Last Orders

PLOT

The title refers to a pub landlord's last call and the final wishes of a dying man, in this instance Jack Dodds (Michael Caine), an east London butcher who greatly influenced four men over the course of his flawed but decent life. The quartet gathers to scatter Jack's ashes in Margate, where he had hoped to retire to a small seaside cottage with his wife Amy (Helen Mirren), a dream that was never fulfilled.

The four are professional horse race gambler Ray Johnson (Bob Hoskins), aka Lucky, who fought beside Jack during World War II and has been his best friend since; former boxer Lenny (David Hemmings), who is always ready to settle an argument with his fists; undertaker Vic (Tom Courtenay) who acts as a buffer of sorts and Jack's son Vince (Ray Winstone), a dealer of used luxury cars, whose relationship with his father never quite recovered when, as a young boy, he learned his real family perished in a wartime bombing and Jack and Amy took in the orphaned infant and raised him as their own.

As the quartet journeys from London by car to honour Jack's request, with stops at Canterbury Cathedral, the Chatham Naval Memorial, the hop farm where Jack and Amy met and a couple of pubs, they reminisce about their friend.

Amy is on a journey of her own to visit their daughter June (Laura Morelli) who has learning difficulties and was institutionalized shortly after her birth fifty years earlier. Over the years Jack barely acknowledged her existence but Amy faithfully visited her weekly, even though June had no idea of who she was or why she visited.

Through frequent flashbacks that stretch across six decades, the stories of the events that brought these people to this point in their lives slowly unfold, ultimately revealing the importance of friendship and love.

CAST

Michael Caine ..... Jack Dodds

Tom Courtenay ..... Vic Tucker

David Hemmings ..... Lenny

Bob Hoskins ..... Ray Johnson

Helen Mirren ..... Amy Dodds

Ray Winstone ..... Vince Dodds

JJ Feild ..... Young Jack

Cameron Fitch ..... Young Vic

Nolan Hemmings ..... Young Lenny

Anatol Yusef ..... Young Ray

Kelly Reilly ..... Young Amy

Stephen McCole ..... Young Vince

Laura Morelli ..... June Dodds

George Innes ..... Bernie

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

based on the 1996 Booker Prize-winning novel Last Orders by Graham Swift.