The bfi 100: 61-70
61. The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962)
Directed by Tony Richardson
Cast: Tom Courtenay, Michael Redgrave, James Bolam, Avis Bunnage, Alec McGowen, Joe Robinson, Julia Foster
At the heart of this Woodfall production lies a BAFTA award-winning performance by Tom Courtenay as a rebellious young man chosen to represent his reform school in a long distance race. As he trains, he recalls events from his life. Out of the screenplay by Alan Sillitoe, based on his own story, Yorkshire-born director Richardson created one of the most powerful dramas of the 1960s. Long Distance Runner was subsequently the title of Richardson's autobiography.
62. Sense and Sensibility (1995)
Directed by Ang Lee
Cast: Emma Thompson, Alan Rickman, Kate Winslet, Hugh Grant, James Fleet, Harriet Walter, Gemma Jones, Elizabeth Spriggs, Robert Hardy, Greg Wise, Hugh Laurie, Imelda Staunton, Imogen Stubbs, Emile Francois
Taiwanese director Ang Lee does a wonderful job of bringing Jane Austen's novel to the big screen, assisted in no small measure by leading lady Emma Thompson's Oscar®-winning script. Set in 18th-century England, two newly impoverished sisters - one, Winslet, spirited and flirtatious, the other, Thompson, repressed and sensible - have to deal with society and men. Performed with distinction all round, but perhaps a special mention for Alan Rickman's loyal and solid Colonel Brandon.
63. Passport to Pimlico (1949)
Directed by Henry Cornelius
Cast: Stanley Holloway, Margaret Rutherford, Basil Radford, Naunton Wayne, Hermione Baddeley, John Slater, Paul Dupuis, Jane Hylton, Raymond Huntley, Betty Warren, Barbara Murray, Sydney Tafler
Enchanting, whimsical comedy set shortly after the Second World War. An old royal charter which cedes Pimlico to the Dukes of Burgundy is found in a shell hole, and the locals declare themselves an independent state in the heart of London. Full of charm and flavour, the film was cleverly written by Ealing regular T.E.B. Clarke, and features fine performances from the likes of Margaret Rutherford, Stanley Holloway and Hermione Baddeley.
64. The Remains of the Day (1993)
Directed by James Ivory
Cast: Anthony Hopkins, Emma Thompson, James Fox, Christopher Reeve, Peter Vaughan, Hugh Grant, Michel Lonsdale, Tim Piggot-Smith, Patrick Godfrey
Absorbing and moving Merchant-Ivory adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro's novel, with fine central performances from Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson. Hopkins is the so-proper butler of a baronial country home and Thompson is the head housekeeper. Though they clash on certain matters, there are clear signs of an unstated romance. Meanwhile, the manor itself plays host to various intrigues as the naïve owner (Fox) forms relationships with Nazi sympathisers.
65. Sunday, Bloody Sunday (1971)
Directed by John Schlesinger
Cast: Glenda Jackson, Peter Finch, Murray Head, Peggy Ashcroft, Maurice Denham, Vivian Pickles, Frank Windsor, Tony Britton, Harold Goldblatt
A complex, intelligent and remarkably well constructed film by John Schlesinger which explores the relationship between three people and the break-up of two love affairs. Peter Finch plays a homosexual doctor in his forties and Glenda Jackson an employment counsellor in her thirties. Both are in love with Murray Head's boyish sculptor; he divides his attentions between both of them without showing a preference. Great performances all round.
66. The Railway Children (1970)
Directed by Lionel Jeffries
Cast: Jenny Agutter, Sally Thomsett, Gary Watson, Dinah Sheridan, Iain Cuthbertson, Bernard Cribbins, William Mervyn
A true children's classic - a much-loved adaptation of E. Nesbit's novel about three children living with their mother in the Yorkshire countryside after their father has been sent to prison, charged with espionage. They are determined to clear his name, but at the same time become obsessed with the local steam railway, eventually helping to prevent an accident. Charmingly performed and constantly heart-warming.
67. Mona Lisa (1986)
Directed by Neil Jordan
Cast: Bob Hoskins, Cathy Tyson, Michael Caine, Robbie Coltrane, Clarke Peters, Sammi Davis
Sharp, stylish drama from Neil Jordan (who wrote the screenplay with David Leland). A small-time criminal (Hoskins, in excellent form), newly released from prison, is given a job driving a high-priced call girl around London. As their relationship deepens, the oddly naïve Hoskins is drawn into an increasingly nasty underworld of drugs and violence. Cathy Tyson made an impressive debut as the call girl, while Michael Caine is suitably slimy as the evil crime boss.
68. The Dam Busters (1955)
Directed by Michael Anderson
Cast: Michael Redgrave, Richard Todd, Basil Sydney, Derek Farr, Patrick Barr, Ernest Clark, Raymond Huntley, Ursula Jeans
A finely understated World War II drama about the development, and eventually successful use, of bouncing bombs to destroy the Ruhr dams in Germany in 1943. Michael Redgrave is perfect as the driven scientist Dr. Barnes Wallis who invented the bombs, while Richard Todd is also on good form as the pilot who drops them on target. Excellent model work makes for a terrific - and exciting - patriotic movie.
69. Hamlet (1948)
Directed by Laurence Olivier
Cast: Laurence Olivier, Eileen Herlie, Basil Sydney, Jean Simmons, Felix Aylmer, Norman Wooland, Terence Morgan, Stanley Holloway, Peter Cushing, Esmond Knight, Anthony Quayle, Harcourt Williams, John Laurie, Niall MacGinnis, Patrick Troughton
Olivier produced and directed this handsome version of Shakespeare's play from an adaptation by Alan Dent. Certain characters are omitted, but this is a vital, fluid and witty treatment with terrific performances; Stanley Holloway stands out as the Grave Digger. Best Picture trophies were scooped at both the Oscars® and BAFTA. Olivier, who also won the Best Actor Oscar®, played the title character (as did Kenneth Branagh almost 50 years later) as a platinum blond.
70. Goldfinger (1964)
Directed by Guy Hamilton
Cast: Sean Connery, Honor Blackman, Gert Frobe, Harold Sakata, Shirley Eaton, Tania Mallet, Cec Linder, Martin Benson, Richard Vernon, Burt Kwouk, Michael Mellinger, Margaret Nolan, Bernard Lee, Desmond Llewelyn, Lois Maxwell, Nadja Regin, Alf Joint, Austin Willis
The third 007 film, seemingly finding the perfect balance between the real and the ridiculous, established Bond as a cinematic phenomenon. Connery is on excellent form, equally skilful at gunplay and golf, Harold Sakata's Oddjob, with the razor-brimmed bowler hat, is unforgettable, and Shirley Eaton, who dies gilded in gold, became one of the most photographed actresses of the 1960s. Ken Adam's Fort Knox sets, built at Pinewood, continue to dazzle, and Q-Branch's modified Aston Martin DB5 makes its first appearance in the series. Shirley Bassey's title song, written by John Barry, Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley, remains an evergreen classic.
