in 1999, the british film institute voted "withnail and i" the 29th greatest british film of all time. in 2017 a poll of 150 actors, directors, writers, producers and critics for "time out" magazine saw it ranked the 15th best british film ever. the line "we want the finest wines available to humanity, we want them here and we want them now", delivered by richard e. grant as withnail, was voted the third favourite film one-liner in a 2003 poll of 1,000 film fans.