Scotland, Pa. (2001)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

Billy Morrissette

Writers:

William Shakespeare (play)
Billy Morrissette (written by)

Genre:

Comedy | Crime

Tagline:

What if the McBeths were alive in '75?

Plot:

Joe McBeth is a hard-working but unambitious doofus who toils at a hamburger stand alongside his wife Pat...

Plot Keywords:

Restaurant | Patricide | Gay Teenager | Stupidity | Family Business

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

James LeGros	...	Joe 'Mac' McBeth
Maura Tierney	...	Pat McBeth
Christopher Walken	...	Lieutenant McDuff
Kevin Corrigan	...	Anthony 'Banko' Banconi
James Rebhorn	...	Norm Duncan, Owner Duncan's Cafe
Tom Guiry	...	Malcolm Duncan (as Thomas Guiry)
Amy Smart	...	Stacy (Hippie #1)
Timothy 'Speed' Levitch	...	Hector (Hippie #2)
Andy Dick	...	Jesse (Hippie #3)
Geoff Dunsworth	...	Donald Duncan
Josh Pais	...	Douglas McKenna, Manager who gets fired for embezzlement
Reed Rudy	...	Kevin 'Tanman' McKane
John Cariani	...	Ed the 'not-too-bright' Cop
David Wike	...	Jimmy McMann
Nicola Lipman	...	Mrs. Lenox, Duncan's Waitress

MPAA:

Rated R for language, some nudity, drug content and brief violence.

Runtime:

104 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:R

Filming Locations:

Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Company:

Abandon Pictures

Trivia:

According to director Billy Morrissette (on the DVD commentary), Pat McBeth's line "Fuck! Fuck! Fuckity-fuck!" was written into the script because star (and Morrissette's wife at the time), Maura Tierney yelled that once when he startled her.

Goofs:

Continuity: At the beginning of the movie, Pat's "perfect" soft ice cream cone is half as tall and not nearly as shapely when she pulls it from the machine as when she lifts it up to show Doug.

Quotes:

Ed: Good night, sir.
McDuff: Good night, Ed.
Ed: Should I turn out the lights?
McDuff: That would leave me in the dark, Ed.

Movie Connections:

References Godspell: A Musical Based on the Gospel According to St. Matthew (1973)

Soundtrack:

Symphony No. 7 in A Major

CLIFF'S NOTES FOR THE FAST-FOOD SET

SCOTLAND, PA (2002) ***1/2 James LeGros, Maura Tierney, Christopher Walken, Kevin Corrigan, James Rebhorn, Thomas Guiry, Geoff Dunsworth, Andy Dick, Amy Smart, Timothy Speed Levitch. Fun, funny and skeweringly clever concoction/re-imagination of Shakespeare's "MacBeth" transplanting the classic play into the titular hamlet locale circa 1975 centering around a fast-food joint with some duplicitous characters (Le Gros and Tierney as Mr. & Mrs. McBeth here) attempting to dethrone its owner (burger king Rebhorn) thru murder until local police Lt. McDuff (wryly dry Walken) investigates the sordid affair. Highly imaginative with a game cast (including Dick, Smart & Levitch as a trio of hippies standing in as the Greek chorus witches here), terrific costumes by David Robinson and FM rock nuggets underscoring the chicanery at hand. A real hoot for purists and non-initiated in the Bard alike. (Dir: Billy Morrissette – trivia note: Ms. Tierney's real-life better half)