Main Cast: Alan Bates, Jessica Tandy, Richard O'Callaghan, Susan Engel, Michael Byrne
Release Year: 1974
Country: UK
Run Time: 129 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
The American Film Theatre has made movies of a number of significant theatrical performances, including Laurence Olivier's Othello. Another of these filmed theatricals is Simon Gray's Butley, which was brought to the screen by playwright Harold Pinter, and which features an astonishing performance by Alan Bates. The story focuses on one very bad day in the life of Butley (Bates), a feisty, sharp-tongued, lazy and pathetic professor of English. His professional ascendancy is challenged by a slick, accomplished woman many years his junior; his ex-wife gives him conniptions when she announces her remarriage to someone he cannot bear; and his male lover of several years chooses this time to announce that he is leaving him for a sweeter-tempered but very ordinary man of the sort Butley despises. Bleak though this sounds, Butley's unconquerable wit and biting repartee transform this otherwise tragic tale into something of a celebration of survival. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
Review
Butley is not a satisfying film experience, but it is valuable for capturing the electric and captivating performance of star Alan Bates in the title role. Bates gives a tour de force performance, but one in which the actor is at all times serving the character and the needs of the material rather than simply using a flashy part to show off his considerable range and skill. Bates is firmly onscreen throughout and is called upon to create a presence that can hold the entire film together; to make things more difficult, he is given a not very likeable character, self-centered and given to barrages of cruel (if terribly witty and amusing) insults. That Bates makes the audience interested in the character, and even care for him to a sufficient extent, without making Butley sympathetic, is an incredible achievement. A bold, edgy, at times scary performance, it makes the film worth watching, despite flaws such as pedestrian direction that does not do enough to disguise the film's stage origins, an over-extended length, and a cast of characters that often compete with each other for unpleasantness. The supporting cast is excellent, but even as accomplished an actress as Jessica Tandy must take a back seat to Bates' astonishing performance. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Georgina Hale - Miss Heasman; Cohn Haigh - Male Student; Lindsay Ingram - Female Student; Patti Love - Female Student; Belinda Low - Female Student; Oliver Maguire - Train Passenger; Simon Rouse - Gardner; John Savident - James; Susan Wooldridge - Female Student
Credit
Carmen Dillon - Art Director, Ted Sturgis - First Assistant Director, Harold Pinter - Director, Malcolm Cooke - Editor, Gerry Fisher - Cinematographer, Ely Landau - Producer, Otto Plaschkes - Producer, Henry T. Weinstein - Producer, Ivan Sharrock - Sound/Sound Designer, Simon Ward - Screenwriter, Simon Gray - Screenwriter, Simon Ward - Play Author
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