After their boss is killed during a bank robbery, London gangsters Brian Hope and Charlie McManus desire to lead more peaceful lives in Brazil, disapproving of their new younger and more brash boss, Casey. While planning to rob a local Triad gang of their ill-gotten drug money, Brian meets and falls in love with a waitress, Faith. During the robbery, Brian and Charlie betray their fellow gangsters, Abbott and Morley, steal the money and flee, but are forced to abandon their car when it runs out of petrol and seek refuge in a nearby nunnery during the ensuing gunfight. Faith, who had tried to warn Brian beforehand, is shot in the wrist by Abbott, while one of the triads is shot and hospitalised. After this, Casey places a bounty on Brian and Charlie's heads.
Disguising themselves as nuns, Brian and Charlie introduce themselves to the Sister Superior, Liz, as Sisters Inviolata and Euphemia, respectively. Faith, having witnessed the gunfight and Brian and Charlie fleeing into the nunnery, follows them and poses as a mature student to get inside. Her gunshot wound is exposed and she is taken to the infirmary. Brian pays her a secret visit and claims he is married in order to end their relationship for her safety. When Faith intends to go to church and confess, Charlie distracts the priest, Father Seamus, while Brian poses as him. Faith admits she still loves Brian, but Brian convinces Faith to keep silent. On her way out, she is abducted by the Triads and interrogated. She directs them to Casey and they set her free, but bumps into a lamppost and hits her head on the road, ending up in the hospital, where one Triad has infiltrated the staff as a cleaner. Brian and Charlie acquire tickets to Brazil, despite Brian's desire to take Faith with them.
Brian decides to tell Faith the truth, but discovers she has not returned to the nunnery. They go to her flat and only barely escape from Abbott and Morley, who had been sent to retrieve her by Casey. They sneak back into the nunnery and manage to slip into their spare habits after accidentally waking up an eccentric nun, Sister Mary. In conversation, Brian learns that Faith is in the hospital, with her father and brother who are protecting her from the gang. He visits her, but she is heartbroken, believing that Brian no longer loves her. They wake up and leave for the airport the next morning, but are caught and exposed by Sister Mary. In desperation, they steal a utility and drive to the airport pursued by Sisters Liz and Mary, Morley and Abbott, and eventually Casey and the Triads. Brian forces Charlie to go to the hospital, where Brian tells Faith the truth while Charlie stalls the gangsters. They manage to escape the hospital with Faith and Casey is arrested, though one briefcase of money is lost during the chase. Sister Liz and Sister Mary find the lost briefcase and, ignoring the police concerns, decide to use it to fund a drug rehabilitation clinic. Sister Liz then leads the nuns in prayer, thanking God for sending them Sisters Euphemia and Inviolata, and asking him to, "keep on eye on them, won't you? They need you."
Brian, Charlie and Faith reach the airport and check-in, when an airport policeman warns the attendant about Brian and Charlie. They board the flight on board a British Airways Boeing 747-200 jumbo jet, disguised as attendants and successfully escape the UK for Brazil.
Cast
Eric Idle as Brian Hope/Sister Euphemia of the Five Wounds
Robbie Coltrane as Charlie McManus/Sister Inviolata of the Immaculate Conception
Janet Suzman as Sister Liz, the Sister Superior of the nunnery
Winston Dennis as Morley, one of Casey's henchmen and the bouncer of his health club
Gary Tang as Ronnie Chang, the head of the Triads
David Forman as Henry Ho
Ozzie Yue as Ernie Wong, the most senior of the Triads
As an in-joke, Brian Hope and Charlie McManus are credited as playing the flight attendants.
Production
Filming of the convent exterior took place at St. Michael & All Angels Church on Priory Avenue, Chiswick, West London. Interior shots were done at former Royal Masonic School for Boys at Bushey in Hertfordshire.[2][3] Other locations include White City, Putney and other parts of central London.[4][5]
Reception
The film received mixed reviews from critics, and was criticised in the United States for its lack of depth and excessive use of nuns for humour. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 42% rating based on reviews from 26 critics, with an average rating of 4.6/10.[6]
Roger Ebert asked, "Why do filmmakers so often insist that nuns are funny? I'll bet there are some psychological reasons buried around here somewhere."[7] Ebert and Gene Siskel had also ridiculed Fox's advertising campaign for the film; in retaliation, Fox's president of marketing, Bob Harper, announced that they would be barred from press screenings of future films released by the company, though he backed down after only three weeks under pressure from the Chicago Film Critics Association (of which neither Siskel nor Ebert was a member).[8] Michael Wilmington of the Los Angeles Times noted that as far as drag comedies go, the film "has some bawdy class—but only because of its casting".[9]
Vincent Canby wrote in The New York Times that "Nuns on the Run is a great leveler. It makes everyone in the audience feel a rascally 8 years old, the age at which whoopee cushions (when they work) seem the greatest invention since firecrackers."[10]Owen Gleiberman wrote in one of Entertainment Weekly's first issues that the film "isn't a madcap-hysterical, end-of-the-empire drag farce; it doesn't hash over what Monty Python did definitively over 20 years ago. It's a cleverly directed caper comedy about two crooks on the lam, and it has its fair share of chuckles."[11]
Box office
The film was successful in the US on limited release, making $658,835 in first screenings at 76 theatres.[12]Nuns on the Run grossed US$10,959,015, according to Box Office Mojo.
The distribution rights for Nuns on the Run were initially held by Anchor Bay Entertainment for DVD release in the United Kingdom. The original DVD was made available on 8 April 2002.[14] A second printing was released on 10 October 2005 under its subsidiary 'Bay View',[15] while a third and final release came from Anchor Bay, alongside Time Bandits in a 'Double Disc Box Set' on 6 February 2006.[16] After which, the then Optimum Releasing (now StudioCanal UK) released the film on 4 January 2010.[17]Arrow Films currently hold distribution rights to the film as all previous releases are now out-of-print. Arrow released Nuns on the Run to DVD on 27 June 2016, with a reissue distributed on 17 April 2019.[18]
