British comedy-writing legends Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais wrote this funny satire about West Indies-style politics and the decline of British colonialism in the Thatcher Era. Elements of the story were also inspired by the 1982 Falklands conflict (when Argentina invaded the British overseas territory in the south-west Atlantic Ocean).
Set on a fictional Caribbean island (Cascara) owned by Britain but largely left to its own devices, the story centres around the discovery of a lucrative resource – the natural mineral water of the title – and the reaction of people on the island and other nations.
Location shooting for the fictional British Caribbean colony of Cascara took place in the real former British Caribbean colony of St. Lucia in the West Indies.
The stand-out cast features Brits Leonard Rossiter, Billy Connolly, Maureen Lipman and Fulton Mackay and Americans Valerie Perrine, Fred Gwynne, Ruby Wax and Jimmie Walker.
The charity rock band featured at the end of the movie – The Singing Rebels – features George Harrison (whose Handmade Films produced the movie), Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton and Jon Lord (of Deep Purple).
Baxter
Michael Caine
Pamela
Valerie Perrine
Dolores
Brenda Vaccaro
Sir Malcolm
Leonard Rossiter
Delgado
Billy Connolly
Rob
Dennis Dugan
Eric
Fulton Mackay
Jay Jay
Jimmie Walker
Deke Halliday
Dick Shawn
Spender
Fred Gwynne
Pepito
Trevor Laird
Garfield
Chris Tummings
Nado
Kelvin Omard
Miguel
Oscar James
Ken
Charles Thomas Murphy
Sarah
Felicity Dean
Ben
William Hootkins
Charlesworth
Alan Shearman
Hollister
Bill Bailey
Foreign Secretary
Richard Pearson
Prime Minister
Maureen Lipman
Kessler
Paul Heiney
UN Secretary-General
Rashid Karapiet
Pierre
Alfred Molina
Spenco Executive
Ruby Wax
Director
Dick Clement
