The Odd Job

The Odd Job (1978)

Arthur Harris is a happily married man who returns from his job to discover that his wife, Fiona, is leaving him. Devastated he gets really drunk and tries to commit suicide. After a few setbacks and while he is trying to electrocute himself with a lamp, the door bell rings. An odd man in a leather coat asks if there are any odd jobs that he can perform. Arthur hires the man to kill him. The next day his wife returns, but the man he hired is still trying to kill him...

Date of release
1978-08-31
TMDB
5.9 / 10 (15)
Runtime
1h 27m
Genres
Comedy
Director
Peter Medak

Casting

Interesting facts

The Odd Job is a 1978 British comedy film starring Monty Python member Graham Chapman.

Production

Following Monty Python and the Holy Grail the members of Monty Python worked on separate projects. John Cleese made Fawlty Towers, Eric Idle Rutland Weekend Television, Terry Jones and Michael Palin Ripping Yarns, Terry Gilliam Jabberwocky and Graham Chapman The Odd Job.

The concept originated as an episode of the London Weekend Television/ITV series Six Dates with Barker in 1971, written by Bernard McKenna, with Ronnie Barker as Arthur Harris and David Jason as the Odd Job Man (who plays the same role in the feature film). Chapman admired the play and commissioned McKenna to turn it into a feature film script. Chapman raised the budget, which he said was half a million pounds.

The role of the odd job man was originally intended for Chapman's friend Keith Moon.

Finance came in part from members of the rock groups Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd. Steve O'Rourke, Pink Floyd's manager, was an executive producer; so too was band manager Tony Stratton Smith.

The original director was meant to be Cliff Owen but he broke his thigh and had to be replaced. Peter Medak was selected; it was Medak's first feature since Ghost in the Noonday Sun. Two weeks before filming, Medak went to visit Keith Moon in hospital "drying out" so he would be ready for the film. Medak became convinced that Moon would not be able to finish the movie and pressed for him to be replaced.

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