Recently, someone told me that when you start trying to remember any kind of anniversary of a favorite movie, the standard rule is you come up with a number as to how long ago you think it premiered and then add five years to the total and, generally, you will be correct at that point. Such is the case with a favorite of mine, The Full Monty, which turns 20! in August of this year.

It was August 1997 when the story of six unemployed men living in Sheffield, four of them former steel workers, who decide to form a male striptease act (à la Chippendale dancers) in order to gather enough money to get somewhere else and for main character, Gaz, to be able to see his son. The Full Monty, which was filmed on a massively modest, bordering on the ridiculous budget of $3.5 million dollars, grossed over $250 million making it the highest grossing film in the U.K. until is was supplanted by Titanic, which cost just a hair more the $3.5 million to film.

Nominated for Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and Best Original Music Score, the film won the Oscar for Best Original Music Score, the film featured a number of familiar faces from today that may or may not have been recognizable at the time including Mark Addy (The Thin Blue Line, Trollied, Young Hyacinth, Game of Thrones), Tom Wilkinson (Shakespeare in Love, Rush Hour, Michael Clayton, John Adams) and Robert Carlyle (Trainspotting, Hamish MacBeth, Angela’s Ashes).

To commemorate the film’s 20th anniversary, ITV will air a special in April, ending with six as yet to be named stars taking their clothes off at the London Palladium. The six who do sign up will be whipped into shape before performing their routine at a working men’s club in Sheffield in April which will be supported by charities Movember, Cancer Research, Everyman and Prostate Cancer UK to raise awareness.

Happy 20th to The Full Monty. You don’t look a day over 15.

In: Drama