Jim Broadbent as Kempton Bunton, Helen Mirren as Dorothy Bunton in The Duke. Photo by Mike Eley, Bsc. Courtesy of Pathe UK. Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics.
In this delightful, true story-based, quirky comic tale, Jim Broadbent and Helen Mirren costar as a bickering couple in a tale of a working class Newcastle man with a plan to ransom a stolen painting, Goya’s portrait of the Duke of Wellington, to provide benefits for low-income retirees. Broadbent plays the rarely practical but idealistic man with the plan, while Helen Mirren stars as his long-suffering, more practical wife. The Duke focuses on a real 1961 incident in which a portrait of the Duke of Wellington by Francisco Goya, newly purchased by the British government for 140,000 pounds, was stolen from the national gallery, the first and so far only theft from the gallery to date. The authorities are convinced a professional ring of thieves,...
In this delightful, true story-based, quirky comic tale, Jim Broadbent and Helen Mirren costar as a bickering couple in a tale of a working class Newcastle man with a plan to ransom a stolen painting, Goya’s portrait of the Duke of Wellington, to provide benefits for low-income retirees. Broadbent plays the rarely practical but idealistic man with the plan, while Helen Mirren stars as his long-suffering, more practical wife. The Duke focuses on a real 1961 incident in which a portrait of the Duke of Wellington by Francisco Goya, newly purchased by the British government for 140,000 pounds, was stolen from the national gallery, the first and so far only theft from the gallery to date. The authorities are convinced a professional ring of thieves,...
- 4/29/2022
- by Cate Marquis
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
It’s a wild story of a British “Robin Hood” stealing from the government in 1961 to hopefully (and earnestly) compensate taxpayers who better deserved the funds set aside to stop a hostile takeover of ownership of Francisco Goya’s Portrait of the Duke of Wellington. Kempton Bunton (Jim Broadbent) had already gone on record (and served jailtime) for his efforts to end the BBC license fee being charged poor pensioners who simply wanted a television to connect with the fast-growing world outside their doors. With no one listening and constant talk about England having today’s equivalent of £3 million to stop a private collector from purchasing said painting, Bunton decides to cause a ruckus nobody can ignore: stealing and ransoming it for that same price. This time for charity.
The ordeal fascinated the nation because of how absurd the whole thing looked. Everyone assumed it was a professional thief who...
The ordeal fascinated the nation because of how absurd the whole thing looked. Everyone assumed it was a professional thief who...
- 4/19/2022
- by Jared Mobarak
- The Film Stage
Jim Broadbent and Helen Mirren are not just thespian royalty in the UK, they have both been crowned winners at previous Venice festivals: Mirren for her regal performance in Stephen Frears’ The Queen and Broadbent for his portrayal of W. S. Gilbert in Mike Leigh’s Topsy Turvy. Together, they appear in The Duke, Roger Michell’s highly entertaining spin on a remarkable true story from 1960s Britain.
The duke in question is the Duke of Wellington, specifically a portrait painted by Goya that was purchased for £140,000 by the British government in 1961 in order for it to remain in the country. The purchase is all over the news and throngs of visitors make their way to the National Gallery in London to view it.
But this tale does not take place in the soon to be swinging capital. The setting is Newcastle upon Tyne, home to the garrulous Kempton Bunton (Broadbent) and his long-suffering wife,...
The duke in question is the Duke of Wellington, specifically a portrait painted by Goya that was purchased for £140,000 by the British government in 1961 in order for it to remain in the country. The purchase is all over the news and throngs of visitors make their way to the National Gallery in London to view it.
But this tale does not take place in the soon to be swinging capital. The setting is Newcastle upon Tyne, home to the garrulous Kempton Bunton (Broadbent) and his long-suffering wife,...
- 9/6/2020
- by Jo-Ann Titmarsh
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
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