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Submitted by cinemascope on Mon, 2006-06-12 14:43. :: Classic
Movie title:
This Sporting Life
Starring:
Richard Harris, Rachel Roberts, William Hartnell, Alan Badel, Vanda Godsell
Directed by:
Lindsay Anderson
Written by:
David Storey, from his own novel
Genre:
Drama/Sport
Year:
1963
Country:
UK
Language:
English
Runtime:
134 minutes
Imdb:
Rating:
Synopsis
Ambitious Yorkshire miner Frank Machin fights to make his way in the rough and competitive world of professional Rugby League. He lodges with a widow whose husband was killed in an industrial accident, but his impulsive and violent character makes their relationship strained.
Ambitious Yorkshire miner Frank Machin fights to make his way in the rough and competitive world of professional Rugby League. He lodges with a widow whose husband was killed in an industrial accident, but his impulsive and violent character makes their relationship strained.
Review
A movie with so much going for it – a heart-wrenching pseudo-romance between two people crushed by circumstance and emotional turmoil and a brutal examination of the world of rugby league – both the upstairs/downstairs relationship between the directors and the coach and players, and also the frenetic action on the pitch. Purely on the basis of the match footage – filmed at the ground of Wakefield Trinity – this would be one of the great sports movies, but it’s also one of the best kitchen-sink dramas of northern working-class life in the 50s and 60s, and features an astonishing performance of aggression, vulnerability and grief from Richard Harris, who could have been the greatest actor of his generation but for his later career choices. Lindsay Anderson couples flat, functional photography for gritty domestic scenes with an expressionistic touch for some of the more intensely emotional scenes later in the movie. A richly rewarding experience.
A movie with so much going for it – a heart-wrenching pseudo-romance between two people crushed by circumstance and emotional turmoil and a brutal examination of the world of rugby league – both the upstairs/downstairs relationship between the directors and the coach and players, and also the frenetic action on the pitch. Purely on the basis of the match footage – filmed at the ground of Wakefield Trinity – this would be one of the great sports movies, but it’s also one of the best kitchen-sink dramas of northern working-class life in the 50s and 60s, and features an astonishing performance of aggression, vulnerability and grief from Richard Harris, who could have been the greatest actor of his generation but for his later career choices. Lindsay Anderson couples flat, functional photography for gritty domestic scenes with an expressionistic touch for some of the more intensely emotional scenes later in the movie. A richly rewarding experience.
