The Full Monty is a 1997 British
comedy filmComedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...
directed by
Peter CattaneoPeter Cattaneo was born in 1964 in Twickenham, London. He is a two-time Academy Award-nominated English filmmaker most famous for directing the hit British film The Full Monty. He also directed 2005's Opal Dream.-Filmography:-External links:...
, starring
Robert CarlyleRobert Carlyle, OBE is a Scottish film and television actor. He is known for a variety of roles including those in Trainspotting, Hamish Macbeth, The Full Monty, The World Is Not Enough, Angela's Ashes, The 51st State, and 28 Weeks Later...
,
Mark AddyMark Addy Johnson is an English actor, best known for his roles as Detective Constable Gary Boyle in the UK sitcom The Thin Blue Line, Dave in the British film The Full Monty, father Bill Miller in the U.S...
,
William SnapeWilliam Snape is an actor, perhaps most notable for playing Gaz's son Nathan in the British comedy The Full Monty.Snape was born in Sheffield on 17 April 1985...
,
Steve HuisonSteve Huison , is a British actor, mostly on TV and occasional films. He trained at the Rose Bruford College in Sidcup. He is best known for his role as "Lomper" in the massively successful UK box-office and critical hit The Full Monty . He also appeared in a Ken Loach film The Navigators, made in...
,
Tom WilkinsonThomas Geoffrey "Tom" Wilkinson, OBE is a British actor. He has twice been nominated for an Academy Award for his roles in In the Bedroom and Michael Clayton...
, Paul Barber, and
Hugo SpeerHugo Speer is an English actor.He was born in Harrogate, Yorkshire, and educated at Harrogate Grammar School. He studied acting at The Arts Educational School....
. The screenplay was written by
Simon BeaufoySimon Beaufoy is a British screenwriter. Born in Keighley, he was educated at Malsis School in Cross Hills, Ermysted's Grammar School and Sedbergh School, he read English at St Peter's College, Oxford and graduated from The Arts Institute at Bournemouth...
. The film is set in
SheffieldSheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...
, England, and it tells the story of six unemployed men, four of them former steel workers, who decide to form a male
stripteaseA striptease is an erotic or exotic dance in which the performer gradually undresses, either partly or completely, in a seductive and sexually suggestive manner...
act (à la Chippendale dancers) in order to gather enough money to get somewhere else and for main character, Gaz, to be able to see his son. Gaz declares that their show will be better than the Chippendales dancers because they will go "the full monty" —
stripA striptease is an erotic or exotic dance in which the performer gradually undresses, either partly or completely, in a seductive and sexually suggestive manner...
all the way — hence the film's title. Despite being a comedy, the film also touches on serious subjects such as
unemploymentUnemployment , as defined by the International Labour Organization, occurs when people are without jobs and they have actively sought work within the past four weeks...
,
fathers' rightsThe fathers' rights movement is a movement whose members are primarily interested in issues related to family law, including child custody and child support that affect fathers and their children. Many of its members are fathers who desire to share the parenting of their children equally with their...
,
depressionMajor depressive disorder is a mental disorder characterized by an all-encompassing low mood accompanied by low self-esteem, and by loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities...
, impotence,
homosexualityHomosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
,
working classWorking class is a term used in the social sciences and in ordinary conversation to describe those employed in lower tier jobs , often extending to those in unemployment or otherwise possessing below-average incomes...
culture and
suicideSuicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
. The film was rated a 15 in Britain for frequent strong language.
The Full Monty is a 1997 British
comedy filmComedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...
directed by
Peter CattaneoPeter Cattaneo was born in 1964 in Twickenham, London. He is a two-time Academy Award-nominated English filmmaker most famous for directing the hit British film The Full Monty. He also directed 2005's Opal Dream.-Filmography:-External links:...
, starring
Robert CarlyleRobert Carlyle, OBE is a Scottish film and television actor. He is known for a variety of roles including those in Trainspotting, Hamish Macbeth, The Full Monty, The World Is Not Enough, Angela's Ashes, The 51st State, and 28 Weeks Later...
,
Mark AddyMark Addy Johnson is an English actor, best known for his roles as Detective Constable Gary Boyle in the UK sitcom The Thin Blue Line, Dave in the British film The Full Monty, father Bill Miller in the U.S...
,
William SnapeWilliam Snape is an actor, perhaps most notable for playing Gaz's son Nathan in the British comedy The Full Monty.Snape was born in Sheffield on 17 April 1985...
,
Steve HuisonSteve Huison , is a British actor, mostly on TV and occasional films. He trained at the Rose Bruford College in Sidcup. He is best known for his role as "Lomper" in the massively successful UK box-office and critical hit The Full Monty . He also appeared in a Ken Loach film The Navigators, made in...
,
Tom WilkinsonThomas Geoffrey "Tom" Wilkinson, OBE is a British actor. He has twice been nominated for an Academy Award for his roles in In the Bedroom and Michael Clayton...
, Paul Barber, and
Hugo SpeerHugo Speer is an English actor.He was born in Harrogate, Yorkshire, and educated at Harrogate Grammar School. He studied acting at The Arts Educational School....
. The screenplay was written by
Simon BeaufoySimon Beaufoy is a British screenwriter. Born in Keighley, he was educated at Malsis School in Cross Hills, Ermysted's Grammar School and Sedbergh School, he read English at St Peter's College, Oxford and graduated from The Arts Institute at Bournemouth...
. The film is set in
SheffieldSheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...
, England, and it tells the story of six unemployed men, four of them former steel workers, who decide to form a male
stripteaseA striptease is an erotic or exotic dance in which the performer gradually undresses, either partly or completely, in a seductive and sexually suggestive manner...
act (à la Chippendale dancers) in order to gather enough money to get somewhere else and for main character, Gaz, to be able to see his son. Gaz declares that their show will be better than the Chippendales dancers because they will go "the full monty" —
stripA striptease is an erotic or exotic dance in which the performer gradually undresses, either partly or completely, in a seductive and sexually suggestive manner...
all the way — hence the film's title. Despite being a comedy, the film also touches on serious subjects such as
unemploymentUnemployment , as defined by the International Labour Organization, occurs when people are without jobs and they have actively sought work within the past four weeks...
,
fathers' rightsThe fathers' rights movement is a movement whose members are primarily interested in issues related to family law, including child custody and child support that affect fathers and their children. Many of its members are fathers who desire to share the parenting of their children equally with their...
,
depressionMajor depressive disorder is a mental disorder characterized by an all-encompassing low mood accompanied by low self-esteem, and by loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities...
, impotence,
homosexualityHomosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
,
working classWorking class is a term used in the social sciences and in ordinary conversation to describe those employed in lower tier jobs , often extending to those in unemployment or otherwise possessing below-average incomes...
culture and
suicideSuicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
. The film was rated a 15 in Britain for frequent strong language.
The Full Monty was a critical success upon release and an unexpected international commercial success, grossing over $250m from a budget of only $3.5m.
Plot
The once-successful steel mills of Sheffield, England have shut down and most of the employees have been laid off. Former steel workers Gary "Gaz" Schofield (
Robert CarlyleRobert Carlyle, OBE is a Scottish film and television actor. He is known for a variety of roles including those in Trainspotting, Hamish Macbeth, The Full Monty, The World Is Not Enough, Angela's Ashes, The 51st State, and 28 Weeks Later...
) and Dave Horsefall (
Mark AddyMark Addy Johnson is an English actor, best known for his roles as Detective Constable Gary Boyle in the UK sitcom The Thin Blue Line, Dave in the British film The Full Monty, father Bill Miller in the U.S...
) have resorted to stealing scrap metal from the abandoned mills to sell.
Gaz is facing trouble from his ex wife over
child supportIn family law and public policy, child support is an ongoing, periodic payment made by a parent for the financial benefit of a child following the end of a marriage or other relationship...
payments that he's failed to make since losing his job. Gaz's son, Nathan (
William SnapeWilliam Snape is an actor, perhaps most notable for playing Gaz's son Nathan in the British comedy The Full Monty.Snape was born in Sheffield on 17 April 1985...
), loves his father but wishes they could do more "normal stuff" in their time together.
One day, Gaz spots a crowd of women lined up outside a local club to see a Chippendale's strip tease act. He gets the idea to form his own strip tease group using local men in hopes of making enough money to pay off his child support obligations. The first to join the group is Lomper (
Steve HuisonSteve Huison , is a British actor, mostly on TV and occasional films. He trained at the Rose Bruford College in Sidcup. He is best known for his role as "Lomper" in the massively successful UK box-office and critical hit The Full Monty . He also appeared in a Ken Loach film The Navigators, made in...
), a security guard at Harrison's, the steel mill where Dave and Gaz once worked. After finally being laid off Lomper attempts to commit suicide but is rescued by Dave who convinces him to join the group. Next they recruit Gerald Cooper (
Tom WilkinsonThomas Geoffrey "Tom" Wilkinson, OBE is a British actor. He has twice been nominated for an Academy Award for his roles in In the Bedroom and Michael Clayton...
), a former manager at the plant, who has been hiding from his wife the fact that he's been laid off. Gaz and Dave see Gerald and his wife at a dance class and recruit him to teach them some actual dance moves.
The four men hold an open audition to recruit more members and settle on Horse (Paul Barber) an older man who is nevertheless a good dancer and Guy (
Hugo SpeerHugo Speer is an English actor.He was born in Harrogate, Yorkshire, and educated at Harrogate Grammar School. He studied acting at The Arts Educational School....
) who can't dance but turns out to be very well endowed. As the men practice, doubts continue to creep in about whether this is the best way to make some money, due to their individual insecurities over their appearances. When the men are approached on the street by local women who have heard of their show, Gaz declares that their show will be better than the Chippendales dancers because they'll go "
the Full MontyThe full monty is a British slang phrase of uncertain origin. It is generally used to mean "everything which is necessary, appropriate, or possible; ‘the works’", and has been in common usage in the north of England for many years; the 1982 Yellow Pages for Manchester listed both a "Full Monty...
" and remove all their clothes. Dave quits less than a week before the show, deprecating himself as a 'fat bastard' whom no one would want to see in the nude - including his wife, Jean.
The rest of the group hold a dress rehearsal in front of some of Horse's family but are interrupted near the end as the police bust in to arrest them for indecent exposure. Lomper and Guy manage to escape, stealing some clothes from a nearby yard and then hiding in Lomper's house where they share a kiss. The arrested men are eventually released when security camera footage shows that they were indeed rehearsing an act. The group takes a further hit in confidence when Lomper's aged mother unexpectedly dies, Gerald's wife discovers that he has lost his job, and Gaz's ex seeks full custody of their son in the wake of his arrest. The men have become more self-conscious about their actions since news of their plan has become public knowledge.
With the group facing various troubles Gaz intends to call off the show but is informed by the club owner that he has already sold a large number of tickets to see their act. Gaz jubilantly informs the other members of the group but Dave still refuses to perform.
With not much left to lose, and a sold-out show, the men decide to go for it for one night. Dave, having re-gained his confidence with help from his wife, joins the rest of the group minutes before they go on stage. However, Gaz himself refuses to do it even when Nathan, who has secretly come, tells him that his ex-wife was there. Nathan later forces his hand and Gaz, proud of his son, performs in front of the audience and his ex-wife who seems to see him in a new light. The film ends with the group on stage in front of a packed house, stripping to
Tom JonesSir Thomas John Woodward, OBE , known by his stage name Tom Jones, is a Welsh singer.Since the mid 1960s, Jones has sung many styles of popular music – pop, rock, R&B, show tunes, country, dance, techno, soul and gospel – and sold over 100 million records...
' version of
You Can Leave Your Hat On"You Can Leave Your Hat On" is a song written by Randy Newman and appearing on his 1972 album Sail Away. It was made famous by Joe Cocker when featured in the 1986 Adrian Lyne film 9½ Weeks during the striptease scene....
(their hats being the final item removed).
Cast
- Robert Carlyle
Robert Carlyle, OBE is a Scottish film and television actor. He is known for a variety of roles including those in Trainspotting, Hamish Macbeth, The Full Monty, The World Is Not Enough, Angela's Ashes, The 51st State, and 28 Weeks Later...
as Gaz
- Mark Addy
Mark Addy Johnson is an English actor, best known for his roles as Detective Constable Gary Boyle in the UK sitcom The Thin Blue Line, Dave in the British film The Full Monty, father Bill Miller in the U.S...
as Dave
- William Snape
William Snape is an actor, perhaps most notable for playing Gaz's son Nathan in the British comedy The Full Monty.Snape was born in Sheffield on 17 April 1985...
as Nathan
- Steve Huison
Steve Huison , is a British actor, mostly on TV and occasional films. He trained at the Rose Bruford College in Sidcup. He is best known for his role as "Lomper" in the massively successful UK box-office and critical hit The Full Monty . He also appeared in a Ken Loach film The Navigators, made in...
as Lomper
- Tom Wilkinson
Thomas Geoffrey "Tom" Wilkinson, OBE is a British actor. He has twice been nominated for an Academy Award for his roles in In the Bedroom and Michael Clayton...
as Gerald
- Paul Barber as Horse
- Hugo Speer
Hugo Speer is an English actor.He was born in Harrogate, Yorkshire, and educated at Harrogate Grammar School. He studied acting at The Arts Educational School....
as Guy
- Lesley Sharp
Lesley Sharp is an English stage, film and television actress, particularly well known for her variety of British television roles including Clocking Off, Bob & Rose and afterlife.-Early life:...
as Jean
- Emily Woof
Emily Woof , is an English actress and author, known for her roles in such films as The Full Monty, The Woodlanders, Velvet Goldmine, Wondrous Oblivion, Silent Cry and The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse....
as Mandy
- Deirdre Costello as Linda
- Paul Butterworth as Barry
- Dave Hill
David "Dave" Hill is a British actor. He was born in Skipton, North Yorkshire. He attended Ermysted's Grammar School for boys in Skipton. He has appeared in The Full Monty as well as many other TV series and films...
as Alan
- Bruce Jones as Reg
- Andrew Livingston as Terry
- Vinny Dhillon as Sharon
Production
The famous "
Hot Stuff"Hot Stuff" is a hit single released by American singer Donna Summer in 1979 as the first single release from her Bad Girls album through Casablanca Records...
" scene, in which the characters dance in the queue at the job centre, was originally going to be cut from the final production as it was "too unrealistic".
The cast allegedly agreed that all six of them would really do the "full monty" strip at the end in front of 400 extras, provided they had to do only one take. Therefore, the choreographer, Suzanne Darley-Grand, was hiding in front of the stage, just beyond the camera view, screaming directions at the cast during the closing scene.
Language
The film features frequent use of British
slangSlang is the use of informal words and expressions that are not considered standard in the speaker's language or dialect but are considered more acceptable when used socially. Slang is often to be found in areas of the lexicon that refer to things considered taboo...
, and in particular the slang of
SheffieldSheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...
.
The film's title is a phrase generally used in the UK to mean 'the whole lot', or 'the whole hog'; in the film, the characters use it to refer to full nudity — as Horse says, "No one said anything to me about the full monty!"
Other slang terms are used in the film. Some such as
neshNesh is an English dialect adjective meaning unusually susceptible to cold weather and there is no synonym for this use. Usage has been recorded in Cheshire, Staffordshire, the East Midlands, Lancashire, South Yorkshire, Derbyshire and Shropshire....
(meaning a person unusually susceptible to cold) are used in
Northern EnglandNorthern England, also known as the North of England, the North or the North Country, is a cultural region of England. It is not an official government region, but rather an informal amalgamation of counties. The southern extent of the region is roughly the River Trent, while the North is bordered...
as a whole.
Jennel (an
alleyAn alley or alleyway is a narrow lane found in urban areas, often for pedestrians only, which usually runs between or behind buildings. In older cities and towns in Europe, alleys are often what is left of a medieval street network, or a right of way or ancient footpath in an urban setting...
) is local to Sheffield: it is a variation on the word "ginnel", which is in full versions of the Oxford Dictionary and is used in many parts of England.
Reception
The film surprised the critics when it was first released, earning mostly positive reviews. Review aggregate
Rotten TomatoesRotten 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...
reports that 95% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 40 reviews, with an average score of 7.6/10, and went on to be nominated for the
Academy Award for Best PictureThe Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to artists working in the motion picture industry. The Best Picture category is the only category in which every member of the Academy is eligible not only...
.
Controversy
New Zealand playwrights
Anthony McCarten-Biography:Born in 1961 in New Plymouth, Anthony McCarten's novels have been translated into 14 languages. His first novel, Spinners , was voted one of the top ten novels of that year by Esquire magazine. His third novel, Death Of A Superhero, won the 2008 Austrian Youth Literature Prize and was a...
and Stephen Sinclair filed a £180,000,000 lawsuit against the producers of
The Full Monty in 1998. They claim that the movie blatantly infringed on their play
Ladies NightLadies' Night, a play by the New Zealand writers Stephen Sinclair and Anthony McCarten about a group of unemployed workers who develop a male strip show. It was first performed in December 1987 at Auckland's Mercury Theatre and has been described as the most commercially successful play in New...
, which toured both Britain and New Zealand. Anthony McCarten and Stephen Sinclair created a website containing their play in response to statements from the producers of
The Full Monty that claimed the two productions were not alike. The underlying rights were attributed to co-producer, Paul Bucknor, and the lawsuit was settled out of court; as part of the agreement, the website containing
Ladies Night was shut down.
Awards and recognition
The Full Monty won the
BAFTA Award for Best FilmThis page lists the winners and nominees for the BAFTA Award for Best Film, BAFTA Award for Best Film not in the English Language and Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film for each year, in addition to the retired earlier versions of those awards...
in 1997, beating out presumed frontrunners
Titanic and
L.A ConfidentialL.A. Confidential is a 1997 American film based on James Ellroy's 1990 novel of the same title, the third book in his L.A. Quartet. Both the book and the film tell the story of a group of LAPD officers in the 1950s, and the intersection of police corruption and Hollywood celebrity...
, and Carlyle won the
BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading RoleBest Actor in a Leading Role is a British Academy Film award presented annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding leading performance in a film.-Superlatives:...
. It was nominated for a total of four Academy Awards:
Best PictureThe Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to artists working in the motion picture industry. The Best Picture category is the only category in which every member of the Academy is eligible not only...
,
Best DirectorThe Academy Award for Achievement in Directing , usually known as the Best Director Oscar, is one of the Awards of Merit presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to directors working in the motion picture industry...
,
Best Original Music ScoreThe Academy Award for Original Score is presented to the best substantial body of music in the form of dramatic underscoring written specifically for the film by the submitting composer.-Superlatives:...
, and Best Original Screenplay. In 1997 the
Academy Award for Best Original ScoreThe Academy Award for Original Score is presented to the best substantial body of music in the form of dramatic underscoring written specifically for the film by the submitting composer.-Superlatives:...
was split up into two categories: Dramatic and Musical or Comedy. In light of 1997's big winner,
TitanicTitanic is a 1997 American epic romance and disaster film directed, written, co-produced, and co-edited by James Cameron. A fictionalized account of the sinking of the RMS Titanic, it stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Jack Dawson, Kate Winslet as Rose DeWitt Bukater and Billy Zane as Rose's fiancé, Cal...
, the movie won only the Oscar for Best Original Music Score (Musical or Comedy) by
Anne DudleyAnne Dudley is an English composer and pop musician, and was the first BBC Concert Orchestra's Composer in Association in 2001. She has worked in both the classical and pop genres. She is perhaps best known, however, as one of the core members of the synthpop band Art of Noise and also as a film...
, with the Best Picture and Best Director Oscars going to
Titanic and its director
James CameronJames Francis Cameron is a Canadian-American film director, film producer, screenwriter, editor, environmentalist and inventor...
, and the Best Original Screenplay Oscar going to
Ben AffleckBenjamin Géza Affleck-Boldt , better known as Ben Affleck, is an American actor, film director, writer, and producer. He became known with his performances in Kevin Smith's films such as Mallrats and Chasing Amy...
and
Matt DamonMatthew Paige "Matt" Damon is an American actor, screenwriter, and philanthropist whose career was launched following the success of the film Good Will Hunting , from a screenplay he co-wrote with friend Ben Affleck...
for
Good Will HuntingGood Will Hunting is a 1997 drama film directed by Gus Van Sant and starring Matt Damon, Robin Williams, Ben Affleck, Minnie Driver, and Stellan Skarsgård...
.
In 2000, readers of
Total FilmTotal Film is a British film magazine published 13 times a year by Future Publishing. The magazine was launched in 1997 and offers film, DVD and Blu-ray news, reviews and features...
magazine voted
The Full Monty the 49th greatest comedy film of all time.
The Reel Monty
The opening sequence of the Sheffield promotion film from 1971 is taken from
City on the Move, a film commissioned by Peter Wigley, Sheffield's first ever publicity officer, to convince people that Sheffield was a centre for tourism and commerce.
City on the Move was produced and directed by Jim and Marie-Luise Coulthard and showed a modern thriving city that was rapidly developing thanks to the successful steel industry in Sheffield. However, the film went virtually unnoticed until the Coulthards were approached about some of the footage being included in
The Full Monty for a payment of £400, which they accepted. In 2008,
City on the Move was released on DVD under the new name
The Reel Monty.
Stage adaptation
The film was adapted into a 2000
BroadwayBroadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
musicalMusical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
of the same name; the characters and setting were Americanised.
External links