This Sporting Life1963

Director
Lindsay Anderson

Acters

Richard Harris (Frank Machin)
Rachel Roberts (Mrs. Hammond)
Alan Badel (Weaver)
William Hartnell (Johnson)
Colin Blakely (Maurice Braithwaite)
Vanda Godsell (Mrs. Weaver)

Despite success on the field, a rising rugby star senses the emerging emptiness of his life as his inner angst begins to materialize through aggression and brutality, so he attempts to woo his landlady in hopes of finding reason to live.
In Northern England in the early 1960s, Frank Machin is mean, tough and ambitious enough to become an immediate star in the rugby league team run by local employer Weaver. Machin lodges with Mrs Hammond, whose husband was killed in an accident at Weaver’s, but his impulsive and angry nature stop him from being able to reach her as he would like. He becomes increasingly frustrated with his situation, and this is not helped by the more straightforward enticements of Mrs Weaver.
“This dated British social-realist epic has a power to it.” – Empire
“Probably Lindsay Anderson’s best film – certainly Richard Harris’s.” – The Guardian
“Harris gives a dominating, intelligent performance as the fundamentally simple and insecure footballer. Roberts as a repressed widow, brings commendable light and shade as well as poignance to a role.” – Variety