Bring Me the Head of Mavis Davis

Bring Me the Head of Mavis Davis is a British comedy film directed by John Henderson, originally released in 1997. The film stars Rik Mayall, Jane Horrocks, Danny Aiello and Ross Boatman. The title and plot reference Peckinpah's Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia. It was entered into the 20th Moscow International Film Festival.^[2]

Bring Me the Head of Mavis Davis
UK DVD cover
Directed by	John Henderson
Written by	Craig Strachan
Story by	Joanne Reay
Produced by	Stephen Colegrave Joanne Reay
Starring	Rik Mayall Jane Horrocks Danny Aiello Ronald Pickup Philip Martin Brown
Cinematography	Clive Tickner
Edited by	Paul Endacott
Music by	Christopher Tyng
Production company	BBC Films
Distributed by	Feature Film Company
Release dates	July 1997 (1997-07) (Moscow) 16 January 1998 (1998-01-16)
Running time	100 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Box office	£63,956 (UK)[1]

Plot

Record-company owner Marty Starr concludes that Marla Dorland, aka Mavis Davis is a fading star. Meanwhile, he has to meet alimony payments to his ex, while he's forced to promote the untalented son of a mobster, Rathbone. To get out from under, Marty decides that the death of Marla/Mavis could jolt record sales by turning her into a legend. He hires hitman Clint, but eliminating Mavis turns out to be more difficult than they thought.

Cast

• Rik Mayall as Marty Starr
• Jane Horrocks as Mavis Davis
• Danny Aiello as Mr. Rathbone
• Ronald Pickup as Percy Stone
• Philip Martin Brown as Inspector Furse
• Heathcote Williams as Jeff
• Marc Warren as Clint
• Mark Heap as Duncan
• Paul Keating as Paul Rathbone
• Ross Boatman as Rock Star

Reception

In Variety, Derek Elley wrote, "Both Mayall (Drop Dead Fred) and Horrocks (Life Is Sweet, Bubbles in AbFab) have yet to find bigscreen niches for their considerable comedic talents, and though both have their moments here, Craig Strachan’s script is a generally dull blade for their cutting humor."^[3] Bob McCabe of Empire said, "The credits claim this is 'based on an original idea' by Joanne Reay, but there's very little originality on display here, with the hackneyed plot merely window-dressed with some rock and roll trappings."^[4]