# The Good Father > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/The_Good_Father > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/The_Good_Father.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Good_Father > Source revision: 1341120298 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) Not to be confused with the 1975 Filipino film *[The Goodfather](/source/The_Goodfather)*. For other uses, see [Good Father (disambiguation)](/source/Good_Father_(disambiguation)). 1985 British film The Good Father Theatrical release poster Directed by Mike Newell Written by Christopher Hampton Based on The Good Father by Peter Prince Produced by Ann Scott Starring Anthony Hopkins Jim Broadbent Harriet Walter Joanne Whalley Simon Callow Cinematography Michael Coulter Edited by Peter Hollywood Music by Richard Hartley Production companies FilmFour International Greenpoint Films Distributed by Mainline Pictures (United Kingdom) Skouras Pictures (United States) Release date November 1985 (1985-11) Running time 90 minutes Country United Kingdom Language English Budget £764,000[1] ***The Good Father*** is a 1985 British film directed by [Mike Newell](/source/Mike_Newell_(director)) and starring [Anthony Hopkins](/source/Anthony_Hopkins), [Jim Broadbent](/source/Jim_Broadbent), [Harriet Walter](/source/Harriet_Walter), Fanny Viner, [Simon Callow](/source/Simon_Callow), [Joanne Whalley](/source/Joanne_Whalley), and [Michael Byrne](/source/Michael_Byrne_(actor)). It is loosely based on [Peter Prince](/source/Peter_Prince)'s 1983 novel of the same name. It marked the first credited appearance in a feature film of [Stephen Fry](/source/Stephen_Fry). The film was produced for British television but received a theatrical release in the US. ## Plot Bill is a man who is bitter about his recent divorce from his wife and the loss of custody of his only child. He acts out his anger by befriending Roger, a man who is being sued for divorce by his wife so that she can enter into a lesbian relationship with her lover. Bill tries to help the man out, by funding the latter's court case to regain custody of his child. Soon Bill, who has focused his anger against [feminism](/source/Feminism), which he blames for robbing him of his family, begins to feel doubt for what he and his new friend are doing. ## Cast - [Anthony Hopkins](/source/Anthony_Hopkins) as Bill Hooper - [Jim Broadbent](/source/Jim_Broadbent) as Roger Miles - [Harriet Walter](/source/Harriet_Walter) as Emmy Hooper - Frances Viner as Cheryl Langford - [Simon Callow](/source/Simon_Callow) as Mark Varda - [Miriam Margolyes](/source/Miriam_Margolyes) as Jane Powell - [Joanne Whalley](/source/Joanne_Whalley) as Mary Hall - [Michael Byrne](/source/Michael_Byrne_(actor)) as Leonard Scruby - [Jennie Stoller](/source/Jennie_Stoller) as Bill's Friend - Johanna Kirby as Bill's Friend - [Stephen Fry](/source/Stephen_Fry) as Creighton - [Clifford Rose](/source/Clifford_Rose) as Judge - Harry Grubb as Christopher Hooper - [Tom Jamieson](/source/Tom_Jamieson) as Roger's Son ## Critical reception In *[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times)*, [Vincent Canby](/source/Vincent_Canby) wrote, *The Good Father* "is full of ironic surprises. It's the kind of 'small' film that, by recording so accurately the minute details of particular lives, also manages - without effort - to evoke the larger, mostly unseen context in which these lives are led: the [England of Margaret Thatcher](/source/Premiership_of_Margaret_Thatcher) and a society that now only dimly remembers the excitement and urgency of the political commitment of the 1960's."[2] He added the film is "wonderfully well acted by Mr. Hopkins, who moves through the film as if wired with enough explosives to wipe out half of London. At any minute, he might blow. It's a brilliant, exacting characterization, the only reservation being that it's initially so persuasive that the resolution may come as a bit of a stretch".[2] ## References 1. **[^](#cite_ref-org_1-0)** ["Back to the Future: The Fall and Rise of the British Film Industry in the 1980s - An Information Briefing"](https://web.archive.org/web/20150912042419/https://www2.bfi.org.uk/sites/bfi.org.uk/files/downloads/bfi-back-to-the-future-the-fall-and-rise-of-the-british-film-industry-in-the-1980s.pdf) (PDF). *British Film Institute*. 2005. p. 23. Archived from [the original](https://www2.bfi.org.uk/sites/bfi.org.uk/files/downloads/bfi-back-to-the-future-the-fall-and-rise-of-the-british-film-industry-in-the-1980s.pdf) (PDF) on 12 September 2015. Retrieved 29 November 2020. 1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Canby_2-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Canby_2-1) Canby, Vincent (11 February 1987). ["Film: 'The Good Father'"](https://www.nytimes.com/1987/02/11/movies/film-the-good-father.html). *[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times)*. Retrieved 28 September 2024. ## External links - [*The Good Father*](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093103/) at [IMDb](/source/IMDb_(identifier)) - [*The Good Father*](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/good_father) at [Rotten Tomatoes](/source/Rotten_Tomatoes) - [*The Good Father*](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=goodfather.htm) at [Box Office Mojo](/source/Box_Office_Mojo) v t e Films directed by Mike Newell Feature films The Awakening (1980) Bad Blood (1981) Dance with a Stranger (1985) The Good Father (1985) Amazing Grace and Chuck (1987) Soursweet (1988) Enchanted April (1991) Into the West (1992) Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994) An Awfully Big Adventure (1995) Donnie Brasco (1997) Pushing Tin (1999) Mona Lisa Smile (2003) Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005) Love in the Time of Cholera (2007) Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010) Great Expectations (2012) The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (2018) My Duchess (TBA) Television Of the Fields, Lately (1976) The Man in the Iron Mask (1977) Birth of a Nation (1983) Blood Feud (1983) v t e Christopher Hampton Films written and directed Carrington (1995) The Secret Agent (1996) Imagining Argentina (2003) Films written only A Doll's House (1973) Tales from the Vienna Woods (1979) The Honorary Consul (1983) The Good Father (1985) The Wolf at the Door (1986) Hotel du Lac (1986) Dangerous Liaisons (1988) Total Eclipse (1995) Mary Reilly (1996) The Quiet American (2002) Atonement (2007) Chéri (2009) A Dangerous Method (2011) The Thirteenth Tale (2013) Adoration (2013) Ali and Nino (2016) The Father (2020) The Son (2022) TV series created The History Man (1981) The Ginger Tree (1989) The Singapore Grip (2020) Plays The Philanthropist Savages Treats Tales from Hollywood Les Liaisons Dangereuses Musical productions Sunset Boulevard Dracula, the Musical Waiting for the Barbarians Appomattox The Trial Rebecca Stephen Ward This article related to a British film of the 1980s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by adding missing information. - [v](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:1980s-UK-film-stub) - [t](/source/Template_talk%3A1980s-UK-film-stub) - [e](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:EditPage/Template:1980s-UK-film-stub) This article related to a made-for-TV drama film is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by adding missing information. - [v](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Tv-drama-film-stub) - [t](/source/Template_talk%3ATv-drama-film-stub) - [e](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:EditPage/Template:Tv-drama-film-stub) --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [The Good Father](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Good_Father) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Good_Father?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.