A borstal (English juvenile reform school) boy reflects on his life and times while doing the only thing he is good at - long distant running.
One of those 1960's British "Kitchen Sink" melodramas (A Taste of Honey, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, Billy Liar, Look Back In Anger, This Sporting Life, etc.) that plays just as well today as when it was made. In truth it wasn't that well received at the time of release (too downbeat?), but it has passed the test of time well.
(Maybe in this DVD age someone can package all the above mentioned films together in to one box?)
Tom Courtney is a joy to watch on screen. He just has to stand in front of the camera to represent working class English youth. A generation whose food contained little vitamins and whose skin sees little sun: The fish, chips and cigarettes generation.
(He is just as much a rebel as any played by James Dean, but hasn't got the haircut or the profile to make it sexy.)
He has a hard luck story to tell: But that is a bit of a cop-out. He didn't need to steal, but does, and is punished according to law: although as a first offence (or is it???) he surely wouldn't have been sent to this place. Not even in the 60's.
Michael Redgrave is also great as the pipe smoking governor (authority on a stick!) and, as always in the British films of the 60's, there is lots of talent happy to do bit parts. Partner in crime James Bolam (who went on to have great TV success in the UK) gives great support to our anti-hero.
The whole thing climaxes in a cross country race against a public school (natch!) that features one of the great twist endings of cinema. Worth seeing for that alone.
One of those 1960's British "Kitchen Sink" melodramas (A Taste of Honey, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, Billy Liar, Look Back In Anger, This Sporting Life, etc.) that plays just as well today as when it was made. In truth it wasn't that well received at the time of release (too downbeat?), but it has passed the test of time well.
(Maybe in this DVD age someone can package all the above mentioned films together in to one box?)
Tom Courtney is a joy to watch on screen. He just has to stand in front of the camera to represent working class English youth. A generation whose food contained little vitamins and whose skin sees little sun: The fish, chips and cigarettes generation.
(He is just as much a rebel as any played by James Dean, but hasn't got the haircut or the profile to make it sexy.)
He has a hard luck story to tell: But that is a bit of a cop-out. He didn't need to steal, but does, and is punished according to law: although as a first offence (or is it???) he surely wouldn't have been sent to this place. Not even in the 60's.
Michael Redgrave is also great as the pipe smoking governor (authority on a stick!) and, as always in the British films of the 60's, there is lots of talent happy to do bit parts. Partner in crime James Bolam (who went on to have great TV success in the UK) gives great support to our anti-hero.
The whole thing climaxes in a cross country race against a public school (natch!) that features one of the great twist endings of cinema. Worth seeing for that alone.