British social realist cinema took off in the late 50s and early 60s, with "The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner" following on from the likes of "Look Back in Anger" and "Saturday Night and Sunday Morning".
The film, with its grim Nottingham setting and working class milieu, must have seemed fresh in its day. Now, though, it looks and sounds like a relic from a bygone era.
Still compelling, however, is Tom Courteney's powerful central performance as the film's defiant hero, Colin Smith - could his name be any prolier?
A sullen, directionless teen, Colin refuses to follow his dying dad into a factory job, and rails against bosses who profit from the sweat of the working classes (New Labour he's not).
Instead, he hangs out with his mate Mike (Bolam) nicking cars, picking up birds, and knocking off fruit machines.
When he's arrested for burglary and sent to borstal, Colin discovers a talent for cross-country running. He also finds a way to kick back at the system when the institution's smug governor (Redgrave) picks him to represent them in a prestigious challenge cup athletics competition against a local public school.
Courteney is superb as the cunning and rebellious Colin, while the talented supporting cast is peppered with familiar faces, including a young John Thaw.
Director Tony Richardson keeps a tight rein on the film's flashback structure, but his frequent nouvelle vague-inspired touches (he nods in the direction of Truffaut's "The 400 Blows" in particular), such as speeded-up action, jump-cuts and overlapping sound, often seem more gimmicky than anything else.
Nothing ages like fashion, they say, and "Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner" proves the point.
"The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner" is reissued as part of the British New Wave season at London's Barbican Centre on Friday 11th October 2002. "Saturday Night and Sunday Morning" and "A Taste of Honey" are also being shown.
The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962)
