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The Fruit Machine

Play trailer Poster for The Fruit Machine R 1988 1h 42m Mystery & Thriller Comedy Play Trailer Watchlist
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71% Tomatometer 7 Reviews 62% Popcornmeter 100+ Ratings
Two gay teens (Emile Charles, Tony Forsyth) flee Liverpool with an old opera singer (Robert Stephens) after witnessing a machete murder.

Critics Reviews

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Mark Sanderson Time Out 01/26/2006
It's as camp as Christmas, and if it rarely hits the jackpot, playing along with it is wildly enjoyable. Go to Full Review
Hal Hinson Washington Post 04/10/2001
Not a great deal of a common sense has been expended here. Go to Full Review
Terry Francis Southern Voice (Atlanta) 05/09/2023
[The film's] structure appears to have been ineptly drawn from the farce masterpiece, Some Like It Hot. It's also judgmental in ways that abjure character development. Go to Full Review
Michael Bronski Gay Community News (Boston) 09/15/2022
That rare sort of film: accessible and enjoyable, it also quietly undermines our very perceptions of it, Go to Full Review
Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com 07/27/2005
3/5
Randy Shulman Metro Weekly (Washington, DC) 11/04/2004
3/5
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Audience Reviews

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PridePosterStudios 09/20/2023 This was an odd one! I remember dolphins. Lots of dolphins. See more colin m 04/08/2022 'The Fruit Machine' (known as 'Wonderland' in the US). Enjoyed re-watching this 1980s movie, available free of charge on YouTube. Slightly spoilt by its goes-off-at-a-tangent ending. [A 20-minute medley of the music soundtrack by Hans Zimmer, called "The Fruit Machine Suite", is on YouTube, well worth listening to after you watch the movie.] See more 08/21/2013 Very poignant and well portrayed film that deals with a point in time at which gay people were still being beaten up, but were no longer beating themselves up. The two main protagonists were well rounded characters that avoided most of the usual stereotypes. Well worth watching as a piece of social history ( and to see Robbie Coltrane in a frock!) See more 08/08/2009 I remember seeing bits of this film in the early 90s so thought I would check it out again now its on DVD and have always wanted to see all of it. It was not really as good as I remember it, it trys to be a bit too surreal and arty, it does not come off. Robbie Coltrane is great in this film as the dodgy club entertainer. Great music, but a really dodgy plot which gets abit lost in itself, with some dodgy acting at times, only worth checking out if its on film 4 or something. See more 04/10/2008 This is my all-time favourite movie; it's British and I can relate to it on five different levels. Not an easy film to find nowadays, but if you DO come across it, don't ignore it. Two Liverpudlian boys, each with his own problems witness a murder and go on the run from the hit-man. They tag along with an ageing Opera singer who takes them to Brighton. As payment for this deed the opera singer takes the body of Michael who when in Liverpool was "on the rent" and innocent and homely Eddie discovers a performing dolphin in "Wonderland" (otherwise known as the Brighton Sea Life Centre) who he wants to rescue and set free. In the midst of all this mundane activity, the killer suddenly turns up, having traced the pair to the South Coast. Robbie Coltrane is brilliant as Annabel; an incredibly unusual role for him but realised beautifully. The commercial soundtrack is wonderful, and there are some surreal dream sequences that make perfect sense by the end of the film. Be warned, you cannot fail but to be deeply moved by the end and you will need a huge box of Kleenex tissues. I have seen this film more times than I would freely admit and have cried floods of tears EVERY time. See more 11/30/2007 I remember mail ordering the VHS from Britain. It's an endearing though predictable little film. See more Read all reviews
The Fruit Machine

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Movie Info

Synopsis Two gay teens (Emile Charles, Tony Forsyth) flee Liverpool with an old opera singer (Robert Stephens) after witnessing a machete murder.
Director
Philip Saville
Producer
Steve Morrison
Screenwriter
Frank Clarke
Production Co
Granada Television, Ideal Communications Films
Rating
R
Genre
Mystery & Thriller, Comedy
Original Language
English
Release Date (Streaming)
Nov 14, 2018
Box Office (Gross USA)
$11.5K
Runtime
1h 42m