Plunkett & Macleane

Year of release : 1999

Run time : 1h42m

Genre : Action / Adventure

Cast : Jonny Lee Miller, Robert Carlyle, Liv Tyler, Alan Cumming

The British historical action comedy was inspired by the lives of highwaymen of the XVIIIth century, James MacLaine and William Plunkett.

Captain James Macleane is put in the KnightsBridge Debtors' Jail for being drunk and disturbing the king's peace, until he's sober.

Waiting to get sober, his cell is hit by the wheel of a carriage, and he soon sees a thief who swallows a ruby, before being caught by the sadist general Chance ,who k1lls him.

Macleane waits for them to bury him, and at night, he digs up his grave to get the ruby. He is caught by the thief's accomplice, Plunkett, who makes him do the work for him, and takes the ruby. Being caught by soldiers, Plunkett swallows the ruby (yuk!) and are being taken to jail.

While in Newgate Prison, Plunkett proposes Macleane a deal, after they buy their way out with the ruby he swallowed. See, Macleane is a socialite in the high society, and Plunkett wants to form a partnership, using his criminal skills to rob the right people, aka the richest.

Macleane agrees, and with the little money he has, Plunkett buys Macleane good clothes, and a good room they both live in. Problem is, the things they steal are fakes, and the money they steal, Macleane loses ,as he has a gambling problem.

Due to their thievery, they become the most wanted men in England, named the "Gentlemen highwaymen".

Macleane falls for lady Rebecca, the nice of lord Gibson, and the first people they rob. Lady Rebecca realizes it's him who robbed them from the getgo, somehow. Lady Rebecca has a suitor in the sadist general Chance, who loves to t0rture thieves and inferiors by g0uging their eyes, and b3at women up.

This was one of my favorite movies, about 20 years ago, when I first watched it. Last night I didn't like it as much.

The movie was entertaining, though, the colors, the clothes (I do hated the men's wigs and makeup) and jewelry were beautiful , and it had a good story. I liked the cinematography, the way it was shot.

What bothered me was that Macleane couldn't help himself from wasting the money, and sleeping around, while saying he loved Lady Rebecca. Also, they implied rich women liked to be robbed by them, which I find unlikely.

Plunkett seemed to have been the brain behind everything, as he wanted to make money to buy tickets to the new world, British North America, but couldn't do much, as Macleane wasted the money on drinks, clothes and gambling.

The visual effects, like the hangings, were good.

The soundtrack by Craig Armstrong, was good, at the beginning it was funny (the songs have lyrics), and towards the end was somber, including choirs. I realized that the Hanging / Escape song I discovered more than 10 years ago on YouTube, that I love, is actually from this movie!

The movie received negative reviews,although the audiences liked it, developing a cult following, and grossed 3 million pounds at the box office against a budget of 8.4 million.

The movie is streaming on Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, Sky Store.

Rating : Worth a watch !