Stan & Ollie (2018) on Netflix
PG20181h 38mBiographyComedyDramaFamilyHistory
In 1953 Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy tour the music halls of Britain and Ireland, trying to get a Robin Hood comedy made. Poor publicity leaves the early venues nearly empty.
- Netflix3.5/5
- IMDb7.2/1041,935 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes92%
Trailer
Plot summary
In 1937 Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy are making a film together when they talk over their contracts. Stan wants them to leave Hal Roach and form their own company, but Oliver will not break with him, and a rift opens between the two men. Sixteen years later the duo sails for a music hall tour of Britain and Ireland and keeps working on a Robin Hood comedy they hope to make. Poor publicity means the first dates are played in near-empty theaters while their producer, Bernard Delfont, looks after his own rising star, Norman Wisdom.
Cast
- Keith MacPhersonas James Finlayson
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Stan & Ollie (2018)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
SPOILER
Following their opening night at the Palace Theatre, Plymouth on 17 May 1954, Hardy had a mild heart attack and stayed at the Grand Hotel in Plymouth while recovering; the pair sailed back on 2 June, the remainder of the tour was canceled, and Laurel and Hardy never performed together on stage again.- The scene of Laurel waiting for Hardy at the 20th Century-Fox studios, with Hardy preferring to remain with Hal Roach, is fictitious: Laurel's contract with Roach had expired, but Hardy's had not, and the team did not report to Fox until July 11, 1941.
- The scene of Laurel and Hardy arguing bitterly was staged for dramatic effect; Hardy's widow remembered him being angry with Laurel only once, out of Laurel's hearing, after the comedians had agreed to present a strong, united front when negotiating with Hal Roach and Laurel meekly agreed to Roach's demands.
SPOILER
Oliver Hardy's health never recovered and he died in 1957; Stan Laurel refused all offers to perform without him, but went on writing material for Laurel and Hardy until his own death in 1965.- The "Mrs. Laurel" character is inaccurate: Laurel had married Ida Kitaeva Raphael in 1946, but the film character is based instead on one of his former wives, Countess Illeana.
