This Sporting Life (1963)
This Sporting Life (1963)
This Sporting Life Photos
Movie Info
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Cast
as Frank Machin
as Mrs. Margaret Hammond
as Gerald Weaver
as 'Dad' Johnson
as Maurice Braithwaite
as Mrs. Weaver
as Slomer
as Judith
as Len Miller
as Wade
as Jeff
as Phillips
as Dentist
as Doctor
as Waiter
as Head Waiter
as Mrs. Farrer
as Lynda
as Ian
as Riley
as Hooker
as Gower
as Cameron
as Trainer
as Interviewee
Critic Reviews for This Sporting Life
All Critics (18) | Top Critics (5) | Fresh (18) | Rotten (0) | DVD (1)
The film is raw and confident, but it's a little shallow, too.
Lindsay Anderson, making his debut as a feature director, brings the keen, observant eye of a documentary man to many vivid episodes without sacrificing the story line.
A reminder that something really was stirring in those days of the British New Wave before it frittered itself away.
It's impossible not to appreciate the remarkable performances (both Harris and Roberts were nominated for Oscars) or the realistic rugby scenes that earned Harris a broken leg.
Probably the best crafted of the British 'kitchen sink' movies.
Anderson's visual sense is remarkably strong for a film that relies for much of its length on a highly complex and intriguing flashback narrative.
Audience Reviews for This Sporting Life
Richard Harris gives a very 'Brando-esque' performance in this UK classic. Simply fantastic from start to finish.
Super Reviewer
"This Sporting Life" is one of the most famous of the British "kitchen sink" dramas of the 1950s and 1960s ("kitchen sink" films were very gritty, social realist films which were very popular in Britain at one time). Frank Machin (Richard Harris) is a brutal, young miner in a city in northern England. Hoping for fame and fortune, he becomes a successful Rugby League football player. He uses his fame and fortune, along with physical violence, to try to force his widowed landlady (Rachel Roberts) to fall for him. Photographed in bleak black-and-white, the film's scenes of emotional and physical domestic violence are still shocking today. Also notable are the violent, stylishly-shot rugby matches. The cast are brilliant without exception, especially Richard Harris who manages to invest even his totally unsympathetic character with some degree of humanity.
Super Reviewer
The British Raging Bull.
Super Reviewer
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