Albert Finney RIP

[blake 10]

what was good about Finney in films - I never saw him on stage - was that he was always LIKEABLE. Even though not all that many of the films were all that good. 

 

people of my dad's generation always went on about Saturday Night and Sunday morning, and it was a revolutionary moment in British films. It did seem like a breath of fresh air to them,  but it does look like a bit of a museum piece today. None of those 'kitchen sink' type movies have held up that well. The best of them was Kes, towards the end of the cycle. Kes just had a type of humanity in it, that none of the others had. Saturday Night, Sporting Life, Loneliness of the Long Distance etc were not bad movies. They were well made and well acted. But they were just whingeing and whining really and not all that entertaining.  

 

Finney's career was definitely remarkable.  Thank goodness he turned down Lawrence of Arabia. He would not have been bad in it, but surely no way would he have been better than Peter O'Toole.  Some of his later films like Murder on the Orient Express as Poirot, a part he did accept but should not have,  he was so miscast it was embarrassing. He could have been on that train in any one of about half a dozen parts, but not that lead one. 

 

Tom Jones was just a terrible film considering it won a Best Picture Oscar, and is even more dated today in its way than the kitchen sink movies are.  It made Finney a star. But he stayed in Britain.

 

Charlie Bubbles which he directed is actually one of the very best swinging sixties movies. Miles better than garbage like Darling!  which won the Best Picture Oscar. It is slight and contagious and nice and entertaining. It has a kind of charm that doesn't date.  But it is half-forgotten now. 

 

but Finney's best picture was Gumshoe. What a movie. It is same level as Get Carter and Long Good Friday. One of the very best British films of the 1970s. 

[PRESLEY 1,224]

1 hour ago, blake said:

what was good about Finney in films - I never saw him on stage - was that he was always LIKEABLE. Even though not all that many of the films were all that good. 

 

people of my dad's generation always went on about Saturday Night and Sunday morning, and it was a revolutionary moment in British films. It did seem like a breath of fresh air to them,  but it does look like a bit of a museum piece today. None of those 'kitchen sink' type movies have held up that well. The best of them was Kes, towards the end of the cycle. Kes just had a type of humanity in it, that none of the others had. Saturday Night, Sporting Life, Loneliness of the Long Distance etc were not bad movies. They were well made and well acted. But they were just whingeing and whining really and not all that entertaining.  

 

Finney's career was definitely remarkable.  Thank goodness he turned down Lawrence of Arabia. He would not have been bad in it, but surely no way would he have been better than Peter O'Toole.  Some of his later films like Murder on the Orient Express as Poirot, a part he did accept but should not have,  he was so miscast it was embarrassing. He could have been on that train in any one of about half a dozen parts, but not that lead one. 

 

Tom Jones was just a terrible film considering it won a Best Picture Oscar, and is even more dated today in its way than the kitchen sink movies are.  It made Finney a star. But he stayed in Britain.

 

Charlie Bubbles which he directed is actually one of the very best swinging sixties movies. Miles better than garbage like Darling!  which won the Best Picture Oscar. It is slight and contagious and nice and entertaining. It has a kind of charm that doesn't date.  But it is half-forgotten now. 

 

but Finney's best picture was Gumshoe. What a movie. It is same level as Get Carter and Long Good Friday. One of the very best British films of the 1970s. 

Saturday night Sunday morning, kes  were depicting real life  growing up in those eras 60s, 70s, as did I.  All very true to life. There was no whigeing or wining if you did you got a clip from your parents or a teacher or a bobby not many people know the word Disaplin these days, it would be a better world if they did.  The people were made of better and stronger stuff back then.  

[Albert smith 11]

His co star in Saturday night and Sunday morning was Rachel Roberts another great Actor and author of one of my favourite books ,No Bells on Sunday.

[Ontarian1981 10]

5 hours ago, Albert smith said:

His co star in Saturday night and Sunday morning was Rachel Roberts another great Actor and author of one of my favourite books ,No Bells on Sunday.

 I think Rachel also played  opposite Richard Harris in another one of those gritty real life films of that era  i.e. This Sporting Life. There were many like that in the 60s. Live Now Pay Later, Room At the Top, The Family Way, Rattle Of A Simple Man. The Angry Silence, aside from the ones already mentioned.

[tinfoilhat 11]

I know he was well regarded but sadly my over riding memory of him - prior to his bond stint - was his doughy old ass going at it in a grubby sex scene in some woods in a bbc drama (turned out it was the green man made in 1990). It's amazing though that, relatively speaking, how few roles he was in - 65 according IMDB. 

 

RIP and all that.

[Lex Luthor 10]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned 'Big Fish', which was enjoyed by many.  He was undeniably a great actor.  I've got a recording of him playing Scrooge that I've yet to view but my Dad says no one will ever beat Alistair Sim in that role. 

[PRESLEY 1,224]

4 hours ago, Lex Luthor said:

I'm surprised no one has mentioned 'Big Fish', which was enjoyed by many.  He was undeniably a great actor.  I've got a recording of him playing Scrooge that I've yet to view but my Dad says no one will ever beat Alistair Sim in that role. 

Your Dad is Correct.