Main Cast: Laurence Olivier, Brenda de Banzie, Joan Plowright, Roger Livesey, Alan Bates, Albert Finney
Release Year: 1960
Country: UK
Run Time: 97 minutes
Plot
Laurence Olivier recreates his stage role of Archie Rice in this in-your-face film adaptation of John Osborne's play. The son of a legendary music hall comedian (Roger Livesey), Archie is strictly a third-rater, headlining a tacky music hall revue in a seedy seaside resort town. Archie can't admit that he's a failure, and his grim insouciance destroys everyone around him. Archie finagles his dying father into financing one last revue; he cheats shamelessly on his alcoholic wife (Brenda De Banzie); and he all but forces one of his sons (Albert Finney) to run off to join the army, only to die in the Suez. Through all his personal crises, Archie jigs and jabbers before his ever-diminishing audience, but by the end of the film he isn't even entertaining himself. Joan Plowright, who married Olivier shortly after completing The Entertainer, plays the film's one sympathetic character: Archie's daughter, whose love for her father blinds her to his flaws. The Entertainer was remade for television in 1976, with Jack Lemmon as Archie Rice and original songs by Marvin Hamlisch. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Bitter, grey, and offering no chance of redemption for its characters, The Entertainer was a dour reflection of the angry, cynical sentiments that defined post-war Britain. Co-written and directed by John Osborne and Tony Richardson, two of the most eloquent Angry Young Men of the era, it was a repudiation of earlier films that portrayed entertainers and their industry as one long parade of sunshine and good will. Instead of a parade, The Entertainer was a funeral, and inherent in the film's depiction of dwindling glory was an indictment of Britain's dying prestige. The film also marked a turning point for Laurence Olivier, whose performance as Archie Rice was an effective departure from the romantic roles of his youth. His portrayal was thoroughly devastating: Rice's self-delusion, hypocrisy, misanthropy, and frank lack of talent make his titular label a cruel joke. In Olivier's brilliant performance, we see a mirror for the desperate arrogance and misplaced confidence of a wounded society. Through their unforgiving portrait of Rice and his surroundings, Osborne and Richardson leveled an attack at this society, picking at its wounds with savage accuracy. The Entertainer was one of their most successful collaborations, and it remains an accusatory reminder of a time that many would just as soon forget. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
Daniel Massey - Graham; Miriam Karlin - Soubrette; Shirley Ann Field - Tina Lapford; Thora Hird - Ada Lapford; Macdonald Hobley - Film Star; Charles Gray - Columnist; Geoffrey Toone - Harold Hubbard; Gilbert Davis - Brother Bill; Anthony Oliver - Interviewer; Max Bacon - Charlie Klein; George Doonan - Eddie Trimmer; Roger Manvell; James Culliford - Cobber Carson
Credit
Ralph W. Brinton - Art Director, Ted Marshall - Art Director, Barbara Gillett - Costume Designer, Tony Richardson - Director, Alan Osbigton - Editor, John Addison - Composer (Music Score), Tony Sforzini - Makeup, Oswald Morris - Cinematographer, Harry Saltzman - Producer, Peter Handford - Sound/Sound Designer, John Osborne - Screenwriter, Nigel Kneale - Screenwriter, John Osborne - Play Author
The Entertainer is a 1960 film adaptation of the stage play of the same name by John Osborne, which told the story of a failing third-rate music hall stage performer who tried to keep his career going even as his personal life fell apart.
The story is set against the backdrop of the dying music hall tradition, and this has usually been seen as symbolic of Britain's general post-war decline, its loss of its Empire, its power, and its cultural confidence and identity.
Jean Rice, a young London teacher, travels to a seaside resort to visit her family. She is emotionally confused, having had a row with her fiancee, who wants her to emigrate with him to Africa. She is also deeply concerned about the Suez Crisis, having seen her soldier brother off to the war. She has attended a peace rally in Trafalgar Square, directed against the British Prime Minister Anthony Eden.
She finds the resort has declined from its pre-war heyday, and is now drawing waning crowds despite being in mid-season. The musical hall act of her father Archie Rice (Olivier) plays out to a small number of increasingly uninterested spectators. Her family is deeply dysfunctional. Her beloved grandfather, once one of the leading stars of the music hall, lives in quiet retirement with his daughter-in-law and grandson.
Jean goes to the music hall where her father is playing. Despite having no money, and being hounded by creditors and his unpaid staff, he sends out for champagne to celebrate her arrival. She soon becomes aware of how he is living. He is adored by his cynical son and watched with mild amusement by his father, but his relationship with his second wife, Phoebe, is strained. He is a serial womaniser, and she is well aware of his tendencies, openly commenting on them to the rest of the family. She is often found drinking heavily.
With his latest show drawing to a close, Archie is desperate to secure a new show for the winter. He is desperately short of money, but while judging a beauty contest he appears to have fallen on his feet. He charms the young woman who finished in second place. Soon he is conducting an affair with her. Her wealthy and ambitious parents want her to have an entertainment career, and are willing to put the money up for Archie's new show if it includes her. They shake hands on the deal.
While this is going on, the radio reports announce that Archie's son Mick has been captured by the Egyptians at Suez after a major firefight. Archie seems oblivious to the news, and the distress of his family. He is fixated with his dream of restarting his stalled career and his affair. His daughter discovers the affair, and tells her grandfather. He, acting out of what he believes are his son's best interests, goes to the girl's parents and tells them that Archie is already married and a bankrupt. They swiftly break off all connections with him, ending their financing for his next show.
While he is still digesting this turn of events, news arrives that the initial reports had been wrong. His son had been killed by the Egyptians and his body is being returned. He is commemorated by the whole town, and it is reported that he will receive a Victoria Cross for his actions. Archie is still too busy fixating on his career to notice how his family is falling apart at the news. His brother-in-law wants to help the family to relocate to Canada and start running a hotel, but Archie rebuffs him. Instead he lands on the idea of returning his father to stage. His father is still extremely popular, and there is a public demand for his return.
However on the opening night his father collapses and dies, completing the estrangement of the family. His wife and son are determined to go to Canada, while Archie is set on staying in Britain even if it means going to jail. The film ends with Archie making an apparently final performance to an apathetic audience.
Othello (1955) •It Should Happen to a Dog (1955) •"BBC Sunday Night Theatre" (1955) •"ITV Play of the Week" (1956) •"The Sunday-Night Play" (1960) •A Death in Canaan (1978) •The Penalty Phase (1986) •Beryl Markham: A Shadow on the Sun (1988) •Women and Men: Stories of Seduction (1990) (with Frederic Raphael and Ken Russell) •The Phantom of the Opera (1990)
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