Take It Or Leave It, originally released in 1981, is the highly entertaining and brilliantly nostalgic story of how Madness, one of the most successful and enduring British bands of all time, originally got together.
Filmed after Madness enjoyed a bunch of Top 10 singles, endearing themselves to the British public with the humour of their iconic music videos, the film travels back in time, chronicling how seven mates living in 1970s Camden Town formed a band. It details the jobs they left behind, the line-up changes, the rows, the laughs, and how their distinctive ska-pop ‘Nutty Sound’ evolved.
Featuring classic songs including One Step Beyond, Night Boat to Cairo and Embarrassment.
Credits
UK 1981
86 min
Certificate 12A
Dir Dave Robinson
With Graham McPherson (Suggs), Mark Bedford (Bedders), Lee Thompson (El Thommo), Carl Smyth (Chas Smash), Dan Woodgate (Woody), Chris Foreman (Chrissy Boy) and Mike Barson (Barzo)
Screenings
Previews
September
30 September
BFI Southbank, London (Restoration premiere)
October
1 October
Abbeygate Cinema, Bury St Edmunds
Arts Picturehouse, Cambridge
Broadway, Letchworth
The Cameo, Edinburgh
Chester Picturehouse
The Chiswick Cinema
City Screen, York
Connaught Cinema, Worthing
Crouch End Picturehouse, London
Duke’s at Komedia, Brighton
Epsom Picturehouse
Exeter Picturehouse
Finsbury Park Picturehouse, London
Greenwich Picturehouse
Hackney Picturehouse, London
Harbour Lights, Southampton
Kings Cinema, Newmarket
Lumiere, Romford
Norwich Film Festival
Phoenix Cinema East Finchley, London
Picturehouse at FACT, Liverpool
Picturehouse Central, London
Regal Picturehouse, Henley-on-Thames
Showcase Bluewater
Showcase Bristol Avonmeads
Showcase Coventry
The Station Cinema, Richmond
Welwyn Garden City Cinema
3 October
The Roof Gardens, Kensington
4 October
Light Cinema Addlestone
Light Cinema Banbury
Light Cinema Bolton
Light Cinema Bradford
Light Cinema Cambridge
Light Cinema Huddersfield
Light Cinema New Brighton
Light Cinema Redhill
Light Cinema Sheffield
Light Cinema Sittingbourne
Light Cinema Stockport
Light Cinema Thetford
Light Cinema Walsall
Light Cinema Wisbech
Storyhouse Chester
5 October
Odeon Birmingham New Street
Odeon Braehead
Odeon Cardiff
Odeon Greenwich
Odeon Liverpool ONE
Odeon Manchester Great Northern
Odeon Metrocentre, Gateshead
9 October
Windmill Cinema, Littlehampton
11 October
Electric Picture House, Wotton
12 October
The Riverside, Woodbridge
17 October
The Ashford Cinema
28 October
The Plaza, Stockport
November
3 November
Corn Exchange, Wallingford
More screenings to be confirmed.