The Knack ... And How to Get It (1965)
- Starring:
- Rita Tushingham, Ray Brooks, (more)
- Director(s):
- Richard Lester
- Format(s):
- DVD
View All Versions to rent and buy
Synopsis of The Knack ... And How to Get It
Colin (Michael Crawford, who much later won a Tony Award for his role in Broadway's Phantom of the Opera) is an uptight schoolteacher whose housemate, Tolen (Ray Brooks) is a consummate womanizer. Colin imagines a long line of young women in tight white sweaters on his stairwell, waiting to get into Tolen's room. Jealous of Tolen's incredible success with the ladies, Colin asks Tolen for advice on how to get a girl. When Tolen's advice doesn't seem very practical, Colin decides that his first order of business is to get a bigger bed. Colin is also trying to find a third roommate to take a spare room. Tom (Donal Donnelly), who seems compelled to paint everything in sight, happens by the house, and inserts himself in the spare room without so much as saying "hello." Nancy (Rita Tushingham of A Taste of Honey) is new in town, and wanders the streets of London in a fruitless search for the YWCA. She runs into Colin and Tom at the dump, where they are procuring a gigantic bed. They offer her a ride, and proceed to race through London on the bed. Colin seems too shy to speak much to Nancy, despite Tom's encouragement. Eventually, the trio reach Colin's house, where Tolen works his gruff magic on Nancy, and havoc ensues. Capturing late 1960s London in black-and-white, Richard Lester's The Knack. . .and How to Get It was released between the director's two successes with the Beatles, A Hard Day's Night and Help. The script, by Charles Wood (An Awfully Big Adventure) is based on a play by Ann Jellicoe. Future stars Jacqueline Bisset, Charlotte Rampling, and Jane Birkin appear briefly amid all the attractive young women in the film. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi
- Theatrical Feature Running Time:
- 85 mins
Complete Cast of The Knack ... And How to Get It
- Rita Tushingham - Nancy Jones
- Michael Crawford - Colin
- John Bluthal - Father
- Lucy Bartlett - Water Skier
- Jacqueline Bisset - Extra
- Peter Copley - Picture Owner
- Charles Dyer - Man in Photo Booth
- Katherine Page - Woman in House
- Walter Horsbrugh - Old Man
- Wanda Ventham - Gym Mistress
- Frank Sieman - Surveyor
- Vincent Harding
- Julian Holloway
- Helen Lennox - Woman in Photo Booth
- Ray Brooks - Tolen
- Donal Donnelly - Tom
- Wensley Pithey - Teacher
- Timothy Bateson - Junkman
- George Chisholm - Porter
- William Dexter - Dress Shop Owner
- Charlotte Rampling - Water Skier
- John Porter Davison - Guardsman
- Charles Wood - Soldier
- Marlo Thomas - Female Teacher
- Kenneth Farrington
- Rose Hillier - Unsuitable Customer
- Bruce Lacey - Surveyor's Assistant
- Dandy Nichols - Landlady
- Director(s):
- Richard Lester
- Writer(s):
- Charles Wood
- Producer(s):
- Michael Deeley, Oscar Lewenstein
- Categories:
- Comedy
- 1965 - Cannes Film Festival - Grand Prix
- Looking for special editions of The Knack ... And How to Get It?
- See All Versions
- Subtitles:
- Check All Versions
- Closed Captioning:
- Check All Versions
