Last Orders

Michael Caine - Jack
Tom Courtenay - Vic
David Hemmings - Lenny
Bob Hoskins - Ray
Helen Mirren - Amy
Ray Winstone - Vince

Director Fred Schepisi faithfully adapts Graham Swift’s 1996 Booker Prize winning novel Last Orders, aiming to recreate the atmosphere of old codgers sitting at a Cockney bar taking a walk down memory lane. The intelligent and touching film brings together some of Britain’s most distinguished actors making an emotional trip to the seaside.

A group of old friends get together following the death of charismatic East End butcher Jack Dodds (Michael Caine), whose last wish was for them all to go on a road trip from London to the seaside town of Margate to scatter his ashes off the pier. As the sentimental journey progresses their emotional histories and heartbreaks unfold as they reminisce the loss of their dearly departed friend. Ray (Bob Hoskins), a dodgy bookie, Lenny (David Hemmings), an ex-boxer, Vic (Tom Courtenay), a serene undertaker; and Vince (Ray Winstone), Jack's son, recollect the group's younger days, shedding light on their relationships and suppressed secrets. As the foursome speed across the Kent countryside in a shiny Mercedes from Vince’s used-car dealership, Jack’s widow Amy (Helen Mirren) undertakes her own significant journey to visit their mentally handicapped daughter, June (Laura Morelli), who Jack refused to acknowledge. The pilgrimage gradually turns into a pub-crawl as the drinking buddies discover more through a series of revealing flashbacks.