Rent The Gravy Train Goes East (1991)
3.9 of 5 from 50 ratings
3h 35min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
A second, post-glasnost slice of Malcolm Bradbury's 'The Gravy Train', the breezy satire about sleazy goings-on at the heart of Europe. When the newly independent, freshly post-communist Eastern European enclave of Slaka appoints romantic novelist Katya Princip (Francesca Annis) as president, she pledges to push for entry to the European Union and plunder the fruits of the free market. But can an economy based on tin and beetroot (and tinned beetroot), ever be fit to join the gravy train? The answer may lie in the hapless figure of Hans Joachim Dorfmann (Christopher Waltz), pioneer of glasnost with plums in 'The Gravy Train', who is whisked back to Brussels to pit his wits against familiar friends and foes, as well as new inscrutable chancers. As Dorfmann tours Slaka with the mysterious Galina Vitali (Cécile Paoli), who tells him about a missing Slakan fortune, it becomes clear that the whole country, from church and academia to the core of government, is rife with corruption. And with flip-flopping business agent Ferenc Plitplov (Roger Lloyd Pack) also circling, Dorfmann and his higher-ups are in ever deeper danger. - Actors:
- Francesca Annis, András Bálint, Jeremy Child, John Dicks, Henry Goodman, Frigyes Hollósi, Janek Lesniak, Roger Lloyd-Pack, Cécile Paoli, Ian Richardson, Jacques Sereys, James Villiers, Christoph Waltz, Anita Zagaria, Carol Gillies, Trevor Peacock, Mark Rogerson, Timea Jahusz, Antal Leisen, Zsuzsa Mányai
- Directors:
- James Cellan Jones
- Producers:
- Philip Hinchcliffe, Ian Warren
- Writers:
- Malcolm Bradbury
- Studio:
- Simply Media
- Genres:
- British TV, TV Comedies, TV Political, TV Romance
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Reviews (1) of The Gravy Train Goes East
Slaka gains independence - The Gravy Train Goes East review by BN
4 episodes, 2 discs
It took a while to get going but glad I persevered as I found this one very funny.
The writer Malcolm Bradbury (also of the hysterical series IN THE RED) shows up the corruption of both the EEC and the newly independent tiny eastern European state of Slaka who desperately wants entry to the EU although it produces only tin and beetroot, so tinned beetroot is its only claim to fame.
Corruption everywhere is rife. Bradbury injects loads of visual and language gags into the almost insane pride in a country that really has very little.
- New president is a novelist, the gorgeous Francesca Annis.
- Ian Richardson plays very nearly the same persona from the previous House of Cards, only his disapproving expressions are a lot funnier.
-Carol Gillies as the stewardess on the national Comflug airlines is like the stewardesses on YouTube's skit Yorkshire Airlines ("put up, belt up and if ya can't see the &£#@ exits ya must be *** blind!" ) The Slakan language seems to be very akin to Italian, so much of her ostensibly incomprehensible lines are actually intelligible!
- Christoph Waltz as a somewhat inept banker is sent out from Brussels to sort out the countries finances but the corrupt officials on both sides keep kidnapping him to scupper proceedings
- Judy Parfitt races a clapped out yellow Mini around London knocking down signs
- She's desperate to get her husband (Richardson) back to blighty from Brussels before retirement to have a crack at elevation to a knighthood
- Roger Lloyd Pack has a little scam of his own going
- Jeremy Child from the British Embassy admits he still can't get the hang of driving on the Right even after living in Slaka for 11 years and insists on the wipers and hubcaps being removed every time he parks, supposedly due to pilfering, despite the fact he says the country has few cars
- His wife Maggie Steed is bored witless and constantly emasculates her husband in front of him when a new man arrives
- Trevor Peacock the priest hits on a surefire moneymaking scheme, charging $10 a pop to view the place in his rundown church where the miracle of the disabled girl who stood up and walked took place. On the scaffolding for the renovations hangs a sign about the builders, including contributions by Taylorim Woodrow.
Try it. A little gem. I might even view this one again.
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