Tony Garnett Movies

In this alternately somber and witty coming-of-age drama, a pair of teenage boys growing up in a working-class neighborhood become aware of their homosexuality. Introspective Jamie (Glen Berry) is the son of Sandra (Linda Henry), a tough but warm-hearted barmaid who lives in a public housing block in a rough-and-tumble section of South London. Living a few doors away is Jamie's classmate Ste (Scott Neal), an athletic type who often has to take a beating from his hard-drinking father and hard-headed brother. One night, Jamie and Sandra discover that Ste has been kicked out of the apartment and has nowhere to spend the night; Jamie lets him stay at his place, and a casual closeness eventually stirs sexual feelings. While both were vaguely aware they might be gay, neither had ever acted on their impulses, and once Jamie and Ste decide that they're attracted to each other, neither is sure just what to do. Tony (Ben Daniels), Sandra's boyfriend, doesn't know what to think about Jamie's new lifestyle. Meanwhile, Jamie and Ste are themselves a bit puzzled by their neighbor Leah (Tameka Empson), a teenager obsessed with the life and music of Mama Cass Elliott. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

British filmmaker Ken Loach began his illustrious career making television movies for the BBC's well-regarded Wednesday Play series. From the beginning, his films addressed social issues from a clearheaded leftist point-of-view. As Cathy Come Home demonstrates, Loach is a true social realist, in that he eschews sentimentality. Cathy (Carol White) is a young, attractive, working-class woman. When she marries Reg (Ray Brooks), they take a larger apartment, thinking that between their two modest salaries, they'll be able to squeak by. Reg expects his lot to improve, but it doesn't. Cathy has a baby, and in short order gets pregnant again, and before long, the couple find themselves in dire financial straits. They lose one apartment to an unscrupulous landlord. They're forced out of a caravan park after a fire. They move in with Reg's mother, but she kicks them out of her cramped flat after an argument with Cathy. The couple ends up at the mercy of the British government's grossly inadequate public housing program. Cathy is forced to live with the children in a women's shelter, where Reg is not allowed to stay. Despondent and ashamed at his inability to provide for his family, Reg visits Cathy and the kids less and less frequently, and the couple begin to drift apart. Slipping into financial destitution, Cathy must now struggle to maintain custody of her children. Loach intersperses his vérité-style black-and-white footage of Cathy's travails with what is presumably documentary footage of the housing system's victims. He also uses voice-overs of people describing their experiences in the housing system, and a narrator gives vital statistics on homelessness, the unfair scapegoating of immigrants, and the slow destruction of poor British families by the housing bureaucracy. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

Released in England as Wednesday's Child, this earnest socially conscious drama explores the generation-gap between a pair of overbearing, strict parents and their rebellious, pregnant daughter Sandy Ratcliff. First they force her to get an abortion. Then mom and dad further exert their power over Ratcliff by locking her out of the house until she ceases her troublesome ways. When this fails to "tame" the girl, the parents force her into psychiatric treatment. Subjected to shock therapy, Sandy ends up a shell of a human being, little more than a case study for those who've robbed her of her individuality. Shot in documentary fashion, Family Life won a prize at the 1972 Berlin Film Festival. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

British director Tony Garnett's American film debut is a tale of revenge that criticizes American gun culture. Karen Young plays Kathleen Sullivan, an idealistic Boston educator who travels to Texas to teach. In her new home town she meets Larry Keeler (Clayton Day), a handsome lawyer who is obsessed with guns. On their first date together, things seem to go swimmingly, but on their second date, Larry brings his gun along and Kathleen finds herself raped with a firearm pointed at her head. Kathleen becomes consumed with vengeance; she learns how to handle a gun, becomes a crack shot, and goes forth to seek revenge for her rape. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

In this medical drama, a doctor loses his medical license after his addiction to drugs is discovered. Trouble ensues when he sees an ex-Nazi who is secretly leading the local drug ring. The police get wind of the operation and destroy it. The Nazi is killed too. Meanwhile the doctor overcomes his addiction and regains his license. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Not to be confused with the long-running American TV series of the same name, Law and Order was a four-part British miniseries, created by popular crime novelist G.F. Newman. Focusing on a small handful of criminal cases, Newman and director Les Potter illustrated the workings of a metropolitan police and judicial system as seen through the eyes of a detective, a crook, a lawyer, and a police officer. In demonstrating how crime and punishment tended to feed off each other, and how the cops weren't all that different from the bad guys in terms of technique and methodology, Newman stirred up a hornet's nest of controversy, resulting in a large public outcry and shouts of condemnation and accusation from the House of Commons. Perhaps in consequence, Law and Order had remained steadfastly in the vaults of BBC2 since its one-and-only TV run in 1978. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this drama with a pseudodocumentary look, the life and unfortunate times of a London prostitute are held up against the life of a female social worker, and the laws of the land. Sandra (Eleanor Forsythe) gets involved in the business of sex for sale while living in Birmingham. Naive all the way through, she feels that a turn in London might set her up with some rich Arab clients and allow her an easier life of leisure. Meanwhile, her friend Louise (Kate Crutchley) is a welfare worker with a new mission. Based on Sandra's own experiences, she is determined to reform the country's antiquated prostitution laws. As both women try to attain their goals, a cold dose of reality is dashed on their hopes, and the built-in biases against women in society are skillfully unmasked. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

This scientific documentary discovers the wonders of the human body while using external and internal cameras. Vanessa Redgrave and Frank Finlay are the commentators of this project that combines the knowledge of the world's most renowned human biologists and anatomical experts. Unlike many presentations, this is an entertaining feature that avoids the dry and often monotonous tone taken by films of similar subject matter. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Based on a novel by Edgar Wallace, this crime drama centers on two car thieves who inadvertently interfere with a kidnapping when they steal the vehicle that contains the ransom for the daughter of a Swedish tycoon. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Often described as a more realistic alternative to Friends (or a less comprehensively gay Queer as Folk), this 1996-1997 British television hit tracked the sexual, personal, and professional misadventures of a quintet of young lawyers living together in a South London flat. Created by writer Amy Jenkins, who collaborated on the first three episodes with director Sam Miller, the show's high-drama, party-hard ethos brought the acid-house generation back into the TV fold and paved the way for a number of subsequent twentysomething soaps, from the aforementioned Queer as Folk to the Internet-themed Attachments. Although American audiences didn't get to see the show until it was broadcast in seemingly perpetual reruns on BBC America a few years later, only the program's Brit-pop- and trip-hop-heavy soundtrack seemed dated. The 11-episode first series, from 1996, chronicles the lives of brash, boozy junior barrister Anna Forbes (Daniela Nardini); Miles Andrews (Jack Davenport), Anna's posh, public-school arch nemesis/soul mate; Andrew "Egg" Cook (Andrew Lincoln), Miles' boyish, football-loving best friend; Milly Nassim (Amita Dhiri), Egg's cool, conflicted, control-freak of a girlfriend; and their therapy-addicted, working-class, defiantly gay friend, Warren Jones (Jason Hughes). Although these five characters share the same alma mater, it isn't until they all end up working at a pair of London legal firms that they enter the domestic constellation that will drive the program's drama. Some American audiences may not grasp the class and professional intricacies that add nuance to the characters' lust, envy, love, and friendship; others will savor the irony that crisp Milly is a more experienced solicitor than her inexperienced boyfriend; that hardworking "pouf" Warren is initially such a threat to likably laddish Egg; and that rich Miles and by-the-bootstraps Anna both long for the same exalted position as successful barristers. Indeed, professional intrigue, as much as sex, drives This Life's plot lines; Egg ditches his job in hopes of finding himself, leading to domestic tension with Milly and ultimately a new career; Anna angles for better cases any way she can, including a cozy friendship with a lesbian barrister; Miles finds himself on the opposite side of the courtroom from his manipulative father and feels threatened by Anna's burgeoning success; Milly indulges in a flirtation with her '60s-survivor boss and nurses a deep hatred of a beautiful blonde co-worker; and Warren finds his brash sexuality in conflict with his profession -- and with his desire not to scandalize his family. By the end of its first series, cult-favorite This Life had grown into a bona fide hit; but after 1997's 21-episode second series -- which featured heavier contributions from the supporting cast of Ramon Tikaram, Luisa Bradshaw-White, Steve John Shepherd, and Natasha Little -- the BBC decided not to continue. Some fans still trace rumors of a forthcoming third series, while others express gratitude that their favorite program went out on top. None of the principal participants besides Davenport (The Talented Mr. Ripley) has found further high-profile success, although Nardini, Jenkins, and Miller re-teamed for the similarly themed British film Elephant Juice. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

In this episode of This Life, Milly (Amita Dhiri) grows increasingly frustrated with Egg (Andrew Lincoln) and begins working late with O'Donnell (David Mallinson) on a case involving the dissolution of a longtime business partnership. Although Miles (Jack Davenport) insists that Milly's anger is just PMS, Egg tries to find a job; he soon learns that telemarketing isn't the answer to his problems. Egg also continues his efforts at being a novelist, weathering taunts and criticism from both Milly and Miles. Jo (Steve John Shepherd) vents his sexual frustration with Anna (Daniela Nardini) by giving her crappy assignments; she commiserates with Warren (Jason Hughes), thinking he'll understand her desire for entanglement-free sex, but he shares his disenchantment with anonymous sex with his therapist (Gillian McCutcheon). At a birthday party for her boss, Hooperman (Geoffrey Bateman), Anna gets trashed and makes a fool of herself. Egg's dad, Jerry (Paul Copley), shows up and reveals that Egg's mother has left him for another man. Season one, episode eight of the cult-favorite British soap This Life: Cheap Thrills first aired on BBC 2 on May 6, 1996. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide