The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (Tony Richardson, 1962)
Smith says "It's not that I don't like work. It's just that I don't like the idea of slaving me guts out so the bosses can get all the profits. Seems all wrong to me."
This is a story about Northern England and it's an appeal to socialism. Tony Richardson was part of the British Free Cinema movement and was associated with the British New Wave.
In the 60s there seemed to be a lot of exciting filmmakers that came out of documentary traditions. I kept thinking about how much Long Distance Runner reminded me of the early films of Québécois filmmaker Michel Brault. Like Richardson, Brault came from a documentary tradition, the Cinéma direct group. The Free Cinema group believed in making films outside of the industry, that films should be personal. The Cinéma direct group believed in objective reality at all costs with minimal intervention on the part of the filmmaker. But for both of them light weight 16mm cameras and innovations in sound equipment meant making better, more personal, and more natural documentary films. But in the 60s these documentarians moved to fiction film and the documentary influence is evident. The films have an ax to grind. Brault's films hinted at separatism and racial and class tensions in Entre la mer et l'eau douce while Richardson makes a point about class stuggle. Maybe it's a documentary impulse that makes Long Distance Runner feel like it's presenting evidence to you as it unfolds. Colin smith is not an ideological young man. He seems to know nothing about the Communist Party, makes no mention of unions, says he wants to make the world a better place but doesn't know where to begin. In his youth detention centre the house leader tells him that the authorities have the whip hand. He replies, "Do you know what I'd do if I had the whip hand? I'd get all the coppers, governers, posh whores, army officers and members of parliament and I'd stick them up against this wall and let them have it 'cause that's what they'd like to do to blokes like us." He comes to this outlook based on his surroundings. I like that Rchardson starts with the image. The shot of Colin burning the dollar bill. Or the boys pranking the Prime Minister's address on the TV by shutting the sound off and mocking it. Even the use of running as Colin's natural talent: it's a sport that the working class have access to. It doesn't require loads of cash. Yet running is also a response to being cornered.
Hmmm. I was describing this film to Amy earlier and I was sounding much more lucid and erudite. Now I'm not sure what I want to say. Oh well.
This is a story about Northern England and it's an appeal to socialism. Tony Richardson was part of the British Free Cinema movement and was associated with the British New Wave.
In the 60s there seemed to be a lot of exciting filmmakers that came out of documentary traditions. I kept thinking about how much Long Distance Runner reminded me of the early films of Québécois filmmaker Michel Brault. Like Richardson, Brault came from a documentary tradition, the Cinéma direct group. The Free Cinema group believed in making films outside of the industry, that films should be personal. The Cinéma direct group believed in objective reality at all costs with minimal intervention on the part of the filmmaker. But for both of them light weight 16mm cameras and innovations in sound equipment meant making better, more personal, and more natural documentary films. But in the 60s these documentarians moved to fiction film and the documentary influence is evident. The films have an ax to grind. Brault's films hinted at separatism and racial and class tensions in Entre la mer et l'eau douce while Richardson makes a point about class stuggle. Maybe it's a documentary impulse that makes Long Distance Runner feel like it's presenting evidence to you as it unfolds. Colin smith is not an ideological young man. He seems to know nothing about the Communist Party, makes no mention of unions, says he wants to make the world a better place but doesn't know where to begin. In his youth detention centre the house leader tells him that the authorities have the whip hand. He replies, "Do you know what I'd do if I had the whip hand? I'd get all the coppers, governers, posh whores, army officers and members of parliament and I'd stick them up against this wall and let them have it 'cause that's what they'd like to do to blokes like us." He comes to this outlook based on his surroundings. I like that Rchardson starts with the image. The shot of Colin burning the dollar bill. Or the boys pranking the Prime Minister's address on the TV by shutting the sound off and mocking it. Even the use of running as Colin's natural talent: it's a sport that the working class have access to. It doesn't require loads of cash. Yet running is also a response to being cornered.
Hmmm. I was describing this film to Amy earlier and I was sounding much more lucid and erudite. Now I'm not sure what I want to say. Oh well.