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British Sixties Films F-K
The Family Way (
1966 )
A son has difficulty in consummating his marriage.
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Good scenes and performances, though
a little long and drawn out.
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John Mills, Marjorie Rhodes,
Hayley Mills, Hywel Bennett
Writer: Bill Norton Director: Roy Boulting
Far From The
Madding Crowd ( 1967 )
A Victorian girl causes misery and
unhappiness in a country town.
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Based on the Thomas Hardy novel, this film
looks good, but disappoints overall despite a quality cast.
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Julie Christie, Peter Finch,
Alan Bates, Terence Stamp
Writer: Frederic Raphael Director: John Schlesinger
Fahrenheit 451 (
1966 )
Sometime in the future, a fireman in a fascist
state finds that his job is to burn books.
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A nice idea, well executed, rather reminiscent of 1984.
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Oskar Werner, Julie Christie, Cyril Cusack
Writers: Francois Truffaut, Jean-Louis Richard
Director: Francois Truffaut
This fireman
starts fires - bonfires piled high with books
From Russia With
Love ( 1963 )
A Russian spy joins an international crime
organisation and develops a plan to murder James
Bond and steal a coding machine.
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The second Bond film, evidently bigger budget
than the first and equally entertaining.
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Sean Connery, Robert Shaw,
Bernard Lee, Lotte Lenya
Writers: Richard Maibaum,
Johanna Harwood
Director: Terence Young
Georgy Girl (
1966 )
A plain girl is sought by her boss but she escapes to
look after her friend's illegitimate child.
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Although shocking at the time, this film now seems
rather charming. The mood is decidedly swinging,
with some amusing scenes amid the London scene.
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James Mason, Lynn Redgrave
Charlotte Rampling, Alan Bates
Writers: Margaret Forster
Peter Nichols
Director: Silvio Narizzano
The Girl Getters
- aka The System ( 1964 )
Layabouts at a seaside resort have a system to 'share
out' rich girls who are visiting the town. A rich girl
gets the better of the ringleader's plans.
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A bit of sexy nonsense. Worth a view for the impressive
acting and directorial talent which receives an early
showcase.
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Oliver Reed, Jane Merrow, Julia Foster,
David Hemmings, John Alderton, Derek Nimmo,
Harry Andrews, Guy Doleman
Writer: Peter Draper
Director: Michael Winner
The beautiful
Jane Merrow proves
she's not just a pretty face.
The Girl With
Green Eyes ( 1963 )
A young Dublin girl falls for an older man.
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Romantic tale set amid beautiful locations.
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Peter Finch, Rita Tushingham, Lynn Redgrave
Writer: Edna O'Brien
Director: Desmond Davis
Goldfinger (
1964 )
James Bond stops an international
gold
smuggler from robbing Fort Knox.
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This was
described by one critic as a `diverting
comic strip for adults'. Big budget, big action, big
thrills - the third of Sean Connery's definitive run
of performances as Bond and with the sexy Honor
Blackman straight from her Avengers role. Great fun.
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Sean Connery, Honor Blackman, Shirley Eaton
Bernard Lee, Lois Maxwell, Desmond Llewellyn
Writers: Richard Maibaum, Paul Dehn
Director: Guy Hamilton
Hasn't anyone
ever told 007
that smoking can be dangerous?
A Hard Day's
Night ( 1964 )
The Beatles are harassed by their
manager and by Paul's
grandfather as they travel from Liverpool to London to
make a TV recording of a performance.
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Director Dick Lester extracts fine
performances from
the fab four with excellent support from the professional
actors. Each of The Beatles has a five minute 'solo' in the
film where they can divulge some of their personality. Lots
of camera tricks and gimmicks, an abundance of northern
wit and 'choreographed ad-libs' and comic moments. This was
the film that inspired many sixties spy and 'swinging' movies.
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The Beatles, Wilfrid Brambell
Victor Spinetti, Norman Rossington
Writer: Alun Owen Director: Richard Lester
Help! ( 1965 )
A high priest chases The Beatles
around the world to get
a sacred ring that is stuck on Ringo's finger.
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From Austria to the Bahamas,
this is a big budget film
compared to their first but fails to live up to it in every
way. It is fast-paced, too much so in places, so that the
viewer is confused and it ends-up being a series of chases
and images. The tunes are very good, of course, Leo McKern
and Eleanor Bron are very good and the scenery is magnificent.
As a piece of musical history it is worth seeing.
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The Beatles, Leo McKern, Eleanor Bron, Victor Spinetti
Writers: Charles Wood, Mark Behm
Director: Richard Lester
The Hill ( 1965
)
At a British military detention
centre, prisoners revolt
against their harsh treatment.
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Gritty, gutsy performances from
reliable actors do not
compensate for poor sound and picture quality on this film.
The location shooting seems to have provided major lighting
and photographic problems, so that a great deal of the film
is seemingly shot in semi-shade and the remainder in
brilliant sunlight. It is little improved on the laserdisc
version. This is as gruelling and exhausting to watch as
The Hill of the title must have been to repeatedly negotiate.
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Sean Connery, Harry Andrews, Michael Redgrave
Writer: Ray Rigby Director: Sidney Lumet
Hot Millions (
1968 )
A confidence trickster makes money
out of fictitious companies.
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Peter Ustinov stars in and co-wrote this hilarious tale
of an ex-con who lands an extortioner's dream job with a
large American firm in charge of security.
In the interim, he wins the heart of Maggie Smith
( in a beautifully understated comedic performance )
and manages to bamboozle all his peers at the
firm ( who include Bob Newhart and Karl Malden ).
Robert Morley and Caesar Romero
also shine in cameos.
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Peter Ustinov, Maggie Smith
Writers: Ira Wallach, Peter Ustinov
Director: Eric Till
If... ( 1968 )
At a British public school, the boys
rebel against
oppressive authority.
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Surreal, and employing all sorts of
camera and production
techniques, this is nevertheless not too high-brow and is
effective as a tale of dissatisfaction with school life.
Features Malcolm McDowell in pre-Clockwork Orange days.
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Malcolm McDowell, Arthur Lowe, Anthony Nicholls
Writer: David Sherwin Director: Lindsay Anderson
Malcolm McDowell
over-reacting to his poor exam results
The Innocents (
1961 )
In a Victorian house, a governess finds that the
children she is looking after have been possessed
by evil spirits.
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This is a re-working of The Turn Of
The Screw
by Henry James. All in all, a very creditable adaptation
with excellent photography and performances.
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Deborah Kerr, Michael Redgrave, Peter Wyngarde
Writers: William Archibald, Truman Capote
Director: Jack Clayton
The Ipcress File
( 1965 )
A missing scientist is found by a British spy but the spy's
chief is working for the other side.
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This `anti-Bond' movie, with a
domesticated and bespectacled
Harry Palmer, is very good and atmospheric, helped along
by John Barry's excellent soundtrack. Please see it.
It was the first of a run of three Harry Palmer movies,
the others being Funeral In Berlin and Billion Dollar
Brain in 1967. The latter was the poorest of the three.
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Michael Caine, Sue Lloyd, Gordon Jackson, Guy Doleman
Writers: Bill Canaway, James Doran
Director: Sidney J. Furie
Harry Palmer's
culinary creativity is put to the test
with a pint of milk, a tin of baked beans and a sock
The Italian Job
( 1969 )
A `Mr. Big' of the British crime
world enrolls a team of
experts to drive to Italy and sabotage the Turin traffic
computer to facilitate a major bank robbery. The local mob
unsuccessfully try to discourage them.
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E-type
Jaguars, red white and blue minis, Aston Martins.
The car's the star in this movie full of cleverly
choreographed
car chases. Noel Coward is great as the `Mr. Big' and Benny
Hill
is fun as the computer expert. Well worth a watch.
Having seen the re-release on the big screen in October
1999 to mark the 30th anniversary of the movie, I still
got a horrible feeling when I watched those lovely
Jags and the Aston Martin demolished by the Mafia!
By the way, watch for a brief cameo by Simon Dee.
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Michael Caine, Noel Coward, Benny Hill
Writer: Troy Kennedy Martin
Director: Peter Collinson
The Jokers (
1967 )
Two young brothers plan to steal the crown jewels.
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Light and fun comic caper which is clearly set in the sixties.
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Michael Crawford, Oliver Reed, Harry Andrews,
James Donald, Frank Finlay, Michael Hordern,
Warren Mitchell, Rachel Kempson, Peter Graves
Writers: Dick Clement, Ian La Frenais
Director: Michael Winner
Michael Crawford
and Oliver Reed displaying the latest
sixties fashion trend
Kes ( 1969 )
In a bleak northern industrial landscape, a boy learns
about life through experiences he has with his pet Kestrel.
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Quite simply, a classic.
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David Bradley, Colin Welland, Brian Glover, Lyn Perrie
Writers: Barry Hines, Ken Loach, Tony Garnet
Director: Ken Loach
A Kind Of Loving
( 1962 )
A young man is forced into a marriage
and sharing the house
with the mother-in-law. Family tensions ensue but are
ultimately resolved.
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From Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall
( also writers of
Billy Liar ), and with the same director, this is a
`kitchen sink' drama with stark and bleak
photography of the northern landscape.
Entertaining in its realism.
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Alan Bates, Thora Hird, June Ritchie
Writers: Keith Waterhouse, Willis Hall
Director: John Schlesinger
The Knack ( 1965
)
A teacher on the look-out for sex
lets one room to a
girl-hungry lodger and another to an innocent northerner.
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This is a very funny and
visually-pleasing film which
made a star of Rita Tushingham.
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Michael Crawford, Ray Brooks, Rita Tushingham
Writer: Charles Wood Director: Richard Lester
Ray Brooks and
Rita Tushingham
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