Take It or Leave It (1981)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Director:

Dave Robinson

Writers:

Phil McDonald (writer)
Dave Robinson (writer)

Genre:

Comedy | Documentary | Music

Tagline:

Madness, Madness, They Call It Madness

Plot:

Autobiographical account of the cult 80's British pop group Madness, with members of the group playing themselves...

Plot Keywords:

Reenactment

Cast

Graham 'Suggs' McPherson	...	Suggs
Mark Bedford	...	Bedders
Lee Thompson	...	Lee
Carl Smyth	...	Carl
Dan Woodgate	...	Woody
Chris Foreman	...	Chris
Mike Barson	...	Barso
John Hasler	...	Hasler
Simon Birdsall	...	Simon
Andrew Chalk	...	Chalky
Ian Tokins	...	Toke
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Sandra Barson	...	Barso's girl
Simon Bates	...	Radio 1 DJ (voice)
Keith Bell	...	Foreman #2
Ted Burnett	...	Vicar
Charles Cook	...	Policeman
Sean Curry	...	Policeman
Alfie Curtis	...	Vicar
Bob Curtiss	...	Saxophone teacher
Gary Dovey	...	Gary
Sue Foreman	...	Chris's wife
Wilfred Grove	...	Post office supervisor
Steve Holloway	...	Record shop manager
Carl Howard-Walsh	...	Dole clerk
Gerard Kelly	...	Dick the Ted
Doreen Keogh	...	Manager's wife
Clive Langer	...	Himself
Oswald Lindsay	...	Rasta guy
Barry Linehan	...	Dublin Castle Manager
Zoot Money	...	Publishing executive (as G.B. Zoot Money)
Steve O'Brien	...	Steve
Polly Perkins	...	Bedder's mum
John Simpkin	...	Pathway engineer
Mike Smart	...	Skinhead
Jeremy Stacey	...	Twin
Paul Stacey	...	Twin
Arthur Whybrow	...	Foreman #1

Also Known As:

Madness: Take It or Leave It (UK) (video box title)

Runtime:

85 min

Country:

UK

Color:

Color

Certification:

UK:A (original rating) | UK:PG (video rating)

Company:

Nutty Stiff Productions

Goofs:

Continuity: At the start of the scene where Mike is having breakfast with Chris, the level of milk in the milk bottle is just over half full, but in the next shot when Mike pours the milk into his cereal, suddenly the milk bottle is close to being full.

Strange film

This was a funny old film...I only glanced at it in a bargain bin where I bought it from and thought it was a documentary of the band from more recent times. However once I put it on it was truly baffling without any background context - at first I thought it was a documentary filmed at the actual time of them getting together (which would have been pretty amazing for a unheard of working class band in 1976 but not so nowadays with wall to wall "pop reality" shows). Then I thought for a while it was filmed now (i.e post 2000) and them playing themselves back then. Then I realised that it was actually a film of them in 1981 reenacting how they got together 3/4 years previously. Anyway the oddness of the concept aside....the acting is terrible and I think that adds to the "is this a documentary or a film ?" puzzle. But the true best bits for Madness fans are the gigs they perform in various London pubs - absolutely quality and guaranteed to get you moon-stomping around the front room. If you want an intellectual film about Madness and their vaudevillian contribution to the pop canon then this ain't it but if you want raw Madness "going off" in some packed London boozers then this is for you.