Rent This Sporting Life
(1963)
The trailers on this website require Adobe Flash player 8.0 or
later.
To get the player click Get the Flash Player
from Adobe
website and restart your browser to watch this trailer!
Director Lindsay Anderson pulls no punches in this classic screen adaptation of the hard hitting David Storey novel about violence and its effect on the quality of life. Richard Harris and Rachel Roberts are outstanding as Machin, the professional rugby player who carries the violence of the football field into every area of his life, and Mrs Hammond, the frigid and withdrawn woman with whom he lodges and conducts a joyless affair. As well as examining their relationship in minute and painful detail, the film contains some of the most brutal and realistic footage of all-out sporting conflict ever filmed.
Recent Reviews of This Sporting Life by our members
This Sporting Life review by RP
Superb 'angry young man' drama
(0) of (0) members found this review helpful.
From the novel of the same name by David Storey with the author writing the screenplay for the film and directed by Lindsay Anderson, this is superb example of the 'British New Wave' / 'angry young man' / 'kitchen sink' dramas of the late 1950s / early 1960s. Set in Wakefield, it tells the tale of a working class man (Frank Machin, a miner, played by Richard Harris) who makes the transition to a well paid (for the day) rugby league player. Frank lodges with a recently widowed woman (Mrs Hammond, played by Rachel Roberts) who received minimal compensation when her husband was killed in an industrial accident at an engineering company owned by Gerald Weaver, who is also the chairman of the rugby league club. Frank falls in love with his landlady but she is still grieving for her husband and is unable to return his clumsy affections. The film ends with the death in hospital of Mrs Hammond and Frank Machin doomed to remain as 'a great ape on a football field'. So far, so bleak. What lifts this film above its gritty backdrop is the quality of the acting. Both Rachel Roberts and Richard Harris earned Oscar nominations, and Rachel Roberts won a BAFTA for Best Actress. The other characters in the film are played by an excellent cast of well-known British actors including Arthur Lowe, William Hartnell (who went on the become the first Doctor Who), Leonard Rossiter, Alan Badel, Colin Blakely, George Sewell to name but a few. If I have a slight criticism it's about the accents – Rachel Roberts is Welsh, Richard Harris Irish – not many Yorkshire accents here :) But that's a minor point - the film is always included in any list of 'best British films' and with good reason. Excellent stuff – highly recommended. 5/5 stars.
|
|
|
To rent This Sporting Life just join the Cinema Paradiso DVD rental service today and get a free DVD rental trial.
Sign up today!More like This Sporting Life
Rated: 3.8 stars out of 5 from 85 ratings
Actors:
Directors:
Producers:
Writers:
Genres:
Awards:
Audio / Language:
Subtitles:
Countries:
BFI Classification:
Suitable only for persons of 15 years and over
| Release Date: | 31/01/2000 |
| Production Year: | 1963 |
| Run Time: | 129 minutes |
| Aspect Ratio: | Full Screen 1.33:1 / 4:3 |
| Format: | Pal |
| Colour: | B & W |
