Tony Garnett Movies

Zycie Rodzinne (Family Life, 1970), Krzysztof Zanussi's follow-up to his 1969 The Structure of Crystals, begins with an industrial designer named Wit who returns to his boyhood home at the outset of the story when confronted with the distressing news of his father's terminal illness. Wit initially feels a bit pompous and superior to his kin, who now live in a half-dilapidated home and have made their world small and narrow, with the father running a barely successful small business. Though Wit at first feels a strong conviction that he has risen above his origins, he finds himself slowly falling prey to old comforts and family values. Ultimately offered a new life with his family, with a partnership in the business, Wit is forced to confront his beliefs and convictions, and reassess his priorities. ~ Nathan Southern, 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

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

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

Director Sidney J. Furie was betwixt and between his Canadian TV work and his theatrical-film prominence vis-a-vis Ipcress File (65) when he helmed the British social melodrama The Boys. The title characters are four youths, all implicated in the murder of a night watchman. Robert Morley plays the defense attorney who tries to convince the jury to render a charitable verdict. His basic argument is that the government expects a death sentence in cases involving robbery, but is more lenient towards crimes of passion. Prosecuting attorney Richard Todd is unmoved; his job is to prove that the boys aren't the innocent victims of society they're made out to be. The Boys benefits from Furie's dextrous use of flashbacks during the testimony scenes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide