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One of my all time favorites.

Just what I expected

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

A poignant exploration of the British class structure in the 60s as well as a study of the disillusionment of the 'angry young man' of the working class. The story is interesting, but the direction as well as the musical choices at times is a bit weak. Nevertheless it's still worth recommending.

Adapting Alan Sillitoe's short story, director Tony Richardson comes up with one of the best of the British "kitchen sink" dramas. In an astounding film debut, Tom Courtenay plays a wannabe thug sentenced to reform school after being pinched for a burglary. School headmaster Michael Redgrave discovers Courtenay's cross country running skills and attempts to use him to beat the more elite "public" school. While running, Courtenay recalls the events that led him to his sorry existence: his saucy, recently widowed mother, his clingy girlfriend, his attempt at petty crime. Courtenay is excellent and the supporting cast is first rate. Redgrave is great as one of of the by-the-book English stiffs whose callous attempt at exploiting Courtenay backfires. John Addison's bare bones music score & Walter Lassally's stark B&W cinematography add a lot. Featuring Alec McCowen, Avis Bunnage as Courtenay's mum, and Dervis Ward as very persistent cop.

Many people label the film as a rebellious lad striking out against authority. That is rather a poor analysis. The young man's dilemma is that he is an intelligent lad who sees the pointlessness of the common man's goals. Clearly, the pursuit of money is pointless to him. Yet he is without direction, which has as much to do with his upbringing and surroundings as his apathy for the pursuit of wealth.When he is sent to the borstal for committing a crime he is surprised to see that his status there begins to climb. This is because he is a terrific runner and the governor of the borstal values athletics and particularly runners. For some time he plays the governors game of honing his skills for an upcoming Cup Race against a public school. Ultimately, the lad understands that the governor's interest in him is not a genuine care for his welfare, but the governor's own selfish desire to win his borstal some acclaim.His fight is not just with the establishment. Clearly he resents the "bosses" who get rich off of the workers sweat and blood. He associates his father's death to his working his guts out so the owners could get rich. But his fight is also with the people who he expects more out of. He is greatly disappointed by his mother. Especially when she quickly takes up a new lover and by her whimsically spending of her husband's life insurance money. Lastly, the governor himself, who is more interested in personal projects, than the welfare of the young men he is in care of.This is a wonderfully written film with a terrific performance by Courtenay.

"Running's always been a big thing in our family." – Colin SmithBritish New Wave at its best (or worst, depending on who you talk to), "The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner" stars Tom Courtenay as Colin Smith, the kind of "angry young man" so prevalent in films of the era (roughly from 1958's "A Look Back In Anger" to 1975's "In Celebration") that the phrase "angry young man cinema" had to be coined to distinguish such films from the other dour, working class flicks that typified the British New Wave. These were all films which featured down and dirty narratives about class warfare and worker struggles, their grungy realism helping to erode the Hays Production Code in the US and directly influencing the slew of gritty flicks that typified Hollywood's second golden age (late 1960s and 70s)."Runner's" central character is Colin Smith, an angsty Nottingham lad who lacks ambition, direction or even hope. Sent to a strict reform school for robbing a bakery, Colin turns into one of those imprisoned anti-establishment types (see "If", "Cool Hand Luke", "Bird Man of Alcatraz", "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest", "The Hill" etc) who becomes angry at both the school's staff and ruling governor, a condescending man who tries to get Colin to be "good" and "conform"."Work hard and one day you may represent England in the Olympic Games," the governor says, recognising Colin's talents for long distance running. And so Colin begrudgingly begins to train everyday, getting up early, running, strengthening his body and working on his stamina. It seems like a mutual relationship: Colin is allowed to run free outside, whilst the governor gets a talented kid who can represent the institution in a high profile sporting event.Of course when this big event comes, in which Colin has to run a long distance race, Colin deliberately sabotages things. He runs up to the finishing line, proves he could have won, but then stops in his tracks, allowing all the other runners to comfortably beat him. That's how defiant he is, you see. He will not participate in your game.Like most of these films, there's a marked difference in how director Tony Richardson portrays the lower and the upper classes. The masters of the reform school are sadists, incompetents or snobs; tweedy traditionalists like the Governor or fumbling fanatics like the school's psychiatrist. In contrast, Colin and his lower class buddies are shown (via flashbacks) in various artfully depressing situations. They wade through a harsh and oppressive Nottingham landscape, filled with dark skies, towering factories, dead streets and railway tracks. Colin and his buddies go partying, play on the rails, pass time on the cold beaches, hit on girls (Colin's romantic relationship with a girl is quite pitiful, a desperate attempt to find some happiness), but there is a certain melancholic tone to such scenes. When Colin steals a car and robs a bakery, its more for thrills than an act of desperation. He doesn't like what Nottingham has to offer, knows his future, can't see a way out and so is resigned to a life of self-destruction. Or running.The film has faced much criticism over the decades, some believing that the film blames the lower classes for their own problems and that it portrays the poor as "running away from work" and "not working hard". When the reform school's governor throws Colin a lifeline, essentially giving him a chance to step up the ladder, these critics blame Colin for not being smart and taking the guy's help.But Colin represents the disillusionment that was clouding over the youth of 1960s Britain. He has a burning contempt for both a post-war capitalism which demands conformity, and a society built by the privileged for the privileged. When Colin finds these same social divisions in the reform school and sees how the school's Governor uses the working class for his own selfish gains, Colin essentially takes what he views to be the only ethical step. He proves both that he can compete, and then indicates that he nevertheless doesn't wish to be part of the Governor's game. The last shot of the film is of Colin, back in reform school, depressingly scrubbing gas masks (an odd choice, linking class stratification to both war and cannon fodder soldiers). Colin's gained self-respect, but director Tony Richardson is careful to show the price he's paid. Today, the film's "choose to not participate" rather than "win under someone else's terms" message is pretty much the last radical stance of most contemporary philosophers. Colin's Gandhian act of "doing nothing" is what philosophers like Badiou and Zizek call a "violent refusal" or "critical disengagement", a radical gesture in which one opts to do nothing in the face of the systemic violence inherent to our socio economic order; use a dollar and you bolster the machine. This is the same stance of Taoism and Zen non-action (localized acts of resistance only serve to make systems run more smoothly) and the driving force behind many of the existential prison and road movies of the 1960s and 70s, in which characters attempt to "flee", "not participate" and "just get up and leave". Today, a film like Richard Kelly's "The Box" highlight the way modern man is essentially born a default participant, a default runner, and how critical disengagement is now virtually impossible. See also Bresson's "The Devil Probably".8.5/10 – Other key films that defined the British New Wave: "A Taste of Honey", "Saturday Night and Sunday Morning", "Look Back In Anger", "The Entertainer", "This Sporting Life". Worth two viewings.