The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner Movie Review 1962

Courtenay, in his film debut, turns in a powerful performance as an angry young man infected by the poverty and hopelessness of the British slums. His first attempt at crime is a bust and lands him in a boys reformatory where he is recruited for the running team. While training for the big event with a rival school, Redgrave's obsession with winning the race and Courtenay's continued indifference to the outcome lock the two in an intriguing, seemingly one-sided power struggle. Though widely overlooked when first released, it has since been praised as one of the finest teenage angst films of the '60s. Riveting depiction on a boy's rite of passage into manhood.

Distribution

Sinister Cinema, PO Box 4369, Medford, OR 97501-0168, Phone: (541)773-6860, Fax: (541)779-8650, Email: scinema@qwest.net, URL: http://www.sinistercinema.com

Available on VHS
Running time 104 minutes.
Originally from British.

Cast and Crew

Genres

Rebel With a Cause, Running, Teen Angst

Cast

Tom Courtenay, Michael Redgrave, Avis Bunnage, Peter Madden, James Bolam, Julia Foster, Topsy Jane, Frank Finlay, Christopher Parker

Cinematography

Walter Lassally

Director

Tony Richardson

Music

John Addison

Producer

Woodfall Productions, Bryanston Pictures, Seven Arts Pictures, Continental Distributing Company