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The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962)

The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962)
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One of the key "angry young man" films which helped define the British "Kitchen Sink Drama" style of the late 1950's and early 60's, this story centers on Colin Smith (Tom Courtenay), a bitter young man from a working-class family. Uninterested in school and determined not to follow his father into factory work, Colin and his friend Mike (James Bolam) make their pocket money through petty crime, until they're arrested after the robbery of a baker's shop and sentenced to Borstal (British reform school). The Governor of the school (Michael Redgrave) takes a keen interest in Colin, but he cares less for his rehabilitation than his gifts as a broken-field runner; Colin finds himself torn between the need to please his captors and his determination not to play along with what he sees as a corrupt system. The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner was the first film for Courtenay, whose performance earned him the "Most Promising Newcomer" prize at the 1962 British Film Academy awards. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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Starring:
Tom CourtenayMichael Redgrave, (more)
Director(s):
Tony Richardson
Format(s):
DVD
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Synopsis of The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner

One of the key "angry young man" films which helped define the British "Kitchen Sink Drama" style of the late 1950's and early 60's, this story centers on Colin Smith (Tom Courtenay), a bitter young man from a working-class family. Uninterested in school and determined not to follow his father into factory work, Colin and his friend Mike (James Bolam) make their pocket money through petty crime, until they're arrested after the robbery of a baker's shop and sentenced to Borstal (British reform school). The Governor of the school (Michael Redgrave) takes a keen interest in Colin, but he cares less for his rehabilitation than his gifts as a broken-field runner; Colin finds himself torn between the need to please his captors and his determination not to play along with what he sees as a corrupt system. The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner was the first film for Courtenay, whose performance earned him the "Most Promising Newcomer" prize at the 1962 British Film Academy awards. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Theatrical Feature Running Time:
104 mins

Complete Cast of The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner


Director(s):
Tony Richardson
Writer(s):
Alan Sillitoe
Producer(s):
Tony Richardson
The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner Awards:
  • 1962 - British Academy of Film and Television Arts - Most Promising Newcomer
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Member Reviews
 
Cary B.

An very interesting little film with a good human interest component. I watched it with subtitles and had no problem following the action.

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Andy Y.

Between poor sound quality and thick English accents, I had to turn on the subtitles to understand anything!! Besides that, I just didn't care for this movie. I really do love a lot of old films from the 60s as well as foreign films, but this 60s British film just didn't keep my interest and felt like it would never end.

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Nan L.

A working-class guy named Colin is sent to a reformatory for theft, and gets a chance to improve his lot by winning a race for his governor. As depressing as his past and present stories were, I felt really pulled into them, thanks to Tom Courtenay as the understandably angry Colin. Cool jazz trumpet during the running scenes. Look for a young James Fox as his competition in the final race.

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