Rating: NR
Genre:
Comedy
Release Date: 09/17/2002
SubTitles: English/French/Espanol
Sound: 1
Run Time: 85 Minutes
Flags: Questionable for Children
Distributor/Studio: MGM
Colin (
Michael Crawford, who much later won a Tony Award for his role in Broadway's
Phantom of the Opera) is an uptight schoolteacher whose housemate,
Tolen (
Ray Brooks) is a consummate womanizer.
Colin imagines a long line of young women in tight white sweaters on his stairwell, waiting to get into
Tolen's room. Jealous of
Tolen's incredible success with the ladies,
Colin asks
Tolen for advice on how to get a girl. When
Tolen's advice doesn't seem very practical,
Colin decides that his first order of business is to get a bigger bed.
Colin is also trying to find a third roommate to take a spare room.
Tom (
Donal Donnelly), who seems compelled to paint everything in sight, happens by the house, and inserts himself in the spare room without so much as saying "hello."
Nancy (
Rita Tushingham of
A Taste of Honey) is new in town, and wanders the streets of London in a fruitless search for the YWCA. She runs into
Colin and
Tom at the dump, where they are procuring a gigantic bed. They offer her a ride, and proceed to race through London on the bed.
Colin seems too shy to speak much to
Nancy, despite
Tom's encouragement. Eventually, the trio reach
Colin's house, where
Tolen works his gruff magic on
Nancy, and havoc ensues. Capturing late 1960s London in black-and-white,
Richard Lester's
The Knack. . .and How to Get It was released between the director's two successes with the Beatles,
A Hard Day's Night and
Help. The script, by
Charles Wood (
An Awfully Big Adventure) is based on a play by
Ann Jellicoe. Future stars
Jacqueline Bisset,
Charlotte Rampling, and
Jane Birkin appear briefly amid all the attractive young women in the film.
~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
Cart 0 items
