I’ll Never Forget What’s’isname – 1967 | 97mins | Drama | Colour

Plot Synopsis

I’ll Never Forget What’s ‘is Name could have been a humorously scathing satire on success and world of advertising but director Michael Winner substitutes frenetic camera style for substance. Oliver Reed is curiously muted as the angry young man faced with the late Sixties disillusionment of Swinging London, Welles meanwhile gloriously overacts as the Machiavellian advertising chief and Carol White oozes innocent charm as Reed’s carefree girlfriend. Very much a product of the 60s, the film courted controversy because of its explicit language and sexuality – one of the first to contain the word "Fuck".

Hotshot advertising executive Andrew Quint (Oliver Reed) has it all: a high-powered job, loving family and a beautiful mistress (Marianne Faithfull). Bored with the trappings of success and his hollow life, Quint leaves his wife (Wendy Craig) and dumps his mistress, then travels to his office one morning armed with an axe and chops both his desk and career to pieces. Pursued by the scheming boss Jonathan Lute (Orson Welles) who represents all that Quint despises, he sets out on a bittersweet journey through Swinging London to examine his life and re-discover his literary integrity. He returns to the small publication where he worked as an editor after leaving Cambridge, and quickly forms a relationship with the magazines available secretary Georgina (Carol White). But Jonathon buys the magazine and tries to bully his resentful whiz kid into returning to work for him again. Quint reluctantly agrees and is handed a crucial commercial account, but plans to destroy his reputation by producing an offensive and mocking corporate ad campaign. During its premiere showing at an advertising award show, Quint’s scheme backfires and his commercial wins the top honour.