Living Apart Together (1982)

 

Here’s one for the back catalogs:  PC’s first onscreen role.  It’s soooo ‘80s – like, devastatingly ‘80s – but it’s kind of fun, and I had a good time watching.

 

Ritchie Hannah is a rock star of the Next Big Thing variety, with a #1 single in his pocket and a tour in full swing.  However, when he returns home to Glasgow for a funeral, his strained marriage takes a nosedive.  His wife walks out on him, and Ritchie enlists the help of an old friend and a woman from his label to help him find her.

 

PC’s debut role is that of Joe, the wife’s boyfriend.  Besides his disregard for marriage vows, Joe is into music, likes a good time, and has some unsavory acquaintances.  He also has no qualms about flirting with a woman when her husband is in the room, despite his scrawny, non-intimidating appearance.

 

It’s a small role – most of the film is focused on Ritchie’s search, and so we only see Joe and the wife in a handful of scenes.  Still, it’s interesting to see PC at the start of his career.  That offbeat PC sensibility is there, but he’s more than a little over-the-top.  In Local Hero, made the same year, he’s worlds better.  Clearly, he learned to reign in some of his kookier tendencies until he had a better handle on them.

 

My favorite part of this movie is its use of music.  With a rock star protagonist, there are of course concert scenes and impromptu pub performances.  There’s also compositional tinkering, goof-off jam sessions, and absentminded melodizing.  Plus, Ritchie makes up some absolutely adorable numbers for his kids – love it.

 

Accent Watch

 

I think it might be RP.  It’s all over the place, but knowing how thick PC’s accent sounds in his early Scottish roles, he’s definitely putting on something, and I think it’s RP.

 

Recommend?

 

In General – Maybe.  Despite its extreme ‘80s-ness, it’s enjoyable.  Stories about the everyday lives of famous people are interesting to me, and the story is told playfully.

 

PC-wise – Not necessarily.  As PC’s cinematic origin, it makes for an intriguing watch, but he doesn’t have much screentime and he definitely hasn’t harnessed his acting-magic yet.

 

Warnings

 

Sexual content, drug references, and drinking.  A few mild scenes of violence and some incidental nudity (saunas, that kind of thing.)