Tom Courtenay Movies
Best known for his many distinguished years in British theater, Tom Courtenay is also a noted film star who, while never achieving the fame of his contemporaries Albert Finney and Alan Bates, has earned great respect for his memorable performances. A ship painter's son born in Hull, Yorkshire, Courtenay learned the craft at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He took his first professional bow in a 1960 production of Chekhov's The Seagull at the Old Vic. Courtenay next replaced Albert Finney in Billy Liar and went on to play the title character in the 1963 film version. In 1962, Courtenay made an auspicious film debut as the angry, misunderstood young protagonist in the highly acclaimed The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner. Through the '60s, the gaunt Courtenay played similar roles. In 1971, his promising film career mysteriously derailed and Courtenay returned to working on-stage. He first appeared on Broadway in the 1977 production of Otherwise Engaged. Courtenay returned to the screen in 1983 to co-star with Albert Finney in The Dresser. Film appearances since then have been sporadic. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide- 1963
This conventional military drama is meant to showcase the conflict between an individual's right to religious belief (and experiences) and the army's right to punish what it sees as a violation of direct orders, especially when the violation leads to a fatality. Private Potter (Tom Courtenay in another of his early roles) is a new recruit, wet behind the ears and now one of the men on patrol on a Mediterranean island, looking for a terrorist. The commanding officer orders complete silence while the patrol carefully makes its way through unknown territory. Suddenly, Private Potter screams loudly -- it is obvious he is terrified -- and the entire mission has to be abandoned. Worse yet, one of the soldiers is killed. Facing the possibility of a court-martial for his actions, Potter maintains he saw a vision of God. Several others maintain he is lying. Involved in the final decision are army brass, a psychiatrist, a priest, and a doctor. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Courtenay, James Maxwell, (more)
Billy Fisher (Tom Courtenay) is known to his blue-collar British mates as Billy Liar because of his vivid imagination. This film version of the Keith Waterhouse-Willis Hall stage play "visualizes" some of Billy's more outrageous fabrications. He periodically escapes the drudgery of his job at a funeral parlor by conjuring up impossible adventures, usually involving the conquest of women. In one of her first film roles, Julie Christie plays one of two "real" girls who wish that Billy would come down to earth and pop the question. Following this film adaptation, Billy Liar was transformed into a stage musical, and later resurfaced as a British TV series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Courtenay, Julie Christie, (more)
- 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, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Courtenay, Michael Redgrave, (more)
