The British actor was the epitome of countercultural chic in key 1970s films. It is just a shame she couldn’t be persuaded to do more of them when her political career ended
Glenda Jackson, fearless actor and politician, dies aged 87
For a brief, intense period in the 70s, Glenda Jackson was the very epitome of bohemian Brit chic in the movies: gamine in a worldly English way, intellectual, liberated and frank but with a capacity for demure naivety. This was a period that gloriously co-existed with her recurring appearances on The Morecambe and Wise Show. Jackson revered Eric and Ernie to the end of her life, because apart from their own value, her guest-spots on their programme led to her being cast in the 1973 Hollywood comedy A Touch of Class, which in turn gave Jackson her second Oscar, the title tacitly describing what this Rada-trained English actor was giving the movie.
Glenda Jackson, fearless actor and politician, dies aged 87
For a brief, intense period in the 70s, Glenda Jackson was the very epitome of bohemian Brit chic in the movies: gamine in a worldly English way, intellectual, liberated and frank but with a capacity for demure naivety. This was a period that gloriously co-existed with her recurring appearances on The Morecambe and Wise Show. Jackson revered Eric and Ernie to the end of her life, because apart from their own value, her guest-spots on their programme led to her being cast in the 1973 Hollywood comedy A Touch of Class, which in turn gave Jackson her second Oscar, the title tacitly describing what this Rada-trained English actor was giving the movie.
- 6/15/2023
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
‘A friend,’ recalls director Jerzy Skolimowski, ‘told me a story about a diamond that was lost for ever after being dropped in snow. I thought: “But you could grab the snow, melt it and get it back.” It seemed a great idea for a film’
I had problems in Poland with my film Hands Up! It had a strong anti-Stalinist message and the government withdrew it from the Venice film festival and banned it. I was told I couldn’t make that kind of film any more in Poland. So I took the first available project, just to make a living. This was an expensive comedy, The Adventures of Gerard, shooting in Rome with Claudia Cardinale and Peter McEnery. It was going terribly and it was my fault: I just didn’t know how to make a film like that.
I had problems in Poland with my film Hands Up! It had a strong anti-Stalinist message and the government withdrew it from the Venice film festival and banned it. I was told I couldn’t make that kind of film any more in Poland. So I took the first available project, just to make a living. This was an expensive comedy, The Adventures of Gerard, shooting in Rome with Claudia Cardinale and Peter McEnery. It was going terribly and it was my fault: I just didn’t know how to make a film like that.
- 3/27/2023
- by Andrew Pulver
- The Guardian - Film News
Dirk Bogarde’s elegant, sensitive portrayal of a man coming to terms with being gay played a vital role in the partial decriminalisation of homosexuality
Basil Dearden’s icily brilliant mystery thriller Victim from 1961 is now rereleased in cinemas, linked to the Gross Indecency season at BFI Southbank, London. Dirk Bogarde is the barrister Melville Farr, haunted by his (unconsummated) gay desires – this in an era when gay sex was illegal – and threatened by a sinister blackmail ring. The other blackmail victims include a stage star played by Dennis Price, who was himself a gay man in that shabby, hypocritical age. In the bankruptcy court, Price claimed his money worries stemmed from gambling, though paying off blackmailers was another possible explanation.
Related: Peter McEnery on Victim: 'I got a lot of letters from the gay community saying: We all thank you’
Continue reading...
Basil Dearden’s icily brilliant mystery thriller Victim from 1961 is now rereleased in cinemas, linked to the Gross Indecency season at BFI Southbank, London. Dirk Bogarde is the barrister Melville Farr, haunted by his (unconsummated) gay desires – this in an era when gay sex was illegal – and threatened by a sinister blackmail ring. The other blackmail victims include a stage star played by Dennis Price, who was himself a gay man in that shabby, hypocritical age. In the bankruptcy court, Price claimed his money worries stemmed from gambling, though paying off blackmailers was another possible explanation.
Related: Peter McEnery on Victim: 'I got a lot of letters from the gay community saying: We all thank you’
Continue reading...
- 7/20/2017
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
The actor, who played Dirk Bogarde’s blackmailing boyfriend in the 1961 film, reflects on how it changed attitudes – including his own – to homosexuality six years before decriminalisation
Victim was one of those rare films that actually made a difference. Its sympathetic portrayal of homosexuality in 1960s Britain helped pave the way for decriminalisation, six years later, via the 1967 Sexual Offences Act. The Act’s chief architect, Lord Arran, even wrote to Victim’s star, Dirk Bogarde, thanking him. The movie smuggled its courageous campaigning into British cinemas in the guise of an accessible London mystery thriller, in which Bogarde’s respectable, married barrister is drawn into a sprawling blackmail plot by Barrett, a young, gay construction worker, with whom he has been photographed. Peter McEnery, who played Barrett, reminisces on the experience. Sr
I had no reservations at all about taking the role; it was a good part. And I...
Victim was one of those rare films that actually made a difference. Its sympathetic portrayal of homosexuality in 1960s Britain helped pave the way for decriminalisation, six years later, via the 1967 Sexual Offences Act. The Act’s chief architect, Lord Arran, even wrote to Victim’s star, Dirk Bogarde, thanking him. The movie smuggled its courageous campaigning into British cinemas in the guise of an accessible London mystery thriller, in which Bogarde’s respectable, married barrister is drawn into a sprawling blackmail plot by Barrett, a young, gay construction worker, with whom he has been photographed. Peter McEnery, who played Barrett, reminisces on the experience. Sr
I had no reservations at all about taking the role; it was a good part. And I...
- 7/13/2017
- by Peter McEnery and Steve Rose
- The Guardian - Film News
Chicago –The 53rd Chicago International Television Awards, a companion celebration to the Chicago International Television Festival – and presented by Cinema/Chicago, the organization who presents the Chicago International Film Festival – will take place Thursday, March 23rd, 2017, and will honor entertainment reporter Dean Richards, advertising guru Joe Sedelmeier and the newly-formed-but-already-influential Amazon Studios. The entire television festival will take place from March 21st to the 23rd at the AMC River East 21, and screenings are free and open to the public. Click here for a complete schedule and details.
The 2016 Awards, given in April of last year, were conferred through Michael Kutza, Artistic Director and Founder of the Chicago International Film Festival, and were “The Commitment to Excellence in Television Productions,” which was given to HBO; the “Career Achievement Award,” that went to actress Regina Taylor; the “Chicago Legend Award,” given to local ABC 7 Chicago broadcaster Janet Davies; and the “Chicago Award...
The 2016 Awards, given in April of last year, were conferred through Michael Kutza, Artistic Director and Founder of the Chicago International Film Festival, and were “The Commitment to Excellence in Television Productions,” which was given to HBO; the “Career Achievement Award,” that went to actress Regina Taylor; the “Chicago Legend Award,” given to local ABC 7 Chicago broadcaster Janet Davies; and the “Chicago Award...
- 3/20/2017
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Here's another installment featuring Joe Dante's reviews from his stint as a critic for Film Bulletin circa 1969-1974. Our thanks to Video Watchdog and Tim Lucas for his editorial embellishments!
Fairish collection of mini‑chillers has Kim Novak and class cast for marquee plus routine horror angles. Title may prove a hindrance, otherwise a passable ballyhoo entry. Rating: R.
Multiple‑story horror films have met with some commercial success recently but few, if any, have amounted to much as movies. The plots usually rely entirely on gimmicky "kickers" at the end, and by now, the supply of possible twist endings seems to be depleted. As a result the stories often seem maddeningly predictable. Such is the problem with Tales That Witness Madness, a four‑story British effort that appears headed for just fair boxoffice response in saturation ballyhoo markets, despite a classy cast toplining the long‑absent Kim Novak.
Fairish collection of mini‑chillers has Kim Novak and class cast for marquee plus routine horror angles. Title may prove a hindrance, otherwise a passable ballyhoo entry. Rating: R.
Multiple‑story horror films have met with some commercial success recently but few, if any, have amounted to much as movies. The plots usually rely entirely on gimmicky "kickers" at the end, and by now, the supply of possible twist endings seems to be depleted. As a result the stories often seem maddeningly predictable. Such is the problem with Tales That Witness Madness, a four‑story British effort that appears headed for just fair boxoffice response in saturation ballyhoo markets, despite a classy cast toplining the long‑absent Kim Novak.
- 8/12/2014
- by Joe Dante
- Trailers from Hell
★★★★☆ Controversial and legendary playwright Joe Orton is responsible for bringing us Loot (1970), for providing the source material for Gary Oldman's astounding performance in Prick Up Your Ears (1987) and for creating Entertaining Mr. Sloane (1970), a wonderfully colourful black comedy about manipulation and sexual repression. Through the directorial eye of Douglas Hickox, the themes of sadism, homosexuality, nymphomania and murder are explored in this wild tale of a charismatic young man named Sloane (Peter McEnery) and the startling affect he has on siblings - Kath (Beryl Reid) and Ed (Harry Andrews).
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Read more »...
- 4/8/2013
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
Actress Joyce Redman, Oscar nominated for both Tom Jones and Othello, died in Kent, England, earlier today. The Newcastle-born Redman, who was either 93 or 96, had been suffering from pneumonia. Film lovers will remember her as Tom Jones‘ Mrs. Waters, stealing the movie while “sexting” — as in, sex while eating — Albert Finney. Mostly a stage and television performer, the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art-trained Redman appeared in only a handful of movies. Yet, her brief film career was notable because of her two Best Supporting Actress Academy Award nominations. In fact, Redman brought "Oscar luck" to her movies and fellow players: Best Picture Oscar winner Tom Jones (1963) earned five nominations in the acting categories (Joyce Redman, Albert Finney, Diane Cilento, Dame Edith Evans, Hugh Griffith), while the filmed version of Britain’s National Theatre presentation of Othello (1965) earned four (Joyce Redman as Emilia, Laurence Olivier, Maggie Smith, Frank Finlay). Regarding the nominations for the Othello actors,...
- 5/11/2012
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Clint Eastwood scores yet again with a rousing tale of the moment when Nelson Mandela harnessed the power of rugby to unite South Africa
Clint Eastwood has been acting in movies for 55 years and directing them for 40. Astonishingly, in an industry that favours youth and discourages originality, he's been doing his best and boldest work in his eighth decade. It seemed he'd reached a creative zenith when he returned to his roots with the classic western Unforgiven in 1992. But since the turn of the century, he's made 10 immensely varied films, including a remarkable defence of euthanasia, Million Dollar Baby, the superb diptych of Second World War films, Flags of Our Fathers and Letters From Iwo Jima, a documentary on piano blues and a deeply felt story of a man rethinking his values in late middle age, Gran Torino.
Not all of these films have been particularly subtle, but each has...
Clint Eastwood has been acting in movies for 55 years and directing them for 40. Astonishingly, in an industry that favours youth and discourages originality, he's been doing his best and boldest work in his eighth decade. It seemed he'd reached a creative zenith when he returned to his roots with the classic western Unforgiven in 1992. But since the turn of the century, he's made 10 immensely varied films, including a remarkable defence of euthanasia, Million Dollar Baby, the superb diptych of Second World War films, Flags of Our Fathers and Letters From Iwo Jima, a documentary on piano blues and a deeply felt story of a man rethinking his values in late middle age, Gran Torino.
Not all of these films have been particularly subtle, but each has...
- 2/7/2010
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
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