Thanks for the memories!

hyped garbage

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

UK 1960 English (B&W); Drama (Woodfall); 89 minutes (PG certificate)Crew includes: Karel Reisz (Director); Alan Sillitoe (Screenwriter, adapting his Novel); Tony Richardson (Producer)Cast includes: Albert Finney, Shirley Anne Field, Rachel Roberts, Hylda BakerBAFTA Awards (3): British Film, British Actress (Roberts), Most Promising Newcomer (Finney)A hard-living factory worker (Finney), out for a good time, pursues a chaste single girl (Field), while maintaining an affair with an older, married woman (Roberts).Gritty, once-controversial kitchen sink drama, notable for Finney's first starring role and working-class hero being less "angry" and more hedonistic than others that emerged from the British New Wave.

"Don't let the b******s grind you down!" The words which Arthur, the protagonist of Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, lives by. It is a powerful voice-over narration by Albert Finney which begins the film and introduces who his character is. The only problem is, he does not explain that this life motto - at least for him - means constant lying and a lack of consideration for women.We know from the get-go that Arthur is all about rebellion, specifically against his elders and their sense of tradition and manners; this is why he lacks any. He is also not the brightest star in the sky, letting his alcoholism (which he denies) get the best of him early on in the story.Arthur dreams big though. There is a great scene when he is fishing with his cousin talking about a new girl in his life Doreen, when he states "never bite unless the bait's good." If this is another part of his philosophy on life, it is curious as to why he goes for the older, married woman Brenda early on in the film. Perhaps he is learning since his relationship with Brenda comes back to bite him later in the story.With scenes of Arthur working at the factory, this becomes a commentary on the working class in England, but the commentary is slightly confusing. A young working man is susceptible to fall into a lifestyle including womanizing and living life to one's own terms, yet other characters who are nothing like him work with Arthur at the factory as well. In fact, Brenda's husband works at the same factory and from what we see of him he is a loving father and generally caring person. Perhaps, then, this film is a commentary on the young adult in England rather than the entire working class.This is clearly a "rebellion" movie which gets its point across with some strong voice-over work by Albert Finney, and while the acting is great and Arthur is a well-developed, detestable person, at some points the audience can't help but ask "so what?"3.0/4.0

Arthur is represented as a "angry young man". For instance he rejects normal lifestyle; in one scene he says "whatever people say i am, thats what I'm not". He does morally wrong actions and attitudes. He has an affair with an married lady; which was shocking during 1960s; later in the movie it is revealed that Brenda is pregnant which causes her to think about abortion which is also seems shocking during 1960s; for instance, the movie was rated x due to the fact that there were shocking activities happening. He commonly lies; for instance, in one scene with Brenda he says "I always was a liar, a good'un and all". He does not respect his elders; in one specific scene he shoots Mrs.Bull and in other scene he calls her "fat". He seems dominant; for instance in one scene with Brenda he says "..I don't want anybody to teach me either". In the end of the movie, he throws stones at the new terrace houses; this proves that he rejects new lifestyle and instead prefers the old lifestyle. After the 1960s, yobs subculture appeared (young men with their own style and attitude); Arthur is an early representation of a yob. I really appreciate the film due to the different ways they represent the character Arthur. I think Albert Finney does great acting; his expressions and actions are realistic.

'Saturday Night Sunday Morning' Karel Reisz (1960) BFI 100 #14"Don't let the bastards grind you down. That's one thing you learn. What I'm out for is a good time. All the rest is propaganda."This film begins with a blank screen and the clatter of busy, car crash drum solos that morph into a cacophony of machinery, as Reisz reveals that we're listening to a busy factory. Johnny Dankworth's importance to the cultural pantheon becomes clearer via the BFI 100 list. His distinctive jazz sensibility appears to have fashioned the soundtrack that directors like Joseph Losey, John Schlesinger and Karel Reisz needed, to bring a hip yet edgy finish to their bold new cinema. There is something hip and edgy about Albert Finney's Arthur Seaton: a favourite moment in this film is his unlikely grace as he sprints down a Nottingham hill to jump onto a departing bus, quiff immaculate, suit spruced; when he leaps aboard and swings around the pole, it is pure cool, sheer class, but there is nothing classy about Arthur Seaton. The trouble with angry young men seems to be their misdirected rebellion. If one feels that one is a 'cut above,' does falling downstairs in a state of abject 'leglessness' properly demonstrate this? Is the best way to 'Show them!' to scowl suited and booted in a pub, where a naff band plays brush-daft ditties, while you're canoodling with a married woman, and watching an old soak attempting to force himself to drink more ale than he can handle? Arthur Seaton is introduced to us via a stroppy pout, a contemptible regard for his fellows and a bumptious voice-over that betrays barely any respect for anyone. The only thing that this particular young man can anticipate is a good hiding; family and busybody neighbours warn him and they're right. Slowly, the ratcheted tension builds around the inevitability of this thrashing; not at the hands of a gormless cuckold, but the fists of a highly trained fighting machine. Albert Finney's characterization is a fully dimensioned blend of angry, cocksure, rejected, malevolent, charming, puerile, and pathetic. Norman Rossington brings a very likable performance to the picture as Arthur's cousin Bert and Shirley Anne Field's Doreen elicits concern as the insipid Rose naïve enough to fall for Seaton's charms. Entertaining but pessimistic.