Customer Reviews

Dutch Girls

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A funny little movie about young adoleslent boys from a strict prep school hockey team headed for Amsterdam. Colin is so adorable, and quite the gentlemen but very naive. The head master and the coach have ideas on how the young men should behave and represent the school. However, the young men have other ideas and it's presented in the title of the movie. Their antics before getting to Amsterdam and after were funny and delightful, just wasn't enough. His roommate in Amsterdam was just histerical. It was delightful to see Colin at a much younger age, and one can see how he has matured to the handsome and talented man he is today.

It's all a bit dated, sadly - the sort of TV drama we used to see a lot of, but don't get made now; and watching this you can see why. It's all a bit predictable and slow. Still, to be fair, most of the acting is top notch (Colin Firth, Timothy Spall, James Wilby in particular, although the usually excellent Bill Paterson is something of a hammy characature). I know it's a period piece, but it's also a little hard to believe that 18-year old boys as this naive and awkward, even those with a sheltered public school upbringing. Not to mention the leads are a little long in the tooth (Tim Spall pushing thirty by this time). Still, it does have a certain charm and yes, I did enjoy a trip down memory lane.

This is a cute little movie. An opportunity to see some actors when they were just starting--Colin Firth, Timothy Spall, James Wilby, Adrian Lukis. The boys from a Scottish public school take a trip to the Netherlands and try to get lucky, with little success. Love the very graceful last scene.

This is a cute little movie about a hockey team from a British boys school on a road trip to Amsterdam. The pompous coach dreams of glory for the school, but the boys just dream of meeting Dutch girls. This movie is of interest not for the story, but for who is in it. It's the early work of Colin Firth and James Wilby. Firth, of course, went on to hearthrob status as Mr. Darcy. Wilby has made a wonderful career out of starring in high tone Merchant Ivory films like Maurice and brilliant Masterpiece Theater works such as A Tale of Two Cities and Island at War. Though Firth's become the superstar, it's Wilby who shows more potential in this movie, as he attracts your eye in every scene he is in.

Firth plays Neil Truelove, a sensitive, brooding teen. He spends most of the movie making sad eyes at the camera, and he was really a painfully pretty young man. Wilby plays Philip Dundine, Truelove's best mate. Despite being tall and gorgeous, and more outgoing and confident, he's not having any better luck with the Dutch girls than Truelove is. A third boy is Lyndon, a pig of a lad who romps around in bikini underwear, despite having a body we certainly don't want to see in bikini underwear. He's the houseguest from Hell to his Dutch host family as he gets drunk and throws up on the carpet, throws food around, brings a bimbo home to have sex with her in the living room, and never flushes the toilet.

Although these fellows are supposed to be schoolboys in their teens, they can't quite pull that off. Firth is still boyishly slender and has a baby face, but still doesn't look like a teenager. Wilby, despite a teen haircut, has a man's body. The actor playing Lyndon looks like he's about thirty.

One bit of trivia. The captain of the team is played by Daniel Chatto, who later married the Duke of Kent's daughter, which makes him a fringe member of the British royal family.

Though this isn't a great film, it is interesting enough to entertain a viewer, though it probably won't go on anybody's top ten list. Just a pleasant little bit of fluff made more interesting by the presence of Firth and Wilby.

A certainly harmless take on young English boys, off on an adventure, with restrictions from their chaperone/coach, played by Bill Paterson. A rather clumsy group of field hockey players from a boys' boarding school get the chance to go play their counterparts in Holland. They want the adventure of drinking, partying and meeting girls much more than playing their sport.
This film is the old story of teenage boys coming of age, so that part is a lot of seen-it-before.
It is mostly interesting because of the very young Colin Firth and Timothy Spall, later to become icons of British acting. Both are very good, as is usually the case with these two very fine actors who, of course, went on to greater performances later in their lives.
Firth was around 24 and Spall 27 or 28 when they made this, both playing 17 or 18-year old boys. Baby faced Firth carries it off very well.

A group of 18+ school-boy-characters played by about 30y.o. actors went to Holland where more hints than actions happened as they interacted with local gals.

Probably, it was so near-innocent in pre-Beatle era also such a phenomena could hardly appear in the chastity-filled vacuum.

Handsome mostly boys present different trends among which hypocrisy and cheating the best friend to do own way is the most.

I am wondering one could pay a DVD price required.

"Dutch Girls", This movie begins as an adolescent British schools' field hockey team goes to Holland to play a match, several are hosted by local families who give them room and board. My Mother enjoyed it especially Colin Firth as Truelove, he is very young and handsome as ever in this movie, as is Timothy Spall as Lyndon, whom my mother tosses her popcorn at the screen when he did some horrible antic. Cast: Bill Paterson plays Mole; Colin Firth plays Truelove; Timothy Spall plays Lyndon; James Wilby plays Dundine; Daniel Chatto plays Fforde; Robert Addie plays Cone; Michael Parkhouse plays Roote;
Adrian Lukis plays Murray; Christopher Beaumont plays Simon; Guy Manning plays Thornton; Hywel Williams Ellis plays Lamb;
Colin McFarlane plays Mkwela; Ian Michie plays MacGregor; John Wells plays The Headmaster; Gusta Gerritsen plays Romelia; Sylvia Millecam plays Greetje; Anne Wil Blankers plays Mrs. Van Der Merwe;Erik Plooyer plays Mr. Van Der Merwe; Richard Torn plays Kees Van Der Merwe; Stephanie Verwijmeren plays Anna Van Der Merwe; David Neville plays Mr. Ashby; Alex Lowe plays Boy with Bell; Catherine Chevalier plays French Girl;Octavia Taten plays French Girl; Jeffrey Vanderbyl plays Disc Jockey; Andrew Dickson plays Guitarist; Anna Bergman plays 1st Prostitute; Mitzi Mueller plays 2nd Prostitute;

Hockey players from a Scottish prep school head to Amsterdam for a tournament and the boys, all big talkers but completely inexperienced, expect to make time with the local girls despite the watchful eye of their nerdy chaperone (Bill Paterson). Shy Neil (Colin Firth) finds himself attracted to a lovely young blonde while oafish Lyndon (Timothy Spall) turns out to be the Lothario of the group.

This 1985 film is mainly a chance to see a very young Colin Firth in action. While he's not nearly the heartthrob he would later become, he's still sweet and sympathetic. The action revolves around him, however, and he's often just a spectator. The spotlight is really shared by Paterson as the hilariously strict yet clueless coach and Spall who is quite convincing as a slovenly rich kid. James Wilby is also good in a small role.

The script doesn't break any new ground, but it's a pleasant, lightweight film about the trials of growing up that will bring a few smiles.

am great fan of Colin Firth and it's one of his early movies
arrived quickly
Thank you

I ordered this dvd but I can only see it in black/white because it's an old movie and doesn't fit to our dvditems in Europe. I did want to see it because there's a famous Dutch actress in it who had an affair in that year with Colin Firth. This actress passed away a few years a go. Not a big story this movie but still nice to look at, although must be better in collor.