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theandytaylor
Reviews
Morgan's Boy (1984)
Superb heart-warming drama with deep undercurrents and comedy moments that Noel Coward would be proud of
Morgan's boy was one of the finest productions of the mid 80s. Heart warming story about a spiteful teenager who moves to Wales and grows into a wonderful, thoughtful, responsible adult. Superbly acted and a watertight script. The main character Lee Turner is spunky and knows his own mind even at such a tender age and is not afraid to say what he thinks.
It touches discretely on a range of taboo topics that were seldom mentioned in those days, such as homosexuality, bullying of gays in small-town Wales, the relationships between older and younger men. Even incest is alluded to. The scriptwriter uses language that is in a way Bennettonian - trimmed down, to the point, percussive, hard-hitting.
It's interesting to see a take on Mwgabay and Zimbabwe from nearer the time when the revolution happened. And it's notable that the few female characters are depicted as being self-obsessed and undermining. I'm not sure if it was the intention to give the production homo-erotic appeal but the two main young male actors were both smolderingly handsome. The old lady character, Eileen played by Maxine Audley delivers some hilarious one-liners that Noel Coward would be proud of. Its a shame the BBC never repeated the series or released it on DVD. I am lucky enough to have a copy from the old days of VHS and re-watch the series often.
Blonde Fist (1991)
Unsung genius with unsurpassed comical moments
This is one of my favourite films of all times. I've watched it dozens of times. The plot of the film is probably less important than the brilliant one-liners and cameos, although maybe you have to be British to understand the subtle but incandescently funny subtexts that run through the whole film.
Margi is an excellent actress although I guess her in depth experience of the Liverpool psyche means she was playing a role that was kind of like just being herself a lot of the time maybe?
You have to realise that not all the lines are meant literally. Like in the fight scene at the beginning of the programme (has me in stitches every time I watch it). The wonderful Margi Clarke gets fisty cuffs with the superb actress Tina Malone. Tina warns Margi "Now GIT... Before I throw a bucket of p&*^ss water over ya". This is a classically hilarious line. Please don't construe from this that all people in Northern England keep a bucket of urine water handy, ready to throw over aggressive strangers.
:)
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