- Jubilee offer: spend £10 or more on any product sold by Amazon.co.uk on or before June 6 and you can buy The Diamond Jubilee A Classical Celebration Album for just £2.50 Here's how (terms and conditions apply)
Special Offers and Product Promotions
Frequently Bought Together
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Product details
|
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
23 of 23 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
At last this film is finally available on DVD. Directed by Philip Saville (Stop the World I Want to Get Off and British TV classics The Life and Loves of a She-Devil, Boys from the Blackstuff and Count Dracula) and written by Frank Clarke (Letter to Brezhnev, Blonde Fist). Clarke followed up the success of Letter to Brezhnev with this sentimental thriller, effectively a love story, which could have taken its themes from a Smiths album: sexual ambiguity, loss of innocence, shattered dreams and...animal rights. Set in Liverpool, Michael (Tony Forsyth), a rough and ready streetwise rent boy on the run from a youth detention centre, befriends Eddie (Emile Charles), a naive dreamer and camp teenager who lives for glamorous film stars and stories of his mum auditioning for John Schlesinger in the 60s - but the tales of his mum are as false as her blond hair. After homophobic abuse from his brutal dad, Eddie joins Michael on the streets and they find a welcome, along with Liverpool's other waifs and strays, at the eponymous Fruit Machine, a gay nightclub where Michael's butch charms win him first prize in an amateur strip contest. But they are forced to keep running after they witness the grisly gangland murder of Annabelle (Robbie Coltrane), hostess of the Fruit Machine, with a knowing nod to Some Like It Hot. The boys find succour (in more ways than one) in the entourage of Vincent (Robert Stephens), a famous opera tenor who invites them to come to Brighton in return for sexual favours from Michael, determined to keep his hustling a secret from Eddie, whom he loves because of his innocence, something Michael, brought up in care, has never had. The picture painted of the adult world is an ugly one: adult abuse of youth and innocence is a constant theme and Michael must not only satisfy Vincent, whilst ensuring that he keeps his hands off Eddie, but also Vincent's voracious assistant, Eve (the wonderful Clare Higgins). In Brighton the boys meet another misfit and run-away, a young girl animal rights activist, and Eddie joins in her protest against Wonderland, an aquarium where dolphins are kept in captivity and in whose plight Eddie sees reflections of his own. Eddie dreams of setting the dolphins free but the killer has followed the boys to Brighton and Eddie's dreams seem destined to bump up against harsh reality. A touching love story between two teenage boys, this is a classic British film from the 1980s and is not to be missed. Important to remember that the backdrop to this movie was the small-mindedness of Thatcher's Britain and Clause 28. A highly commendable and brave film. Not perfect, but very enjoyable.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
I think the error is with the printing and not the DVD transfer. I've had this film on video for years and am sure it's only in mono. Certainly there's no indication on the video box that it's in stereo...
Mind, it's a shame it isn't because the score is very atmospheric and most of the sequences would have benefitted from a stereo soundtrack.
But, hey, we're talking about a 1985 Granada TV film, so I'd be surprised if it was made in stereo.
I'm very disappointed at the lack of extras. Even just ten minutes to see the two leads 20 years on and a few of the directors thoughts would have been great and inexpensive to make.
The film isn't perfect, as has already been noted, but it's still one of my favourites linking two towns I love (one of which is my home town) and even a bit of opera and worth 5 stars to me.
Mind, it's a shame it isn't because the score is very atmospheric and most of the sequences would have benefitted from a stereo soundtrack.
But, hey, we're talking about a 1985 Granada TV film, so I'd be surprised if it was made in stereo.
I'm very disappointed at the lack of extras. Even just ten minutes to see the two leads 20 years on and a few of the directors thoughts would have been great and inexpensive to make.
The film isn't perfect, as has already been noted, but it's still one of my favourites linking two towns I love (one of which is my home town) and even a bit of opera and worth 5 stars to me.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
I had been waiting for years for this brilliant film to be released on DVD. Very much of its time (the late 80's) it is a tale of love between two teenage boys who witness a murder and go on the run. The two main stars Tony Forsyth and Emile Charles are brilliant in the roles, especially Charles who plays his role as rather shy and very naive. But upon buying this DVD, I found the sound absolutely appalling. We had to have the volume on FULL on the TV to barely hear it. And there are no subtitles. So if you are hard of hearing DO NOT buy this disc. Network should have taken more care in the release of this classic film. Shame on them!
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Was this review helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
The Fruit Machine DVD
Good product. Good copy.
The film "Wonderland" (aka "The FruitMachine") is a surprisingly dippy, imaginative romp involving two gay teenaged boys who happen to witness a... Read more
The film "Wonderland" (aka "The FruitMachine") is a surprisingly dippy, imaginative romp involving two gay teenaged boys who happen to witness a... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Bigboy
A classic thriller, for gays
Thank god this is on DVD! My boyfriend introduced me to this on video when we met and I loved it. A gay road movie where an innocent lad following his heart is led into danger, and... Read more
Published 16 months ago by tardisrider
Less of a Cherry; More of a Banana
It's been awhile since I saw a film so bad as this. It's not that it doesn't have some saving graces. Read more
Published 21 months ago by Nicholas Casley
Now Fruitier Than Ever!
"The FruitMachine" (aka "Wonderland") is a surprisingly dippy, imaginative romp involving two gay teenaged boys who happen to witness a gangland murder and are forced to flee... Read more
Published on 7 Sep 2009 by A. Hickman
The Fruit Maching AKA Wonderland
I fell in love with this film many years ago, and have been trying to find
it on dvd for some time. Read more
it on dvd for some time. Read more
Published on 21 July 2009 by Kenneth L. Owen
Rediscovered
I first saw this film many years ago and remembered the impact the main themes had on me at the time... Read more
Published on 18 Dec 2008 by J. Epton
Fantastic
Letter to Brezhnev was always going to be a hard act to follow but writer Frank Clarke did a fantastic job here. Read more
Published on 7 Aug 2008 by S. Hughes
Brilliant Gem of a film.
I remember buying a second hand copy of this film from a video store in the early 90's, and now finally 15 years later it finally available on DVD. Read more
Published on 8 April 2008 by Steven Bain
Quality issues with this DVD
This is one of my favourite movies and would receive five stars from me if the DVD didn't have the following issues:
1. Read more
1. Read more
Published on 5 Oct 2007 by lothda
the fruit machine
This film was on TV years ago, rather sad at how attractive young lads enter into selling themselves! Robbie Coltran as Annabel the TV was brilliant, a good film! worth a watch!
Published on 9 Aug 2007 by kenneth williams
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
