What once was shocking is now so tame. I don't know if that was ever a quote or official concept - unless you count the Parable of the Leopards - but it describes the plot of Karel Reisz's "Saturday Night and Sunday Morning". This is one of the many British movies from the early '60s focusing on the working class, with an angry young man as the protagonist; these were known as kitchen sink dramas.
The movie opens with an announcement from the British Board of Censorship that no one under the age of 16 will be allowed to see the movie (the same message opened Stanley Kubrick's "Lolita"). The subject matter was extramarital sex, and in some scenes, the characters debate whether or not to "have" the baby (I guess that they weren't actually allowed to say abortion). This plus usages of what was considered profanity at the time essentially got the movie the 1960 equivalent of an R rating (by today's standards it's PG).
In the end, the movie does a good job hinting at the day-to-day lives of the UK's working class, as the protagonist (Albert Finney in his star-making role) toils away as a machinist during the day and lives a carefree life outside of that (kind of like John Travolta's character in a different Saturday-titled movie). I recommend it.
The movie opens with an announcement from the British Board of Censorship that no one under the age of 16 will be allowed to see the movie (the same message opened Stanley Kubrick's "Lolita"). The subject matter was extramarital sex, and in some scenes, the characters debate whether or not to "have" the baby (I guess that they weren't actually allowed to say abortion). This plus usages of what was considered profanity at the time essentially got the movie the 1960 equivalent of an R rating (by today's standards it's PG).
In the end, the movie does a good job hinting at the day-to-day lives of the UK's working class, as the protagonist (Albert Finney in his star-making role) toils away as a machinist during the day and lives a carefree life outside of that (kind of like John Travolta's character in a different Saturday-titled movie). I recommend it.