The Timidity of the Loverat
Encyclopedia
The Timidity of the Loverat (also known as simply The Timidity) is a 1983 British
drama
film based on the novel The Story of Johnny and Ron. It was written by Si Chadwick, produced by Harrison Keyes and Richard Silberman and directed by Harrison Keyes. The film starred Phil Daniels
and John Altman as the two main characters Johnny Hitchcock and Ron Martini. It also stars Nicole Kidman
, Michael Elphick
, Mike Reid
, Lesley Ann Warren
, Gary Holton
, Steve McFadden
, Adrienne Barbeau
, Vernon Wells
, Roxanne Hart
, Jim Broadbent
and Ray Winstone
.
) is driving back to his fictional home town of Grayson East in England
having just been visiting his ill cousin in Liverpool
. However, he is forced to stop by the local gang led by Johnny's rival Denver Devlin (Michael Elphick
) and consisting of his girlfriend Chrissie (Roxanne Hart
), his apparent 'second-in-command' Duggie Eagleton (Steve McFadden
) and their men: Wheelie (Vernon Wells
); and Butch (Ray Winstone
) along with a handful of others. Denver and Duggie bare shotguns while the others bare baseball bats. They force Johnny out of the car and accuse him of sexually harassing Chrissie.
Later, Johnny returns home to his father Mickey (Mike Reid
) and Sal (Lesley Ann Warren
) all battered and bruised. When Mickey and Sal question Johnny about how he received the bruised, he stated he was messing around at the local river with his friends when he fell. Just then Johnny's best friend Ron Martini (John Altman) arrives and the two go out down the street. Rone eventually asks Johnny about how he got the bruises and Johnny attempts to tell Ron the same story as he told Mickey and Sal, but Ron knows that Johnny got them from Denver. The two call on Ron's cousin Joey Davies (Gary Holton
), by throwing stones at his bedroom window. It turns out Joey is having wild sex and taking drugs with his girlfriend Delilah. Eventually Joey and Delilah join Johnny and Ron and they go and call on Johnny's girlfriend Georgina Granger (Nicole Kidman
). However, Georgina rejects Johnny stating she knew about Johnny having sex with a shop clerk all along. So Johnny, Ron, Joey and Delilah go to the local pub and Joey meets a prostitute and they disappear behind the bar. Delilah goes looking for him and finds him having sex with the prostitute and abandons him.
Meanwhile, Johnny goes back to Georgina's house and begins pleading for forgiveness. Eventually Georgina allows Johnny in and they sleep together. The next day, while Johnny is leaving Georgina's house he is attacked by Denver and his men and this is witnessed by Georgina. However, Johnny is saved by Ron, Joey and Goergina's father Dan (Jim Broadbent
). Dan takes Johnny back to Mickey and Sal's and explains what happened. Mickey then swears vengeance on the gang. However, Johnny had just got back together with Georgina when he is seduced by and has sex with Chrissie. He later discovers that Chrissie only did this to make both Georgina and Denver jealous.
A few days later, Johnny meets up with Ron and Joey and they decide not to say anything to Georgina about Johnny and Chrissie's one-night-stand. However, Chrissie overhears the conversation and dumps him again, screaming at him the title words 'the timidity of the love rat is massive in your cowardliness.' Johnny, Ron and Joey are then confronted by Denver and his gang once again and they all receive heavy damage. However, Johnny manages to escape with only a black eye and flees down an alley way in fright leaving Ron and Joey to get battered with baseball bats. However, Johnny is confronted by Dan who batters him to the ground in revenge for him cheating on Georgina. Dan is then arrested for assault and Johnny is landed in hospital.
Later the same week, Mickey, despite the pleas of Sal, confronts Denver and batters him in the back of a taxi and leaves him. Denver is rushed to hospital but dies of internal bleeding. Mickey is caught and receives a life sentence. He is then locked in the same cell as Dan Granger. Dan confesses to battering Johnny and so Mickey attacks Dan.
The last scene of the film sees Mickey guarded by two police officers and accompanied by Ron and Joey who are heavily bruised. Ron and Joey forgive Johnny for abandoning them before leaving. Mickey then shares a heart-to-heart conversation with Johnny before being escorted out of the hospital by his guards.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
drama
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
film based on the novel The Story of Johnny and Ron. It was written by Si Chadwick, produced by Harrison Keyes and Richard Silberman and directed by Harrison Keyes. The film starred Phil Daniels
Phil Daniels
Philip W. "Phil" Daniels is an English actor, most noted for film and television roles as "cockneys" such as Jimmy in Quadrophenia, Richards in Scum, Stewart in The Class of Miss MacMichael, Mark in Meantime, Kevin Wicks in EastEnders, DCS Frank Patterson in New Tricks and Edward Kitchener "Ted"...
and John Altman as the two main characters Johnny Hitchcock and Ron Martini. It also stars Nicole Kidman
Nicole Kidman
Nicole Mary Kidman, AC is an American-born Australian actress, singer, film producer, spokesmodel, and humanitarian. After starring in a number of small Australian films and TV shows, Kidman's breakthrough was in the 1989 thriller Dead Calm...
, Michael Elphick
Michael Elphick
Michael John Elphick was an English actor. Elphick was known in the UK for his trademark croaky voice and his work on British television, in particular his roles as the eponymous private investigator in the ITV series Boon and later Harry Slater in BBC's EastEnders.Robust and ruggedly good-looking...
, Mike Reid
Mike Reid (entertainer)
Michael Reid was an English comedian, actor, author and occasional television presenter from Hackney in east London, who is best remembered for playing the role of Frank Butcher in EastEnders and hosting the popular children's TV show Runaround...
, Lesley Ann Warren
Lesley Ann Warren
Lesley Ann Warren is an American actress and singer. She has been nominated once for an Academy Award and Emmy Awards and five times for Golden Globe, winning one....
, Gary Holton
Gary Holton
Gary Frederick Holton was an English singer-songwriter, musician and actor from London. He was the frontman of the band Heavy Metal Kids, for whom he played lead vocals, guitar, rhythm guitar, keyboards and harmonica, and played the part of Wayne in the UK television comedy Auf Wiedersehen, Pet...
, Steve McFadden
Steve McFadden
Steve McFadden is an English actor, known for his role as Phil Mitchell in the BBC soap opera EastEnders, which he has played since1990.-Early life:...
, Adrienne Barbeau
Adrienne Barbeau
Adrienne Jo Barbeau is an American actress and the author of three books. Barbeau came to prominence in the 1970s as Broadway's original Rizzo in the musical Grease, and as Carol Traynor, the divorced daughter of Maude Findlay in the sitcom Maude...
, Vernon Wells
Vernon Wells (actor)
Vernon George Wells is an Australian film and television actor who has built his career around action-type films, most often cast as a villain...
, Roxanne Hart
Roxanne Hart
Roxanne Hart is an American television, film and stage actress. She may be best known for her role as Brenda Wyatt in the 1986 film Highlander. She is also known for the role of Nurse Camille Shutt on the Medical drama Chicago Hope....
, Jim Broadbent
Jim Broadbent
James "Jim" Broadbent is an English theatre, film, and television actor. He is known for his roles in Iris, Moulin Rouge!, Topsy-Turvy, Hot Fuzz, and Bridget Jones' Diary...
and Ray Winstone
Ray Winstone
Raymond Andrew "Ray" Winstone is an English film and television actor. He is mostly known for his "tough guy" roles, beginning with that of Carlin in the 1979 film Scum and as Will Scarlet in the cult television adventure series Robin of Sherwood. He has also become well known as a voice over...
.
Plot
In the beginning of the film, Johnny Hitchcock (Phil DanielsPhil Daniels
Philip W. "Phil" Daniels is an English actor, most noted for film and television roles as "cockneys" such as Jimmy in Quadrophenia, Richards in Scum, Stewart in The Class of Miss MacMichael, Mark in Meantime, Kevin Wicks in EastEnders, DCS Frank Patterson in New Tricks and Edward Kitchener "Ted"...
) is driving back to his fictional home town of Grayson East in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
having just been visiting his ill cousin in Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
. However, he is forced to stop by the local gang led by Johnny's rival Denver Devlin (Michael Elphick
Michael Elphick
Michael John Elphick was an English actor. Elphick was known in the UK for his trademark croaky voice and his work on British television, in particular his roles as the eponymous private investigator in the ITV series Boon and later Harry Slater in BBC's EastEnders.Robust and ruggedly good-looking...
) and consisting of his girlfriend Chrissie (Roxanne Hart
Roxanne Hart
Roxanne Hart is an American television, film and stage actress. She may be best known for her role as Brenda Wyatt in the 1986 film Highlander. She is also known for the role of Nurse Camille Shutt on the Medical drama Chicago Hope....
), his apparent 'second-in-command' Duggie Eagleton (Steve McFadden
Steve McFadden
Steve McFadden is an English actor, known for his role as Phil Mitchell in the BBC soap opera EastEnders, which he has played since1990.-Early life:...
) and their men: Wheelie (Vernon Wells
Vernon Wells (actor)
Vernon George Wells is an Australian film and television actor who has built his career around action-type films, most often cast as a villain...
); and Butch (Ray Winstone
Ray Winstone
Raymond Andrew "Ray" Winstone is an English film and television actor. He is mostly known for his "tough guy" roles, beginning with that of Carlin in the 1979 film Scum and as Will Scarlet in the cult television adventure series Robin of Sherwood. He has also become well known as a voice over...
) along with a handful of others. Denver and Duggie bare shotguns while the others bare baseball bats. They force Johnny out of the car and accuse him of sexually harassing Chrissie.
Later, Johnny returns home to his father Mickey (Mike Reid
Mike Reid (entertainer)
Michael Reid was an English comedian, actor, author and occasional television presenter from Hackney in east London, who is best remembered for playing the role of Frank Butcher in EastEnders and hosting the popular children's TV show Runaround...
) and Sal (Lesley Ann Warren
Lesley Ann Warren
Lesley Ann Warren is an American actress and singer. She has been nominated once for an Academy Award and Emmy Awards and five times for Golden Globe, winning one....
) all battered and bruised. When Mickey and Sal question Johnny about how he received the bruised, he stated he was messing around at the local river with his friends when he fell. Just then Johnny's best friend Ron Martini (John Altman) arrives and the two go out down the street. Rone eventually asks Johnny about how he got the bruises and Johnny attempts to tell Ron the same story as he told Mickey and Sal, but Ron knows that Johnny got them from Denver. The two call on Ron's cousin Joey Davies (Gary Holton
Gary Holton
Gary Frederick Holton was an English singer-songwriter, musician and actor from London. He was the frontman of the band Heavy Metal Kids, for whom he played lead vocals, guitar, rhythm guitar, keyboards and harmonica, and played the part of Wayne in the UK television comedy Auf Wiedersehen, Pet...
), by throwing stones at his bedroom window. It turns out Joey is having wild sex and taking drugs with his girlfriend Delilah. Eventually Joey and Delilah join Johnny and Ron and they go and call on Johnny's girlfriend Georgina Granger (Nicole Kidman
Nicole Kidman
Nicole Mary Kidman, AC is an American-born Australian actress, singer, film producer, spokesmodel, and humanitarian. After starring in a number of small Australian films and TV shows, Kidman's breakthrough was in the 1989 thriller Dead Calm...
). However, Georgina rejects Johnny stating she knew about Johnny having sex with a shop clerk all along. So Johnny, Ron, Joey and Delilah go to the local pub and Joey meets a prostitute and they disappear behind the bar. Delilah goes looking for him and finds him having sex with the prostitute and abandons him.
Meanwhile, Johnny goes back to Georgina's house and begins pleading for forgiveness. Eventually Georgina allows Johnny in and they sleep together. The next day, while Johnny is leaving Georgina's house he is attacked by Denver and his men and this is witnessed by Georgina. However, Johnny is saved by Ron, Joey and Goergina's father Dan (Jim Broadbent
Jim Broadbent
James "Jim" Broadbent is an English theatre, film, and television actor. He is known for his roles in Iris, Moulin Rouge!, Topsy-Turvy, Hot Fuzz, and Bridget Jones' Diary...
). Dan takes Johnny back to Mickey and Sal's and explains what happened. Mickey then swears vengeance on the gang. However, Johnny had just got back together with Georgina when he is seduced by and has sex with Chrissie. He later discovers that Chrissie only did this to make both Georgina and Denver jealous.
A few days later, Johnny meets up with Ron and Joey and they decide not to say anything to Georgina about Johnny and Chrissie's one-night-stand. However, Chrissie overhears the conversation and dumps him again, screaming at him the title words 'the timidity of the love rat is massive in your cowardliness.' Johnny, Ron and Joey are then confronted by Denver and his gang once again and they all receive heavy damage. However, Johnny manages to escape with only a black eye and flees down an alley way in fright leaving Ron and Joey to get battered with baseball bats. However, Johnny is confronted by Dan who batters him to the ground in revenge for him cheating on Georgina. Dan is then arrested for assault and Johnny is landed in hospital.
Later the same week, Mickey, despite the pleas of Sal, confronts Denver and batters him in the back of a taxi and leaves him. Denver is rushed to hospital but dies of internal bleeding. Mickey is caught and receives a life sentence. He is then locked in the same cell as Dan Granger. Dan confesses to battering Johnny and so Mickey attacks Dan.
The last scene of the film sees Mickey guarded by two police officers and accompanied by Ron and Joey who are heavily bruised. Ron and Joey forgive Johnny for abandoning them before leaving. Mickey then shares a heart-to-heart conversation with Johnny before being escorted out of the hospital by his guards.
Cast
- Phil DanielsPhil DanielsPhilip W. "Phil" Daniels is an English actor, most noted for film and television roles as "cockneys" such as Jimmy in Quadrophenia, Richards in Scum, Stewart in The Class of Miss MacMichael, Mark in Meantime, Kevin Wicks in EastEnders, DCS Frank Patterson in New Tricks and Edward Kitchener "Ted"...
as Johnny Hitchcock - John Altman as Ron Martini
- Nicole KidmanNicole KidmanNicole Mary Kidman, AC is an American-born Australian actress, singer, film producer, spokesmodel, and humanitarian. After starring in a number of small Australian films and TV shows, Kidman's breakthrough was in the 1989 thriller Dead Calm...
as Georgina Granger - Michael ElphickMichael ElphickMichael John Elphick was an English actor. Elphick was known in the UK for his trademark croaky voice and his work on British television, in particular his roles as the eponymous private investigator in the ITV series Boon and later Harry Slater in BBC's EastEnders.Robust and ruggedly good-looking...
as Denver Devlin - Mike ReidMike Reid (entertainer)Michael Reid was an English comedian, actor, author and occasional television presenter from Hackney in east London, who is best remembered for playing the role of Frank Butcher in EastEnders and hosting the popular children's TV show Runaround...
as Mickey Hitchcock - Lesley Ann WarrenLesley Ann WarrenLesley Ann Warren is an American actress and singer. She has been nominated once for an Academy Award and Emmy Awards and five times for Golden Globe, winning one....
as Sal Hitchcock - Gary HoltonGary HoltonGary Frederick Holton was an English singer-songwriter, musician and actor from London. He was the frontman of the band Heavy Metal Kids, for whom he played lead vocals, guitar, rhythm guitar, keyboards and harmonica, and played the part of Wayne in the UK television comedy Auf Wiedersehen, Pet...
as Joey Davies - Steve McFaddenSteve McFaddenSteve McFadden is an English actor, known for his role as Phil Mitchell in the BBC soap opera EastEnders, which he has played since1990.-Early life:...
as Duggie Eagleton - Adrienne Barbieau as Delilah
- Vernon WellsVernon Wells (actor)Vernon George Wells is an Australian film and television actor who has built his career around action-type films, most often cast as a villain...
as Wheelie - Roxanne HartRoxanne HartRoxanne Hart is an American television, film and stage actress. She may be best known for her role as Brenda Wyatt in the 1986 film Highlander. She is also known for the role of Nurse Camille Shutt on the Medical drama Chicago Hope....
as Chrissie - Jim BroadbentJim BroadbentJames "Jim" Broadbent is an English theatre, film, and television actor. He is known for his roles in Iris, Moulin Rouge!, Topsy-Turvy, Hot Fuzz, and Bridget Jones' Diary...
as Dan Granger - Ray WinstoneRay WinstoneRaymond Andrew "Ray" Winstone is an English film and television actor. He is mostly known for his "tough guy" roles, beginning with that of Carlin in the 1979 film Scum and as Will Scarlet in the cult television adventure series Robin of Sherwood. He has also become well known as a voice over...
as Butch
Differences from the Novel
- In the novel Johnny Hitchcock is first seen visiting his ill cousin in LiverpoolLiverpoolLiverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
, while in the film the first scene sees Johnny returning to his home town before being beaten by Denver Devlin and his gang which is the second scene in the novel.
- In the novel Joey Davies is not Ron Martini's cousin but his and Johnny's friend.
- In the novel Denver Devlin is known as Marv Devlin.
- In the novel Chrissie is Joey's girlfriend while Delilah is Marv/Denver's girlfriend while in the film it is the other way around.
- In the film Marv/Denver's gang consists of Marv Devlin, his girlfriend Delilah, his second-in-command Dougal Ferguson, and his men Wheelie, Butch, Danny the Boy, Jimmy and Big Harry.