The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner
by Tony Richardson
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Alec McCowen, Avis Bunnage, James Bolam, Michael Redgrave, Tom CourtenayDirector: Tony Richardson
Brand: Warner Brothers
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 1.0; English (Subtitled)
Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.66:1
Running Time: 104 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-02-13
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Warner Home Video
Movie Reviews of The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner
Movie Review: weaker character, weaker storytelling
Summary: 3 Stars
i saw this movie in high school, and they asked us why it ends the way it does. it wasn't at all clear to me why it ended that way. only reading the story gave me the answer to that, and there was no ambiguity about it. in the movie the ending doesn't seem to be supported by the action we've seen.
a good movie has to make a strong appeal to reality with the plot. it has to be true to the way people genuinely behave, or the story has no meaning. unless it's intentionally absurd or obscurant or comedic, which this story most definitely isn't.
in the movie the character is less angry and less of a deviant, he has feelings of guilt and defeat where the original character is much too tough and too hardened to have such feelings. and the movie has a lighter tone than the story. so it makes its points much more weakly, if at all, than it should.
the character in the movie voices very, very little of the harsh philosophy of the character in the short story, and on balance the movie fails to achieve a satisfactory effect. the movie's conclusion doesn't have the feeling of inevitability and reality because the character is so watered down. i suspect that it had to be watered down because the film board felt a realistic adaptation would be too antisocial.
Summary of The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner
Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 02/13/2007 Rating: NrA bleak, but powerful 1960 British film that ranks as one of the most important United Kingdom imports of the decade. Director Tony Richardson (Tom Jones) tells the story of a rebellious social misfit and petty thief played by Tom Courtenay (The Dresser) who is picked to run on the track team at a reform school for boys. He finds he must balance his spirit and desire to win with his anger and frustration at the life he has led. At times a wrenching character study with no easy answers, Courtenay's performance is a touching portrait of a young man and the journey he takes as he tries to run not only for an unclear future, but from a past he cannot forget. A film indicative of the working class expressionism that came out of England in the early 1960s, Richardson's films stands alone as a downbeat, but insightful story of one man's struggle to determine who he is. --Robert Lane
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