The Entertainer (1960)

Director:

Tony Richardson

Writers:

John Osborne (screenplay) and
Nigel Kneale (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

2 December 1960 (Denmark)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

As the applause grew fainter ... As the spotlight grew dimmer ... His women were younger!

Plot:

Archie Rice, an old-time British vaudeville performer sinking into final defeat, schemes to stay in show business.

Plot Keywords:

Vaudeville | Generation | Adultery | Failure | Family Relationships

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 1 win & 3 nominations

Cast

Laurence Olivier	...	Archie Rice
Brenda De Banzie	...	Phoebe Rice
Roger Livesey	...	Billy Rice
Joan Plowright	...	Jean Rice
Alan Bates	...	Frank Rice
Daniel Massey	...	Graham
Albert Finney	...	Mick Rice
Shirley Anne Field	...	Tina Lapford
Thora Hird	...	Mrs. Ada Lapford
Miriam Karlin	...	Soubrette
Geoffrey Toone	...	Harold Hubbard
MacDonald Hobley	...	Himself - the TV star (as McDonald Hobley)
Anthony Oliver	...	Interviewer
Max Bacon	...	Charlie Klein
George Doonan	...	Eddie Trimmer

Runtime:

96 min | USA:105 min (TCM print)

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Australia:G (TV rating) | UK:PG | UK:X (original rating) | Finland:S | Sweden:15 | Australia:PG

Filming Locations:

Alhambra Theatre, Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, UK

Company:

Woodfall Film Productions

Trivia:

Laurence Olivier was nominated for the 1958 Tony Award (New York City) for Actor in a Drama for "The Entertainer" as Archie Rice and recreated the role in this production.

Quotes:

Billy Rice: You were a pretty little thing. Not that looks are important - not even for a woman. You don't look at the mantelpiece when you poke the fire.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in John Osborne and the Gift of Friendship (2006) (V)

Soundtrack:

Put Me Amongst the Girls

The entertainer is a great movie, but not easy to watch.

The underlying theme of this movie is the end of the British empire, played out in allegory with the end of a not very talented "entertainer". The poet John Mansfield a few decades before this movie was made gave Britons an inkling of what was coming. Two wars and a softness grown out of a century of milking its colonies finally had to come to end. This film is not what the average movie viewer wants, much less understands when the creators of this project reveal to the audience what lies ahead. When Archie is yanked off the stage, it is the symbolic end of Great Britan as a great power. The Suez war and Archies's son as a relic of Britan's once dominant power are a backdrop to political and military events when this film was in production. The Suez war was not backed by the US. The British learned that the day was over when it could exert influence let alone dominant military actions without US backing. Catch the line in the beginning of the film when Archie's daughter is being asked to leave" a dying country". That line establishes the events to follow, for Archie and England.