Film Forum

U.K., 1963
Directed by Lindsay Anderson
Starring Richard Harris, Rachel Roberts, Alan Badel
Screenplay by David Storey, based on his novel of the same name
DCP. Approx. 134 min.

After rugbyer Richard Harris gets his teeth rearranged by a sucker punch, the anesthetic kicks in and the flashbacks unreel, detailing his tormentedly inarticulate attempts to connect with repressed, widowed landlady-with-kids Rachel Roberts. Anderson’s debut feature garnered Oscar nominations for both leads, with Harris taking Best Actor at Cannes.

Reviews

“Probably Lindsay Anderson’s best film – certainly Richard Harris’s. He gives a performance to equal Brando’s in A Streetcar Named Desire… The movie takes its muddy boot to class, sex, celebrity, the north, the south and the humbug shamateurism of English sport (‘I only enjoy it if I get paid a lot for it!’) THIS SPORTING LIFE shrewdly anticipates modern Britain: a dour, yet thrilling and exhilarating film.”
– Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

“An important addition to the canon due to its employment of nimble, jazzy editing, a non-linear structure and an ambient, avant-garde score.”
– Time Out