| A Hard Day's Night (Richard Lester, 1964) Summary Depicting a day in the life of 1960's Liverpool pop sensation The Beatles, A Hard Day's Night follows the "fab four" as they race across London to appear on national television. Cast The Beatles - John Lennon Paul McCartney Ringo Starr George Harrison John Junkin - Shake Wilfrid Brambell - Paul's Grandfather Comment Such is the style of this film that it single-handedly spawned the music video as we have come to know it today, earning director Richard Lester the moniker , "father of MTV". |
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| Goldfinger (Guy Hamilton, 1964) Cast Sean Connery - James Bond Desmond Llewellyn - Q Bernard Lee - M Gert Frobe - Auric Goldfinger Harold Sakata (as Tosh Togo) - Oddjob Honor Blackman - Miss Galore (such is the innuendo of her name, i cannot guarantee protection and so would rather not mention it here!) Tania Mallett - Tilly Masterson Shirley Eaton - Jill Masterson Cec Linder - Felix Leiter Margaret Nolan - Dink (masseuse) Summary 3rd in the ever popular James Bond series, this outing sees Sean Connery as 007 globe hopping from London, to Switzerland and finally to the USA investigating an international jeweller's gold smuggling, simultaneously uncovering a plot to contaminate the entire US Gold reserve. Comment I have written YET ANOTHER MACRO on this! click on the link to view it. |
| If... (Lindsay Anderson, 1968) Summary In an indictment of the British Public school system, what begins as a schoolboy rebellion headed by dissatisfied pupil Mick leads to full scale revolution. Cast Malcolm Macdowell - Mick Travis David Wood - Johnny Kightley Richard Warwick - Wallace Christine Noonan - The Girl Comment Along with the likes of Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (Karel Reisz, 1960) and This Sporting Life ( Lyndsay Anderson, 1963), if... can be seen as the continuing series of "socialist realist" or "kitchen sink" gritty British dramas prevalent in the early 1960's. I have written yet another macro on If..., click here to read it. |
| A Clockwork Orange (Stanely Kubrick, 1971) disclaimer: yes, i know it says 1971 but as with If... and A Hard Day's Night it deals with social rebellion, a theme prevalent throughout the 1960's. So there. Summary Alex and his three "droogs" set out to wreak havoc with their own brand of "ultra violence" in this critically acclaimed, contraversial social satire. Cast Malcolm Macdowall - Alex DeLarge Warren Clarke - Dim James Marcus - Georgie Michael Tarn - Pete Comment based on the novel by Antony Burgess, this film was personally banned by Kubrick himself and pulled within 3 weeks of its national theatrical release in 1971. |
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| As part of this unit students are required to look at how certain messages and values of a certain era or topic are transmitted through the medium of film. In this case, we have been looking at the "swinging sixtes", in particular looking at how the issue of teenage rebellion and increased societal permissiveness affected the social order. This is most abundant in - A Clockwork Orange (1971) - if... (1964) - A Hard Day's Night (1964) - TOPIC STUDY Contrasted with these groups of rebellious young men is the single, shadowy figure of a man against the world: Bond....James Bond in - Goldfinger (1964) - CLOSE STUDY Although obviously not dealing with rebellion, being set during the Cold War it does demonstrate certain British and American attiudes towards other world powers (ie. Communist China) and the changing role of women during the 1960's. |
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| Click to visit sites on each film: Goldfinger A hard Day's Night If... A Clockwork Orange |
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