• Post category:Movies
  • Post last modified:June 15, 2020

The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner

Teenager Colin Smith (Tom Courtenay) is taken to a detention center for juvenile delinquents where the man in charge, the Governor (Michael Redgrave), discovers his talent for long-distance running. With his documentary background, director Tony Richardson became the right person to make one of the key films of the ā€angry young manā€ movement of the 1950s and ā€™60s. We follow Colinā€™s experiences at the detention center, but flashbacks also show us how he ended up there. Realistic and engaging, with effective use of symbolism; Redgrave plays a man of the elite who only cares when his boys have a talent that his institution might find useful. Very strong breakthrough performance by Courtenay.

1962-Britain. 103 min. B/W. Produced and directed byĀ Tony Richardson. Screenplay, Short Story: Alan Sillitoe. Cast: Michael Redgrave (The Governor), Tom Courtenay (Colin Smith), Avis Bunnage (Mrs. Smith), Peter Madden, Alec McCowen, James Foxā€¦ John Thaw.

Last word:Ā ā€œThere was all this talk about me being the next Albert Finney. It was heady stuff. I hadnā€™t been out of drama school more than a couple of months when Tony Richardson asked if Iā€™d heard of a book called ‘The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner’ and I hadnā€™t. He said ā€˜Weā€™re going to do a film of it and youā€™ll be marvellous in it. Youā€™re just what we want.ā€™ There was no question of turning it down ā€“ too exciting. It was my background, or something like it anyway, not exactly like it. There was no hesitation at all. It was only a question of whether it would happen because it was sometime after that that the film was made. And he held to his word.ā€ (Courtenay, interview with Tony Earnshaw)

 

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