YouTube is there to pick up the slack from Netflix (suggested related titles: Once Upon a Time in London, Only Fools and Horses, Mindhunter, Fawlty Towers, The Sweeney, Emily in Paris... Really, Netflix? I haven't seen it, but that feels like a stretch. I suppose the algorithm plucked another big city from their catalogue. One CCer
said it made her very happy for a short while. Who knows how long each of us has on this earth. I may only have a short while.) Anyway, on to this serving of custard and jelly.
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Notes from s01e01 Gunfight at the OK Laundrette
I’ve served my time in laundrettes. My Beautiful Laundrette. Wonder what Daniel Day-Lewis is up to these days. He probably wouldn't be cast in My Left Foot, you'd need someone genuinely left-footed. He was great in Lincoln. Didn’t care for Lincoln, which the critics went gaga over. That was a mighty big bird on your chest at the inauguration, Lady Gaga. Wonder what Big Bird is up to. FOCUS, MAN.
Bouncy jaunty opening credits music, what does that tell us? We’re here to show you a good time.
It looks like they're just back from a test drive. Is one of them a car salesmen? They shake hands: sold.
Latin in the church always puts me in mind of The Godfather; I'm now on high alert for murderous retribution. Fortunately it's not to be. Wait a minute, that's not Latin. Is it just me, or could the wedding dress be whiter?
Massage clinic around the corner for lost souls in search of a happy ending.
Less than 3 minutes from Madonna to whore. What's this, interpretive dance? Mammary Facetime. US network television doesn't go there.
Overexcited patron gets hauled off for a dressing down. "That's enough, you're disturbing all the other theatre lovers." I'm warming to this. "Some of these girls have got children. They're mums. Now how would you feel if someone behaved like you did in front of your mum?" "You're not suggesting are you that you'd find my mother in a place like this?"
It's polite as heave-hos go. "On your bike." "Sorry mate."
One of the employees thanks Terry for his stewardship on her way out of the New Rockingham. Leopard coat, possibly only a light dusting of sequins underneath. They chat and Terry pulls / gets pulled. "Oh I won't have time to go home and change. So I'll just come in me working gear." "You don't wear anything when you work." "Ain't you the lucky one then eh?"
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yes I said yes I will Yes
Now we're in the pub. Boys and their balls. "With snooker you have to use your brain." Arthur assigns Terry to guarding the emptying of change from the machines at a laundrette. This is usually the groom's job, but the lad's got his hands full today. Terry's not keen at being underutilised, but can't refuse Aurthur.
"Don’t know what he needs a minder for these days," says Alfie outside. In the States I think 'minder' is mostly used in the sense of a childminder.
Guy reading
Superman comic in the laundrette. Can't concentrate on Proust in such an environment. One man band out front, kids with balloons pouring out of a van. Two men in a car clearly preparing to get up to no good.
Comics guy shows a keen interest in the collecting of the take. Looks like there’s beaucoup bangers and mash in the clothes washing business. Well, Alfie does drive a Rolls.
"Let's get baby some new shoes," says one of the men from the car as they prepare to rob the place. This is a legitimate possibility. He could be married to the dancer/mum.
Is that a sawed off shotgun? I've never seen one up close. Woman screams.
Wow, the police got there fast! Are laundrettes wired into the station?
Looks like a hostage situation in the back room. Dog Day Afternoon, anyone?
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We want a plane to Wyoming and we want it now
Alfie takes a bullet, rendering him chatty on the subject of the calibre of ammunition used. "Poor man needs a doctor." There's always someone who needs a doctor.
Those water heaters are very well insulated. My eye keeps getting drawn to them. They look like giant boxing gloves.
Copper shouts something unintelligible through a megaphone. "It's only an ordinary door, just talk normal," says Terry. I’m starting to like him.
The robbery is billed as a political act – a demonstration for equality and freedom, respresenting a broad spectrum. "Irish?" "Not so's you'd notice, no." They're the Independent Rastafarian Army.
(Need better training videos.) Terry breaks the fourth wall with a chuckle at the inadvertent acronym. Nobody's buying any of this.
"There's an old lady in here who needs a cup of tea." A very British hostage.
The street is packed as day turns to night. I'm expecting Kate Adie to show up any minute.
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Pondering their life choices
The lady is worried about her clothes. "The programme should be finished now they should be in a tumble dry. I don't like to think of them just... lying there, all soggy." "No talking, I've got to think," says the ringleader, Stretch.
Coppers are stern dealing with Arthur, who turns his attention to the press in a bid to sell the story. Truly one to locate the silver lining in any situation.
Arthur rings the back room for a chat. There's a racial slur. Can't say I wasn't warned.
There's an attempted negotiation to secure their unhindered egress. Nobody but Stretch wants to go to Ethiopia, via helicopter or any other conveyance.
Arthur expresses his reservations about the late Haile Selassie to the woman in the leopard coat, who has followed him to the laundrette, still hoping to hook up with Terry.
Inside, there's talk about bad company.
View: https://youtu.be/T9sNKp3UpCE
Terry used to keep it, with predicable results. They discuss a colleague-in-crime who got a degree in sociology from the Open University. "Still at the thieving, but now he knows why he's doing it." It breaks the ice.
Everyone has a laugh, but the mirth is shortlived. "It ain't so easy for a black man to go straight," says the ringleader, injecting more sociology into the proceedings.
Terry reflects sourly on his lack of job satisfaction. The post office offers good benefits, he should seriously consider it.
The tension ratchets up. "They haven’t even sent in any tea. They always send tea." A fair amount more discussion about tea than you'd see in a US show. No tea, those coppers mean business.
Terry sows doubt into Stretch’s minions. This isn't what they signed up for.
There’s a scuffle! The minions mind their own business. "They're having a right barney in there," says a copper. Trope alert: gun on the floor that someone struggles to reach. Terry's training as a boxer comes in handy. The seige ends, Alfie's flesh wound the only casualty if you don't count the woman's laundry. Does she return for it? I need closure.
Terry helps Stretch up from the floor: "Come on champ, on your toes." He supports him out the door to his surrender. (They'll meet a decade later in 'Fiddler on the Hoof'.) The cops kind of ruin the mood by forcing them to lay face down on the street. It beats getting shot in the head by Lance Henriksen.
Back at the station Terry is pressed for a statement and tiredly puts them off until he’s had a wash and a shave and a nice big breakfast.
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