under the United States Department of Justice, tasked with combating drug smuggling and use within the United States...
agents prevent the attempted killing, and escort Wilson and Elaine to meet a DEA agent who is investigating Valentine. After the meeting it is clear the agent will not interfere with Wilson. Stacy and his partner then plot a double cross on Avery and Valentine.
Avery moves Valentine and his girlfriend to a safe house in Big Sur, with Wilson following them. That night, Avery's guards shoot an intruder, who is revealed to be Stacy. Avery and the guards engage in a shootout with Stacy's partner, resulting in several deaths. Valentine flees to the beach with Wilson in pursuit. After he falls and breaks his ankle on the rocks, Valentine admits that Jenny found out about his drug business and threatened to call the police. Attempting to restrain her, he accidentally broke her neck. Avery then staged her death as a car accident. Wilson is haunted, knowing that Jenny would not have turned him in. Wilson decides to return to London, saying goodbye to Elaine and Eduardo.
The narrative structure of the film is presented in disjointed flashbacks by Wilson during the plane trip home.
Cast
- Terence StampTerence StampTerence Henry Stamp is an English actor. Since starting his career in 1962 he has appeared in over 60 films. His title role as Billy Budd in his film debut earned Stamp an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor and a BAFTA nomination for Best Newcomer.His other major roles include...
as Wilson - Lesley Ann WarrenLesley Ann WarrenLesley Ann Warren is an American actress and singer. She has been nominated once for an Academy Award and Emmy Awards and five times for Golden Globe, winning one....
as Elaine - Luis GuzmánLuis GuzmánLuis Guzmán is an actor from Puerto Rico. He is known for his character work. For much of his career, he has played roles largely as sidekicks, thugs, or policemen....
as Eduardo Roel - Barry NewmanBarry NewmanBarry Foster Newman is an American film, television, and stage actor, famous for his interpretation of Kowalski in the movie Vanishing Point. He has been nominated for a Golden Globe and Emmy awards.- Life and career :...
as Jim Avery - Joe DallesandroJoe DallesandroJoseph Angelo D'Allesandro , better known as Joe Dallesandro, is an American actor, and Warhol superstar. Although he never became a mainstream film star, Dallesandro is generally considered to be the most famous male sex symbol of American underground films of the 20th century, as well as a sex...
as Uncle John - Nicky KattNicky KattNicholas Lea "Nicky" Katt is an American actor known for his role as unorthodox teacher Harry Senate on David E. Kelley's Fox drama Boston Public.-Career:...
as Stacy, the Hitman - Peter FondaPeter FondaPeter Henry Fonda is an American actor. He is the son of Henry Fonda, brother of Jane Fonda, and father of Bridget and Justin Fonda...
as Terry Valentine - Amelia HeinleAmelia HeinleAmelia March Heinle Luckinbill is an American actress best known for her roles in American soap operas.-Career:...
as Adhara - Melissa GeorgeMelissa GeorgeMelissa Suzanne George is an Australian film and television actress who has worked in Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States. Melissa is perhaps best known for her role as Angel Parrish on the Australian soap opera Home and Away...
as Jennifer 'Jenny' Wilson - William LuckingWilliam LuckingWilliam Lucking is an American film, television, and stage actor perhaps best known for his role as Piney Winston in the drama series Sons of Anarchy.-Film and television:...
as Warehouse Foreman - Steve Heinze as Larry (Valentine's Bodyguard)
- Nancy LenehanNancy LenehanNancy Lenehan is an American actress who has appeared in film and television since the 1980s. Her most recent starring role was on the short-lived sitcom Worst Week. She also co-starred as Sandy Kelly, the matriarch in the sitcom Married to the Kellys...
as Lady on plane - Bill DukeBill DukeWilliam Henry "Bill" Duke, Jr. is an American actor and film director with over 30 years of experience. Known for his physically imposing frame, Duke's work frequently dwells within the action/crime and drama genres but also includes comedy.-Early life:Duke was born in Poughkeepsie, New York, the...
as DEA Commanding Officer
Directing
Steven Soderbergh uses an atypical flashbackFlashback (narrative)
Flashback is an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point the story has reached. Flashbacks are often used to recount events that happened before the story’s primary sequence of events or to fill in crucial backstory...
sequence. It includes scenes from another Terence Stamp movie, Ken Loach's
Ken Loach
Kenneth "Ken" Loach is a Palme D'Or winning English film and television director.He is known for his naturalistic, social realist directing style and for his socialist beliefs, which are evident in his film treatment of social issues such as homelessness , labour rights and child abuse at the...
1967 directorial debut Poor Cow
Poor Cow
Poor Cow is a 1967 British drama film directed by Ken Loach, based on Nell Dunn's novel of the same name.Although Malcolm McDowell is listed in the credits on the commercial release of the film, the scenes in which he appeared were deleted....
. Soderbergh uses the scene to create a hazy back story. Wilson often speaks in a Cockney rhyming slang
Cockney rhyming slang
Rhyming slang is a form of phrase construction in the English language and is especially prevalent in dialectal British English from the East End of London; hence the alternative name, Cockney rhyming slang...
. The title refers to the American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
slang Limey, which refers to Briton
British people
The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...
s.
Editing
Film editor Sarah FlackSarah Flack
Sarah Flack is an American film editor. She is notable for collaborating extensively with American independent film directors Steven Soderbergh and Sofia Coppola .Flack's work on Lost in Translation won her the BAFTA Award for Best Editing...
utilizes a variety of unorthodox editing techniques in The Limey. The film frequently features dialogue and background sound from previous or future scenes juxtaposed with a current scene. Dialogue from one conversation, for instance, may find itself dispersed throughout the film, articulated for the first time long after its chronological moment has passed, as a sort of narrative flashback superimposed over later conversation, to complete a character's thought or punctuate a character's emphasis. Background sound may be disjointed in the film and shifted to enhance another scene by suggesting continuation, similarity, or dissimilarity, For example, Wilson is in a hotel
Hotel
A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. The provision of basic accommodation, in times past, consisting only of a room with a bed, a cupboard, a small table and a washstand has largely been replaced by rooms with modern facilities, including en-suite bathrooms...
room, and turns on the shower, and Wilson is in a plane looking out the window, and the shower can be heard.
Release
The Limey was first presented at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival1999 Cannes Film Festival
The 52nd Cannes Film Festival was held on May 12-23, 1999. The Palme d'Or went to the French-Belgian film Rosetta by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne.-Jury:* David Cronenberg * André Téchiné * Barbara Hendricks...
on May 15. It was also featured in various festivals including: the Toronto Film Festival, the Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema
Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema
The Buenos Aires Festival Internacional de Cine Independiente is an international festival of independent films organized each year in the month of April, in the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina.The festival is managed by the Ministerio de Cultura del Gobierno de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires, it is not...
, and the Hong Kong International Film Festival
Hong Kong International Film Festival
The Hong Kong International Film Festival is a platform for filmmakers, film professionals and filmgoers from all over the world to launch and experience new film work. There are seminars, conferences, exhibitions, and parties celebrating the festival community...
. It was released in the US on October 8, 1999 in a limited basis and did poorly at the box office. Its first week's gross was $187,122 (17 screens) and the total receipts for the run were $3,193,102. The Limey was in wide release for seventeen weeks (115 days). In its widest release the film was featured in 105 theaters across the country. Its gross paled in comparison to its $10 million budget, thus making the film a financial flop.
Critical response
Critical reception of The Limey was largely positive, with the review aggregator Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
reporting 92% of critics gave the film a positive review, based on seventy-nine reviews.
Edward Guthmann, film critic of the San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
, praised the direction, and film's screenplay, and wrote, "The Limey...is a first-rate crime thriller and further proof that Soderbergh is one of our great contemporary film stylists. Taut, imaginative and complex, this is one of the best American films of the year and a wonderful antidote to the numbing sameness of [some] movies." Critic Janet Maslin wrote of Terence Stamp's work, "Stamp plays the title role furiously, with single-minded intensity, wild blue eyes and a stentorian roar shown off in the film's early moments...Glimpses of young, dreamily beautiful Stamp and his no less imposing latter-day presence are used by Soderbergh with touching efficacy."
The film critic for Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
magazine, Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy is an American film critic and professor.-Life:Emanuel Levy began his studies at Tel Aviv University, where he received B.A. in sociology, anthropology and political science. He did graduate work in sociology, film, and culture studies at Columbia University, where he earned a Ph.D...
, lauded the crime drama and liked the direction of the picture, the acting, and the screenplay, yet thought the film "lacks secondary characters and subplots." He wrote, "The Limey, Steven Soderbergh's new crime picture, continues the helmer's artistic renewal, evident last year in the superbly realized "Out of Sight." Pic's most interesting element is the positioning of two icons of 1960s cinema, the very British Terence Stamp and the very American Peter Fonda, as longtime enemies in what's basically a routine revenge thriller...[and] one has no problem praising the bravura acting of the entire ensemble and the pic's impressive technical aspects. Warren, Guzman and Barry Newman give maturely restrained performances in line with the film's dominant texture. A supporting turn by Joe Dallessandro, Andy Warhol's and Paul Morrissey's regular, accentuates pic's reflexive nature as a commentary on a bygone era of filmmaking."
Awards
Won- Satellite AwardsSatellite AwardsThe Satellite Awards are an annual award given by the International Press Academy. The awards were originally known as the Golden Satellite Awards.- Film :*Best Actor – Drama*Best Actor – Musical or Comedy*Best Actress – Drama...
: Golden Satellite Award; Best Drama Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture, Terence Stamp; 2000.
External links
- The Limey essay comparing the film to The Third ManThe Third ManThe Third Man is a 1949 British film noir, directed by Carol Reed and starring Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, Orson Welles, and Trevor Howard. Many critics rank it as a masterpiece, particularly remembered for its atmospheric cinematography, performances, and unique musical score...
by Dan Schneider at Retort Magazine