Butley (1974)

User Rating:

7.3/10   

Director:

Harold Pinter

Writers:

Simon Gray (play)
Simon Gray (screenplay)

Release Date:

April 1976 (UK)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

His wife just left him for another man. And so did his boy friend.

Plot:

An English professor finds his life crumbling around him. |

Plot Keywords:

Shaving Accident | Teacher Student Relationship | Bisexual | Poetry | One Day

Cast

Alan Bates	...	Ben Butley
Jessica Tandy	...	Edna Shaft
Richard O'Callaghan	...	Joey Keyston
Susan Engel	...	Anne Butley
Michael Byrne	...	Reg Nuttall
Georgina Hale	...	Miss Heasman
Simon Rouse	...	Mr. Gardner
John Savident	...	James
Oliver Maguire	...	Train Passenger
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Darien Angadi	...	Male Student
Colin Haigh	...	Male Student
Lindsay Ingram	...	Female Student
Patti Love	...	Female Student
Belinda Low	...	Female Student
Derrick O'Connor	...	Irishman in pub
Susan Wooldridge	...	Female Student

Also Known As:

Simon Gray's Butley (Australia) (DVD box title)

Runtime:

USA:94 min | USA:129 min

Country:

UK | Canada

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:15 | Spain:18 | USA:R

Company:

Cinévision Ltée

Quotes:

Ben Butley: I'm a one-woman man, and I've had mine, thank God.

Bates at his best

The late Alan Bates had many "bests" (if one may be permitted to say so)because of the constant intensity he brought to every role. He made acting something of a physical sport. In this case, his neurotic Butley uses language as a fencer's epee, yielding nothing to putative antagonists in the tight confines of an English department office in a major university as the camera follows him doggedly thrusting and parrying without pause. I especially liked the puns and double entendres (obviously). This sort of thing is not for everyone, of course, and I do not blame the viewer who is easily bored by such verbal jousting.

Did I mention the superb camera work? It is a tour de force to take a stage play like this one and make it come alive on film. Great acting and great direction would be lost without due attention to the medium, and this one has it par excellence. As depressing as the theme may be, and as unlikeable the fictional characters, this production succeeds in demonstrating just how powerful a film can be in spite of itself. It reminded me instantly of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" in that regard. And it is uncanny in its recognition of all the unhappy details found in any college English department office.

The nicest touch, of course, was in making Butley a T. S. Eliot specialist, with a photo of the lugubrious poet pinned to the wall. Much comic relief if one knows how to spot it.