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Information
- Year
- 1968
- Runtime
- 111 min.
- Director
- Lindsay Anderson
- Genre
- Drama
- Rating *
- 7.6
- Votes *
- 19,176
- Checks
- 5,744
- Favs
- 455
- Dislikes
- 42
- Favs/checks
- 7.9% (1:13)
- Favs/dislikes
- 11:1
Top comments
-
dchauvin
The film begins baring resemblance to Dead Poets Society, but gradually descends to a much darker (and perhaps more realistic) place. The latter half of the film gets increasingly more peculiar and fascinating, presumably as we delve into the 'If....' possibilities of Travis' anarchic anti-establishment psyche. Throughout we are treated with alternating black and white and colour scenes that distance us from the film's reality. The black and white scenes appear to serve as the fulfillment of Travis' fantasies, and as such also frame the immorality and decadence bursting from the seams of College House, the archetypal British private school, of course preaching the exact opposite principles - religion, discipline and respect. McDowell is effortlessly cool in the anti-hero role, and the acting across the board is strong. Oh yeah, it's pretty funny at times too. 11 years 9 months ago -
Timec
I just re-watched it, and had forgotten how funny certain parts of this are. Anderson really goes out of his way to mock nearly everyone in the film (each representing a certain segment of society.) There's Travis' platitudes about violence and war, the headmaster who thinks he knows what the boys are going through, the general's speech that manages to completely miss the point, the militarist minister, the whole playing "dress-up" aspect of the military training sequence, the prat whips, etc.
In spite of his ridicule, he never falls into the trap of so much satire of making the characters one-dimensional - they're fleshed out, and we care about what happens. 12 years 6 months ago -
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In 19 official lists
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This movie ranks #9 in Time Out's The 100 Best British Films
Time Out's The 100 Best …
9 -
This movie ranks #12 in BFI's Top 100 British Films
BFI's Top 100 British Fi…
12 -
This movie ranks #35 in Cannes Film Festival - Palme d'Or
Cannes Film Festival - P…
35 -
This movie ranks #38 in Stanley Kubrick, Cinephile
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This movie ranks #57 in Halliwell's Top 1000: The Ultimate Movie Countdown
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This movie ranks #199 in Harvard's Suggested Film Viewing: Narrative Films
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This movie ranks #205 in Eureka!'s The Masters of Cinema Series
Eureka!'s The Masters of…
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This movie ranks #253 in 366 Weird Movies
366 Weird Movies
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This movie ranks #268 in Amos Vogel's Film as a Subversive Art
Amos Vogel's Film as a S…
268 -
This movie ranks #292 in Mark Cousins's The Story of Film: An Odyssey
Mark Cousins's The Story…
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This movie ranks #325 in BFI's 360 Classic Feature Films Project
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This movie ranks #401 in The New York Times's Book of Movies
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This movie ranks #423 in Sight & Sound's The Greatest Films of All Time
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This movie ranks #432 in The Guardian's 1000 Films to See Before You Die
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This movie ranks #434 in The Criterion Collection
The Criterion Collection
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This movie ranks #442 in TSPDT's 1,000 Greatest Films
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This movie ranks #451 in Time Out's 1000 Films to Change Your Life
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This movie ranks #479 in 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
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This movie ranks #691 in David Thomson's Have You Seen?
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691