Fresh and Exciting

Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

I've seen this film a few times over the years. When I was younger I could relate to Colin Smith to some extent, having spent 10 years in an authoritarian boarding school in my youth. However, I now tend to look at it with a more critical eye.It puzzles me that Sillitoe chose to use the word "loneliness" in the title, since Smith obviously gets some pleasure and comfort from his running. I don't know the answer but perhaps the "loneliness" means "isolation" or "alienation". A barrier that simply can't be overcome.The governor of the borstal actually strikes me as being quite a kindly man, and seems to have some genuine interest in Smith's welfare. Perhaps he feels that by showing the borstal boys that they can compete favourably with boys from more privileged backgrounds it will help to break down what they may view as an impassable (and possibly unjust) class barrier and give them some confidence going forward in life.In the case of Smith, this turns out to be a complete failure. Like his father before him who proudly spurned medical attention (and died soon afterwards - there's no pride like the pride of the poor!), he spurns the opportunity to take himself out of his condition. Though this no doubt gives him some momentary satisfaction, he will probably look back on it with regret in the grim grim years that lie ahead.Whatever Sillitoe intended, it still has power and relevance today.

A poignant exploration of the British class structure in the 60s as well as a study of the disillusionment of the 'angry young man' of the working class. The story is interesting, but the direction as well as the musical choices at times is a bit weak. Nevertheless it's still worth recommending.

UK 104m, B&W Director: Tony Richardson; Cast: Tom Courtenay, Michael Redgrave, James Bolam, Ray Austin, John Thaw, Alec McCowenThe Loneliness of a Long Distance Runner is a brilliant expose of social class, poverty and youth disillusionment in Britain during the early 1960s. Sentenced to reform school for petty crimes, Colin Smith is a rebellious youth from a poor family who is encouraged by the headmaster to train for an inter-school cross-country championship race. During Colin's many hours of training, we witness in flashback the events which led to his incarceration, and the underlying reasons for his defiance against authority. Taking advantage of special privileges to train, Colin uses the freedom to escape from his grim surroundings. Recognizing that he is being used, he surprises everyone by with a wonderfully unforgettable act of defiance at the finish of the championship race (Klaus Ming September 2013).

You've got to hand it to the British. The movie's lead character is neither handsome nor very likable, something Hollywood of the time would never have done. As Colin Smith, Courtenay does have a compelling screen presence that's perfect for an ambiguous role. Of course, we sympathize with the working class boy's difficult life and grim surroundings. He appears an instinctive rebel when he burns some money his shrewish mother gave him. But then, he turns around and steals money from a neighborhood bakery and ends up, despite some fast talking, in reform school. So now it looks like Smith is on the fast track to nowhere, like so many of his working class peers. There doesn't appear to be anything special about him except for one thing-- he finds out he's good at running. But how do you use something like that to lift yourself out of a grim background and a barracks-like reform school. Fortunately for Smith, the head of the school (Redgrave, in a tight-lipped performance) opens up an avenue for him. Just beat our arch rival in long-distance competition, says the impressed Redgrave, and the boy will be considered for the British Olympic team. So now, seeing a way out of the harsh surroundings, the formerly rebellious Smith reforms his ways and becomes Redgrave's "blue-eyed boy".All he has to do in return is subordinate himself to others, play the game, and do what he does best, run. The trouble is he discovers something when he's running alone and in the open, something he's never felt before in his closed-in environment. He discovers an overpowering sense of freedom and maybe a better sense of himself too. It's a heady experience that can't be forgotten. So now there's a clash in his life. It's one between his newly found sense of personal freedom versus the game he needs to play to get ahead in society. So what will he do, and what will that say about him, where he comes from, and what success requires. It all comes together the day of the big race.I've hit the high points, as I understand them, because there's little that's revealed by the script. Instead, the viewer has to combine the telling visuals with Smith's general behavior in order to grasp the points of the narrative. In short, nothing is explained for us. For example, nothing need be stated about Smith's environmental influences since the visuals speak volumes. Nor do we need to hear about his family life since the visuals again speak volumes. Also, the flashbacks help by separating past reasons for his later behavior from that behavior. All in all, this was an indirect mode of storytelling that American audiences were not used to in 1962. But it did strike a chord as the box-office numbers indicated.It's a tribute, I think, to the filmmakers that the movie's elements are put together well enough to draw us in and keep us there. The movie's also proof for old Hollywood that leading men don't need to be either handsome or likable to bring in an audience. It also shows that audiences will make an effort to understand when they think the effort is worth it.