Themes: Down on Their Luck, Breakups and Divorces, Love Triangles
Main Cast: Carol White, Terence Stamp, John Bindon, Kate Williams, Queenie Watts
Release Year: 1968
Country: UK
Run Time: 100 minutes
Plot
Acclaimed British neo-realist filmmaker Ken Loach made his theatrical debut with this bleak kitchen-sink drama. Joy (Carol White) leads a life that makes her name seem like some sort of a cruel joke. Her husband Tom (John Bindon) is a second-rate burglar who shows neither her nor their infant child much affection. When Tom is jailed for theft, Joy is left on her own, until Tom's best friend Dave (Terence Stamp) invites her to stay with him. Dave is warm and caring in a way that Tom is not, and love begins to blossom between them. However, Dave also supports himself as a thief, and when he's arrested and put behind bars, Joy is left back where she started. Joy takes a job as a barmaid to support herself, and she is persuaded to pose nude for a photographer to bring in some extra money; she files for divorce from Tom and begins seeing other men. However, Tom wants to give their marriage another chance once he's released from prison, much to Joy's chagrin. Several clips with Terence Stamp were later used in The Limey (1999) to illustrate the earlier life of Stamp's character in that film. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Malcolm McDowell - Billy; Geraldine Sherman - Trixie; Billy Murray - Tom's Friend; Ellis Dale - Solicitor; Gerald Young - Judge; Paddy Joyce - Governor in Photo Studio; Gladys Dawson - Bet; Ron Pember - Petal; Rose Hillier - Customer at Hairdresser; Wally Patch; Tony Selby; George Sewell; Will Stampe; George Tovey; John Halstead - Photographer; Julie May - Woman in Sheppey; Philip Rose - Shelley; Hilda Barry; Terry Duggan - 2nd Prisoner; Philip Newman; Bernard Stone
Credit
Bernard Sarron - Art Director, Ken Loach - Director, Roy Watts - Editor, Donovan - Composer (Music Score), John Cameron - Musical Direction/Supervision, Donovan - Songwriter, Christopher Logue - Songwriter, Brian Probyn - Cinematographer, Joseph Janni - Producer, Ken Loach - Screenwriter, Nell Dunn - Screenwriter, Nell Dunn - Book Author
Although Malcolm McDowell is listed in the credits on the commercial release of the film, the scenes in which he appeared were deleted.
Plot summary
Joy is an 18 year old woman who runs away from home with Tom; this proves to be the first of many bad choices. She marries and has a boy, Johnny. Tom is a thief; he becomes mentally and physically abusive to Joy and ends up in prison, leaving her on her own. Joy takes a job as a barmaid and then, to earn extra money, becomes a prostitute. Her life spirals downhill until her son goes missing and she realises what is most important to her.
Tagline: A love story about a girl, the man she is living for, and the man she is living with.
Music
The opening credits attribute the film music to Donovan, although many pop songs from the era are heard in the film. Three Donovan songs are heard in the film, including the title song. The melody of the title song is repeated instrumentally in diverse arrangements in several parts of the film. It was later released as single b-side to "Jennifer Juniper" in early 1968 in a different arrangement and with altered lyrics. For example, the standard release version opens with the line "I dwell in the north in the green country", while the version in the film opens with the line "I dwell in the town in the gray country".
Other songs by Donovan in the film are "Be Not Too Hard" and "Colours", the latter of which is sung by the character played by Terence Stamp. Clips of Stamp's performance in Poor Cow were used to show the early life of the character he portrays in Steven Soderbergh's film The Limey (1999).
