| Tom Courtenay as Colin in the lead role is excellent. Alan Stillitoe's novel of the 1960s borstal boy is a classic and the film does the book justice. It is not comfortable watching. If you were a lad in those times and coming of age in a working class community disintegrating under the new wealth, new identity (its where being a teenager had its roots-self identity kicking out against old people-our parents) then this resonates. I saw the double standards of kids from my neck of the woods being sent down while richer kids were sent abroad or nod, nod, wink, wink to magistrates to know it was and still is a weighted system if you are not born to the right class of parents. And then there is the added insult for all of us ever forced to endure that event; cross country running. Yeah, like Colin, it was often time to switch out of the dirge of daily life and be on your own but it was also often frigging cold, and try running five miles with more mud on your plimsolls than Clacton has on its beaches. Yes, this film certainly had the memory bank ticking over. A good film but not one for sixties "Wasn't Britain luverly then" nostalgia freaks or those who like to feel inspired with heartfelt joy of being alive. The book? A collection of short stories and a poem "Rats". A deserved modern classic in the kitchen sink drama realism of post war writing. A generation kicking against the pricks and still readable. In the main story, the working class lad unplugged. It is a great collection of short reads. |
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