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ENDED
ALFIE at Film Forum Sun & Mon, November 12 & 13

THE BRITISH NEW WAVE From Angry Young Men to Swinging London

For Books Relating to This Series

As the 1950s ended, British cinema exploded with new energy, as directors like Lindsay Anderson, Tony Richardson, Karel Reisz and John Schlesinger burst onto the scene from theater, television and documentaries, tackling groundbreaking material from young new writers (John Osborne, Shelagh Delaney, Harold Pinter and Alan Sillitoe - many fresh from revolutionizing the stage) that, in contrast to the repressed, war-obsessed, classily-accented films of the 40s and 50s, created a socially conscious, aggressively working class cinema, trampling taboos by depicting England's angry and alienated youth, and belying the stiff-upper-lip stereotype by treating sexual content frankly. And they had the interpreters they needed in a tidal wave of powerful, enduring performers like Tom Courtenay, Albert Finney, Rita Tushingham, Julie Christie, David Warner, Alan Bates, Richard Harris, the Redgraves (Lynn and Vanessa), et al. As the 60s progressed, social realism gave way to more escapist fare, Britain's angry young men evolving into the fashionably disillusioned hedonists of Swinging London.

Programmed by Bruce Goldstein and Michael Sayers.

National Endowment for the Arts

Presented with support from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Thanks to John Kirk (MGM), John Herron (Canal+, London), Ron Halpern (Studiocanal, Paris), Michael Schlesinger (Columbia Repertory), John Howson & Satwant Gill (The British Council, London), Heather Stewart (British Film Institute), Linda Evans-Smith (Warner Bros.), Gary Palmucci (Kino), Kim Smith (Castle Hill), Eric DiBernardo (Paramount), Doug Lemza (Criterion), and Gavin Lambert, whose biography of director Lindsay Anderson will be published this fall by Knopf.

For Books Relating to This Series

Scene from ROOM AT THE TOP
Scene from ROOM AT THE TOP

OCTOBER 27/28 FRI/SAT

DOUBLE FEATURE!

ROOM AT THE TOP

(1959, Jack Clayton) New-in-town, working-class born and bred Laurence Harvey sets his sights way high - on the boss's daughter and her social stratosphere
Scene from LOOK BACK IN ANGER
Scene from
LOOK BACK IN ANGER
- but finds himself diverted by the more mature and sensuous Simone Signoret, in an Oscar-winning performance. Neil Paterson also copped one for his adaptation of the steamy John Braine novel. "At last someone in a British film actually admitted that the sex act was enjoyable!" - George Perry.
1:30, 5:30, 9:40

LOOK BACK IN ANGER

 (1959, Tony Richardson) Embittered jazzman Richard Burton, waging a one-man war against the hypocrisy of Brit society, reaches the boiling point when his wife's old pal - slightly snooty actress Claire Bloom - comes for a two-week stay. Original stage director Richardson brought John Osborne's hit play to the screen.
3:40, 7:45

For Books about Tony Richardson.
For Books about LOOK BACK IN ANGER.
For Books about Claire Bloom.
The Internet Movie Database Tony Richardson Page

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New 35mm print!

Scene from THE ENTERTAINER
Scene from
THE ENTERTAINER

OCTOBER 29/30 SUN/MON

DOUBLE FEATURE!

THE ENTERTAINER

(1960, Tony Richardson) In a seedy seaside music hall, Laurence Olivier's washed-up song-and-dance man Archie Rice symbolically stands in for England, finding solace
Scene from THE LONELINESS OF THE LONG DISTANCE RUNNER
Scene from
THE LONELINESS OF
THE LONG DISTANCE RUNNER
only with daughter Joan Plowright. Feeling stereotyped as titan of the Classics, Olivier asked for a part from Angry Young Man John Osborne and got a stage triumph, his 6th (of 10) acting Oscar nomination (but first for a contemporary part), and, in Plowright, his third and last wife. With Alan Bates and Albert Finney.
1:00, 4:45, 8:40

THE LONELINESS OF THE LONG DISTANCE RUNNER

 New 35mm print! (1962, Tony Richardson) As dense warden Michael Redgrave beams, those marathon records keep coming for defiant Borstal boy Tom Courtenay, even as his flashbacks unreel, with the final match providing the opportunity for an ironic revenge. From the Alan Sillitoe story. "You can almost hear the clashing of the new waves, English and French." - John Coleman.
2:50, 6:40, 10:30

For Books about Tony Richardson.
For Books about Alan Sillitoe.
For Books about THE LONELINESS OF THE LONG DISTANCE RUNNER.
The Internet Movie Database Tony Richardson Page

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Scene from NIGHT MUST FALL
Scene from
NIGHT MUST FALL

OCTOBER 31 TUE

DOUBLE FEATURE!

NIGHT MUST FALL

(1964, Karel Reisz) Talk about your "angry young men!" Albert Finney as a mysterious, axe-wielding stranger with a surprise package, in this psychological re-working of Emlyn Williams' pre-war shocker, shot by Freddie Francis.
Scene from THE INNOCENTS
Scene from
THE INNOCENTS

2:50, 6:35, 10:20

THE INNOCENTS

 (1961, Jack Clayton) 19th century English governess Deborah Kerr begins to fear that her seemingly angelic charges are haunted by evil spirits - but are those spectres real, or figments of her own hysteria? Co-written by Truman Capote from Henry James' The Turn of the Screw.
1:00, 4:45, 8:30

For Books about The Turn of the Screw.

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Scene from SÉANCE ON A WET AFTERNOON
Scene from
SÉANCE ON A WET AFTERNOON

NOVEMBER 1 WED

DOUBLE FEATURE!

SÉANCE ON A WET AFTERNOON

(1964, Bryan Forbes) Ambitious-for-the-big-time psychic Kim Stanley, with slavishly devoted hubby Richard Attenborough along for the ride, goes to any lengths - including kidnapping - to prove she's for real. Method maven Stanley was Oscar-nominated and won top acting honors from the New York Film Critics Circle.
Scene from THE L-SHAPED ROOM
Scene from
THE L-SHAPED ROOM

2:00, 6:45

THE L-SHAPED ROOM

 (1963, Bryan Forbes) Amidst the squalor of a bug-infested Bed-Sit, French-waitress-in-London Leslie Caron, unmarried and "in the family way," finds comfort amongst a motley assortment of eccentric, economically-challenged co-tenants: struggling writer Tom Bell, West Indian trumpeter Brock Peters, cat-loving lesbian thespian Cicely Courtneidge, and those tarts in the basement.
4:10, 9:00

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Scene from TERM OF TRIAL
Scene from TERM OF TRIAL

NOVEMBER 2 THU

DOUBLE FEATURE!

TERM OF TRIAL

(1962, Peter Glenville) Laurence Olivier as a disillusioned, hard-drinking, pre-Oleanna schoolmaster, whose relationship with 15-year old Sarah Miles turns ugly with accusations of sexual misconduct. With Simone Signoret as his contemptuous wife and Terence Stamp in juvenile delinquent mode.
1:20, 5:25, 9:30

THE ANGRY SILENCE

 (1960, Guy Green) With wife Pier Angeli expecting, factory worker Richard Attenborough refuses to join in an unauthorized strike, provoking brutal repercussions from his mates and employers. Still controversial for its cynical depiction of organized labor as a thuggish, mindless collective.
3:40, 7:45

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Scene from THIS SPORTING LIFE
Scene from THIS SPORTING LIFE
 NOVEMBER 3/4 FRI/SAT

DOUBLE FEATURE!

THIS SPORTING LIFE

New 35mm print! (1963, Lindsay Anderson) After rugbyer Richard Harris gets his teeth rearranged by an inside-the-scrum sucker punch, the anesthetic kicks in and the flashbacks unreel, detailing his tormentedly inarticulate attempts to connect with repressed, widowed landlady-with-kids Rachel Roberts. Anderson's debut feature garnered Oscar nominations for both leads, with Harris taking Best Actor at Cannes. "The most passionate film that has ever emerged from a British studio." - Elizabeth Sussex.
Scene from SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY MORNING
Scene from SATURDAY NIGHT
AND SUNDAY MORNING

3:10, 7:15

SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY MORNING

 New 35mm print! (1960, Karel Reisz) "Don't let the bastards grind ya down!" Rebellious, hard-drinking factory worker Albert Finney just wants a good wage and a good time with no strings attached, but an affair with married-with-kids (again!) Rachel Roberts leads to complications. "The creation of a contemporary backyard-and-factory consciousness." - Peter John Dyer.
1:30, 5:35, 9:40

For Books about Lindsay Anderson.
For Books about Alan Sillitoe.
For Books about SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY MORNING.
The Internet Movie Database Lindsay Anderson Page
The Internet Movie Database Karel Reisz Page

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NOVEMBER 5 SUNNew 35mm print!
Scene from GEORGY GIRL
Scene from GEORGY GIRL

DOUBLE FEATURE!

GEORGY GIRL

(1966, Silvio Narizzano) "God always has another custard pie up his sleeve." Lynn Redgrave as our frumpy heroine, ardently pursued by an aging millionaire (a post-Lolita James Mason) and saddled with drop-dead gorgeous Bitch Goddess housemate Charlotte Rampling - with Alan Bates as an impulsively comic suitor.
Scene from THE GIRL WITH GREEN EYES
Scene from
THE GIRL WITH GREEN EYES

1:00, 4:30, 8:00

THE GIRL WITH GREEN EYES

(1964, Desmond Davis) It's hardly smooth sailing when country-bred, new-to-Dublin grocery clerk Rita Tushingham falls for acerbic, married, old-enough-to-be-her-dad novelist Peter Finch. With the ever-madcap Lynn Redgrave as her devil-may-care flatmate. From an Edna O'Brien novel.
2:50, 6:20, 9:50

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NOVEMBER 6 MON
Scene from POOR COW
Scene from POOR COW

DOUBLE FEATURE!

POOR COW

(1967, Ken Loach) "I fell in the family way when I was eighteen and I got married - to a right bastard!" With her thieving husband in prison, Cockney mom Carol White tells her own story of an affair with big-hearted burglar Terence Stamp - who'd play the same character over 30 years later in Steven Soderbergh's The Limey!
1:30, 5:30, 9:30

THE LEATHER BOYS

(1963, Sidney J. Furie) "Men? You look like a couple of queers!" With his marriage to teen-bride Rita Tushingham crumbling, biker Colin Campbell finds escape from the squalor and squabbling with gay bike mate Dudley Sutton. "A sharply observed slice of low-life." - Leslie Halliwell.
3:25, 7:30

For Books about Ken Loach.

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 NOVEMBER 7/8 TUE/WED
Scene from IF...
Scene from IF...

DOUBLE FEATURE!

IF...

New 35mm print! (1968, Lindsay Anderson) "When do we live? That's what I wanna know." Discipline, defiance, sadism, and b&w-to-color shifts at a boys' boarding school, with pre-Clockwork Malcolm McDowell's sardonic rebel dabbling in both armed rebellion and Eastern mysticism. "Like all major works of art, it defies definition." - John Russell Taylor.
1:00, 4:00, 7:00, 10:00

THE WHITE BUS

(1966, Lindsay Anderson) London typist Patricia Healey takes a guided bus trip through her Northern hometown: Say, was that a suicide attempt? A kidnapping? Was that a Manet tableau? Was that colour? "A fairy tale for grown-ups, funny and sad and sharp." - John Russell Taylor.
3:00, 6:00, 9:00

For Books about Lindsay Anderson.
The Internet Movie Database Lindsay Anderson Page

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NOVEMBER 9 THU
Scene from THE SERVANT
Scene from THE SERVANT

DOUBLE FEATURE!

THE SERVANT

(1963, Joseph Losey) Upper-crust James Fox thinks he's found a "treasure" in new butler Dirk Bogarde, then starts checking out Bogarde's steamy sister Sarah Miles, in Losey's first collaboration with Harold Pinter, here cameoing as Society Man. "A fine house where everyone once knew his place has been converted into a seedy brothel where everyone now knows his vice." - Andrew Sarris.
1:30, 5:40, 9:45

THE PUMPKIN EATER

(1964, Jack Clayton) Grief becomes paralyzing for memory-laden Anne Bancroft, losing her bearings amidst upscale surroundings, while philandering screenwriter-hubby Peter Finch looks on with baffled dismay. With a memorably intrusive James Mason and a babbling, dotty Maggie Smith. Screenplay by Harold Pinter.
3:35, 7:45

For Books about Joseph Losey.
For Books about Harold Pinter.
For Books about Dick Bogarde.

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New 35mm print!
NOVEMBER 10/11 FRI/SAT
Scene from A TASTE OF HONEY
Scene from A TASTE OF HONEY

DOUBLE FEATURE!

A TASTE OF HONEY

(1961, Tony Richardson) "Ooooo...y'ah man-mad, y'ah!" Waifish schoolgirl Rita Tushingham battles vulgar mum Dora Bryan and mum's menacing beau Robert Stephens, but finds escape in friendship with gay textile designer Murray Melvin and in an interracial romance - with unexpected results. From Shelagh Delaney's West End/Broadway smash.
Scene from A KIND OF LOVING
Scene from A KIND OF LOVING

3:00, 6:50, 10:40

A KIND OF LOVING

(1962, John Schlesinger) Up-and-coming Lancashire factory draftsman Alan Bates finds fun with sweet, chatty typist-down-the-hall June Ritchie, but she wants that bloody ring. Schlesinger's striking feature debut boasts North Country on-location photography and an unforgettable turn by Thora Hird as Ritchie's meddlesome mum.
1:00, 4:50, 8:40

For Books about Tony Richardson.
For Books about A TASTE OF HONEY.
The Internet Movie Database Tony Richardson Page

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Scene from DARLING
Scene from DARLING

NOVEMBER 12/13 SUN/MON

DOUBLE FEATURE!

DARLING

(1965, John Schlesinger) "Your idea of fidelity is not having more than one man in the bed at the same time!" Swinging super Mod-el Julie Christie, the daah-ling of jet-set London, recounts her own climb to the top, including liaisons with TV journalist Dirk Bogarde and elegantly jaded Laurence Harvey. Oscars for Best Actress, Original Story and Screenplay. "A slashing social satire and also a devastating spoof... loaded with lacerating wit." - New York Times.
Scene from ALFIE
Scene from ALFIE

1:00, 5:25, 9:50

ALFIE

New 35mm print! (1966, Lewis Gilbert) "I don't know what love is, the way you birds talk about it." Cockney Don Juan Michael Caine narrates his lurid London exploits, including a memorable tumble with randy, ample widow Shelley Winters. Music by Sonny Rollins. "He suggests a subterranean national character rising to surprise even the locals." - Isabel Quigley.
3:20, 7:45

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New 35mm print!
Scene from TOM JONES
Scene from TOM JONES

NOVEMBER 14 TUES

DOUBLE FEATURE!

TOM JONES

ORIGINAL, UNCUT VERSION!

(1963, Tony Richardson) Barry Lyndon with jokes, as Albert Finney's eponymous Tom, Henry Fielding's 18th century foundling, roisters his way to love and inheritance through a succession of beds, amid speeded-up chases, silent movie parodies and asides to the screen. Oscars for Picture, Director, Screenplay and Score. "A bawdy, romping film with great gusts of lascivious humor." - George Perry.
Scene from MORGAN - A SUITABLE CASE FOR TREATMENT
Scene from MORGAN -
A SUITABLE CASE FOR TREATMENT

1:00, 5:30, 9:40

MORGAN - A SUITABLE CASE FOR TREATMENT

(1966, Karel Reisz) "If I'd been planted in the womb of a chimpanzee, none of this would have happened!" Simian-wannabe David Warner (in "one of the most bizarre and brilliant performances of 60s cinema" - Alexander Walker), losing his mind when upper-crust wife Vanessa Redgrave files for divorce, creates a series of increasingly outlandish schemes to prevent her from re-marrying.
3:40, 7:50

For Books about Tony Richardson.
For Books about TOM JONES.
The Internet Movie Database Tony Richardson Page
The Internet Movie Database Karel Reisz Page

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Scene from THE KNACK, AND HOW TO GET IT
Scene from THE KNACK,
AND HOW TO GET IT

NOVEMBER 15 WED

DOUBLE FEATURE!

THE KNACK, AND HOW TO GET IT

(1965, Richard Lester) Lester's follow-up to A Hard Day's Night (see December 1) blends madcap surrealism with social satire, as just-off-the-bus Rita Tushingham mixes it up on her first day in London with blasé playboy Ray Brooks, repressed school teacher Michael Crawford, and anarchic painter Donal Donnelly.
Scene from ONLY TWO CAN PLAY
Scene from
ONLY TWO CAN PLAY

3:00, 6:35, 10:10

ONLY TWO CAN PLAY

(1962, Sidney Gilliat) ...at guess what? Libidinous, underachieving Welsh librarian Peter Sellers finds his promotion chances hinge on successful relations with local bigwig's wife, amorous Mai Zetterling. Scripted by Bryan Forbes from the Kingsley Amis novel.
1:00, 4:35, 8:10

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LINDSAY ANDERSON
LINDSAY ANDERSON

NOVEMBER 16 THU

DOUBLE FEATURE!

SHORT FILMS BY LINDSAY ANDERSON

Before making features, Anderson (This Sporting Life, If...) worked extensively in the theater and on these short, poetic documentaries. O Dreamland (1953) sardonically examines a seedy funfair; Wakefield Express (1953) shows the creation of a North England newspaper from reporting to printing; the Oscar-winning Thursday's Children (1954) looks at the Royal School for the Deaf; and Every Day Except Christmas (1957) profiles London's Covent Garden market in a frenzied day of buying and selling.
2:40, 6:20, 10:00

FREE CINEMA SHORTS

Under the loose banner "Free Cinema" (though admission was - and will be - charged!), young directors expressed "the importance of people and the significance of the everyday." Nice Time (1957, Claude Goretta, Alain Tanner) casts a wary eye on the nightlife of Picadilly Circus; Mamma Don't Allow (1956, Tony Richardson, Karel Reisz) looks at young jazz fans; and We are the Lambeth Boys (1959, Karel Reisz) observes the teenage culture and lifestyle of the members of Alford House Youth Club in London.
1:00, 4:35, 8:20

For Books about Tony Richardson.
The Internet Movie Database Tony Richardson Page
For Books about LINDSAY ANDERSON.
For Books about British Films.
The Internet Movie Database Lindsay Anderson Page
The Internet Movie Database Karel Reisz Page

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NOVEMBER 17 - 30 THU - WED

BRITISH NEW WAVE Continues with

BILLY LIAR

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