The rise and rise of Michael Rimmer

UK 1970

Dir: Kevin Billington

94 mins

Cast: Peter Cook, Denholm Elliott, Arthur Lowe, John Cleese

Rating: PG

Some things definitely improve with age. The Rise And Rise Of Michael Rimmer, panned by contemporary reviewers as a latecomer to the swinging sixties' satirical ball, now appears, decades later, to be one of the most incisive, witty, and unnerving political/social satires ever captured on film. It's the finest celluloid outing of the great Peter Cook, managing to portray a character even more cutting and ruthless than his wily tempter Spiggott in 1967's Bedazzled.

... Despite appearing as a series of comic sketches (featuring the usual array of top-notch Brit talent) and having been part-scripted by Monty Python duo Cleese & Chapman and partly by Cook and director Kevin Billington, the movie dovetails superbly, every routine achieving the requisite laughs while keeping the sinister Machiavellian plot forging ahead. ...

Darrell Buxton, The spinning image

Peter Cook was arguably one of England's most brilliant, biting and wildly erratic comic talents. His longtime partnership with Dudley Moore beget the '67 cult masterpiece Bedazzled, hit live-shows like Beyond the fringe, and the still-uproarious British TV-series Not only ... but also, until Cook decided to break out on his own with this biting (and extremely prescient) political satire. Written by Cook, director Kevin Billington, and a pair of pre-Pythons -- Graham Chapman and John Cleese (who both pop up in very brief roles) -- this tale of one man's devious rise to power was so steadfastly British that the film was never released theatrically in the US.

Steven Puchalski, Shock Cinema

 ... In spite of its flaws it remains a film that demands repeated viewings. Fans of leftfield British comedy will no doubt seek the film out purely on the strength and reputation of its quite superb cast. I would also recommend the show to anybody who enjoys imaginative or offbeat British cinema from the early 1970s. Anybody with a soft spot for the likes of Lindsay Anderson's O Lucky Man or Robert Fuest's The Final Programme should find something of interest here.

Lee Broughton, DVD Talk