Those people in Britain who hark back to some kind of mythical golden age. Meet Jimmy Porter from 1959. Here is a well balanced individual. He has a chip on both shoulders!
Jimmy Porter (Richard Burton) is an angry young man in Derby. A working class lad with a university degree who is bitter at the world and whatever injustices it holds.
Jimmy works in a market stall with his amiable Welsh lodger Cliff, both enjoy jazz in the evenings. Jimmy is married to an upper middle class wife Alison (Mary Ure) who he is constantly mean to. Cliff tries to keep the peace.
When Alison invites her actress friend Helena (Clair Bloom) to stay with them. Tension between the couple increases especially with someone close to Jimmy becoming seriously ill. Jimmy also despises Helena and Alison leaves him unable to tell him that she is pregnant.
In a twist, Helena who also loathes Jimmy ends up becoming his lover. It leads to the viewer to think if she engineered Alison's departure.
Director Tony Richardson was inspired by the French New Wave of realist cinema. It features a powerhouse performance from Burton. All rage and fury yet compassionate to the little fellow, here an Indian market trader constantly discriminated against.
Looking back at the film, Jimmy Porter comes across as a petty mean bully against his wife rather than a grey bleak post war Britain unsure of itself with the loss of an empire. He could had social climbed the corporate ladder with his degree but seems to have wasted any potential opportunities.
Look Back in Anger heralded a new type of film with a different portrayal of the working classes, more raw and honest. Ironically writer John Osborne who wrote the original stage play became a country squire later in life. The original angry young man ended up being rather fond of the establishment that he once detested.
