The bfi 100: 81-90
81. A Clockwork Orange (1971)
Directed by Stanley Kubrick
Cast: Malcolm McDowell, Michael Bates, Adrienne Corri, Patrick Magee, Warren Clarke
At the end of the century, Kubrick's notorious film is still unavailable for screening in the UK at the request of the film-maker himself. But despite, or perhaps because of, that, it retains an enduring underground popularity. This adaptation of Anthony Burgess's celebrated novel is truly harrowing, disturbing cinema. It traces the anti-social antics of Alex (the excellent Malcolm McDowell) and his gang as they make their violent way around the city. Eventually captured, he is made 'safe' - a 'clockwork orange', healthy and whole on the outside, but what of the inside?
82. Distant Voices, Still Lives (1988)
Directed by Terence Davies
Cast: Freda Dowie, Pete Postlethwaite, Angela Walsh
Filmed in two distinct parts, and with a considerable time between the two shooting periods, this is a magnificent evocation of working class life in England during the '40s and '50s. Family members are all damaged in some way by the irrationally cruel father, while the cheerful lyrics of popular songs act as a balance to their dour lives. Davies, working from his own autobiographical script, presents the ordinary lives beautifully and conjures up memorable imagery. The Long Day Closes was a sequel.
83. Darling (1965)
Directed by John Schlesinger
Cast: Julie Christie, Dirk Bogarde, Laurence Harvey, Roland Curram, Alex Scott, Basil Henson, Pauline Yates
Julie Christie won the Best Actress Oscar® for her performance as the young woman who transforms her life by switching from an ordinary lifestyle to marrying an Italian noble; in between, there are plenty of love affairs. Frederick Raphael's script is excellently constructed - trendy, cynical and very 1960s - and a perfect vehicle for Christie. Raphael and costume designer Julie Harris also won Oscars® for their work on the film.
84. Educating Rita (1983)
Directed by Lewis Gilbert
Cast: Michael Caine, Julie Walters, Michael Williams, Maureen Lipman, Kim Fortune
Memorable two-hander based on Willy Russell's play, directed with a knowing touch by Lewis Gilbert (who collaborated again with Russell later that decade on Shirley Valentine). Julie Walters, who also played the role on stage, is the Liverpudlian hairdresser who signs up for an Open University English course; Michael Caine is her drunken college tutor. They set about changing each other over the period of the course - she wanting the education he thinks worthless; he relishing her lust for life. Beautifully acted and very entertaining.
85. Brassed Off (1996)
Directed by Mark Herman
Cast: Pete Postlethwaite, Tara Fitzgerald, Ewan McGregor, Jim Carter, Stephen Tompkinson, Ken Colley, Stephen Moore, Peter Gunn, Mary Healey, Melanie Hill
It is 1992 and the miners of Grimley Colliery are in trouble. The pit is under threat of closure and the Colliery band is about to call it a day. Then Gloria (Tara Fitzgerald) arrives and has a profound impact on the lives of the band members, the miners and their families. This is a moving film with a cutting social edge, full of hilarious lines (scripted by the director, Mark Herman, who later filmed Little Voice). The sequences of the brass band in the national competition are very stirring.
86. Genevieve (1953)
Directed by Henry Cornelius
Cast: Kenneth More, Dinah Sheridan, John Gregson, Kay Kendall, Geoffrey Keen, Joyce Grenfell, Reginals Beckwith, Arthur Wontner
The Genevieve of the title is a classic car - a 1904 Darracq - to be driven by John Gregson and Dinah Sheridan in the London-to-Brighton motor rally against the smug Kenneth More and the trumpet-playing Kay Kendall in a 1904 Spyker. Seemingly effortless, perfect comedy, with the two drivers genially and gloriously slugging it out on the road. The harmonica music is by the legendary Larry Adler.
87. Women in Love (1969)
Directed by Ken Russell
Cast: Glenda Jackson, Alan Bates, Oliver Reed, Jennie Linden, Michael Gough, Alan Webb
The never less than interesting Ken Russell directs this adaptation of D.H. Lawrence's novel, essentially tracing two love affairs. There are fine performances all round, but perhaps best remembered is the nude wrestling scene between Reed and Bates. Glenda Jackson won her first Best Actress Oscar® for her portrayal of Gudren Brangwen. In Ken Russell's The Rainbow, a sort of prequel to Women in Love, made 20 years later, Jackson played the mother of her character in this film.
88. A Hard Day's Night (1964)
Directed by Richard Lester
Cast: Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Wilfrid Brambell, Norman Rossington, Victor Spinetti
This Beatles vehicle was stunningly successful, mainly because it allowed the 'fab four' to romp about, largely playing themselves. This is Richard Lester's idea of a typical day in the life of the Beatles: they head to London with Paul's grandfather (Wilfrid Bambell) in tow, and get into all sorts of trouble before eventually just making it to the studio in time for a television performance. Very amusing, with a great soundtrack (including Can't Buy Me Love), the film allowed all the Beatles to stand out as personalities. The following year, Lester directed them in the even more frantic Help!
89. Fires Were Started (1943)
Directed by Humphrey Jennings
Documentary
An astonishing portrait of the work of firemen during the London Blitz. Directed and scripted by Humphrey Jennings, it was originally intended as a training film, but had a general release to help boost morale. It is an elegant, almost poetic, documentary which proves to be an intimate portrait of a country besieged. The firemen were all real firemen, but the scenes were re-enacted.
90. Hope and Glory (1987)
Directed by John Boorman
Cast: Sarah Miles, Susan Wooldridge, Ian Bannen, David Hayman, Derrick O'Connor, Sebastian Rice-Edwards
John Boorman's autobiographical tale (he also scripted and produced the film) of a young boy's experiences during the early years of World War II proved a great success with audiences, who appreciated the humour and emotion as well as the rich detail. Boorman skilfully re-creates the atmosphere - a mixture of excitement, danger and boredom - of the London air raids, while always looking at the experiences through a boy's eyes. Charley Boorman, who starred in The Emerald Forest for his father, appears here as a German pilot who is shot down.
