|
Rating:  -
Classic early 60s British movie. Fine example of how Britain was struggling to pull away from the austerity of the post WWII years. Tremendous acting by a famous British cast. Launched Albert Finney's career - and you can see why. I am 51 now and it reminds me of the landscape I grew up in as a young child. Watch, learn and enjoy!
Rating: -
Another top quality, British "kitchen-sink" drama from the 1960s, Reisz's film launched Finney to prominence after a promising debut in Tony Richardson's "The Entertainer." Drowning five days of stagnation in one night's revelry--or is it oblivion?--Arthur is the quintessential "angry young man," as he is going nowhere and won't let himself care, either about short-term inconveniences or long-term consequences. Finney is magnetic in the lead, and both Roberts and Shirley Ann Field make compelling love interests. Finney would go on to cement his stardom in the incomparable "Tom Jones".
Rating:  -
This is the film that put Finney on the map, as the saying goes, and for good reason. He's a great actor, but his performance is more than individual; it's also symbolic of some anger afoot in the UK at the time--i.e., the "angry young men". More specifically, the combination of Finney's sex appeal and braggodocio thumbs its nose at the stereotypical image of Great Britain as the stuffy, staid upholder of propriety and good manners and lords and ladies, et cetera.
His character, Arthur, is working class through and through, and it shows in every scene. He drinks and womanizes and plays tricks--mostly on older women he considers representative of stuffiness and stupidity. But he's callous himself--not stupid, but callous. This is really a slice of life movie that, more than anything else, portrays the British working class in the 1960s pretty much as they were. It's a great companion piece to another excellent British film, "The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner", also from the 1960s, and also featuring a young British actor making his debut, Tom Courtenay.
Finney is electric in his role. What's especially good about this film is that it doesn't so much copy or emulate American movies--in departing from the image of British culture as proper, etc.--as it presents an entirely new type of film, that reveals the day-to-day lives of British workers and societal hangers-on, those who can never take anything for granted.
Thumbing one's nose symbolically and cinematically here is producer Tony Richardson, who went on to direct Finney in "Tom Jones" (a masterpiece, I would say) and director Karel Reisz, a Polish-born Brit who went on to direct a number of other interesting films.
But the biggest nose-thumber of all here is Albert Finney. The ending is deeply ironic because we can see that in short order he'll give up his nose-thumbing ways and settle down with a cute girl who has no higher ambitions, basically, than he does. Will that last? Given Arther's character, it doesn't seem likely.
It's nice to see that Finney is still active in cinema. This debut is stunning and for sure well worth seeing.
Rating: -
"Saturday Night and Sunday Morning" is one of the finest examples of cinema that emerged in Britain from the late Fifties and early Sixties. For sure there is a lot of despair on display here but there is also a glimmer of hope for happiness. Arthur Seaton (Albert Finney), stuck in a meaningless job with little hope for advancement beyond his class, doesn't so much lash out but engages in wreckless and self-destructive behavior. He drinks to excess, he carries on affair with a meek co-worker's wife (Rachel Roberts), he torments a busy-body neighbor with an air gun, he teases the ladies at his plant with a dead rat. Arthur isn't so much angry just stifled. The best chance for redemption is the love of a working-class girl, Doreen (Shirley-Anne Field). Arthur just basically has to do some growing up and brush off the inequities of class-conscious Britain. Finney absolutely mesmerizes in his starring debut. For sure, Arthur engages in some outrageous behavior, but Finney never overplays it. Director Karel Reisz perfectly captures the grimy working class milieu. Essential viewing. On a final note, when are they going to properly re-issue Lindsay Anderson's "This Sporting Life" with Richard Harris and Rachel Roberts, another fine example of British film from the early Sixties.
Rating: -
I have seen a few of the "angry young Brit" movies of the late 50's and early 60's lately. "This Sporting Life", "Look Back in Anger", and "Saturday Night and Sunday Morning" leave a picture of a society that offers little except a tedious life with limited rewards. The Richard Harris character in "This Sporting Life" at least had an opportunity to reach beyond but he was ultimately reminded where he belonged. These movies left me wondering why British life in that era seemed so incredibly boring while in America things were really hopping. The Beatles changed all that but then watching "The Fully Monty" gave me the impression that the deadend life had returned.
It's hard to get excited about all this dreariness but I'm certain that the directors had a point to make. Maybe it was a Dickensian version of the "youth will be served" motto. The anger, the fighting, the drinking, the love/hate relationships with women all portrayed a life without joy. Personally, I thought that "Saturday Night and Sunday Morning" was the best of the lot. Although Albert Finney might be a slight notch below Richards Burton and Harris, I felt his was the more compelling character; lost, aimless, but not willing to take it sitting down. He seemed to care for no one but himself (a common trait of the leading men in these movies) and was ready to sacrifice just about anybody to keep his life at least somewhat enjoyable. Burton was just plain angry and Harris was obsessed with his game but Finney used the people around him as pawns for his own entertainment. One of those individuals was played by Rachel Roberts who played the same sort of role in "This Sporting Life".
Some movies make you happy and some make you think. This limited genre of film seems to make you think you'd be happy to watch something else instead. Yet there is the life that must be lived in a society that has predetermined where you belong. These movies may impress many a viewer and I have to admit that the acting and directing is superb in all three of the movies I cited from that era. However, I came away from each one gladder than before that I spent those years in Middle America rather than Great Britain.
Television Show
Collectibles
Movie Searches
|
|
|
Search for posters,
art prints, photos, collectables, merchandise, toys, t-shirts
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
TV Guide
Program listings, celebrity profiles, industry
gossip, movie reviews, puzzle.
More
Entertainment
& TV Magazines
This site is
Hosted
by Bluehost
Read
my Bluehost Review
Most Popular TV collectibles
|
|
Home
Articles
Images
Forum
Search
Shopping
TV Trivia
Watch TV
Wallpaper
