HARRY AND TONTO

US, 1974, 115 minutes, Colour.
Art Carney, Ellen Burstyn, Chief Dan George, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Larry Hagman, Melanie Mayron, Joshua Mostel.
Directed by Paul Mazursky.

Harry and Tonto: the journey is a valid and useful metaphor for illustrating life and its phases. It is not usually associated with old age, but this is the structure for this film - a kind of liberating journey of experiences for a 72
year old, accompanied by his cat, Tonto. The treatment is light Americana with a touch of sentiment - the journey is not as profound as it presents itself. But granted this, it is a very pleasant journey, comic and sad, with nice touches about ageing and a range of delightful cameos from an ageing Geraldine Fitzgerald and a moving father and daughter sequence with Art Carney (Oscar-winner) and Ellen Burstyn.

1. An appealing film? Entertaining and interesting? For whom was it made older people,, younger audiences, both? Impact on American audiences, non-Americans?

2. The quality of Art Carney's performance? His winning an Oscar? The reputation of Paul Mazursky as writer-director? His preoccupation with his own film-making, his finding a theme and presenting an interpretation of America?

3. The importance of the structure: an old man's odyssey? An odyssey away from an accepted home to find a new home? The introduction to him, his being ousted from his apartment? The episodes of his wandering America? The journey framework, the quest for a new home? The goal of self-understanding? The journey through his memories and the reliving of his life?

4. The presentation of contemporary America? How wide a cross-section of people, cities.. attitudes? How clever and acute was the observation of the particular ways of American life? The number of people that Harry encountered and tried to understand? Feelings in America of the early 70s? Harry and his wisdom., tolerance and patience? His anger? The importance of the visual presentation of America - the local colour of New York, Chicago, the mid-west, the desert, Las Vegas and California? An authentic feel for these varying locations? The importance of the poetry and King Lear within this framework? The importance of the tranquil musical score and the use of the piano?

5. The significance of the comparison between Harry and King Lear? King Lear in peace time and place? The contrast between Harry and King Lear? The reasons for his quoting him, the differences? The family,, inheritance, wandering, the possibility of loneliness and madness in old age? The need for independence?

6. How important was Harry's journey through his memories,, at the end of his life the perspective of all the people and events in his life? The continued prospect of ageing and of death? Harry and his encounter with people dying and the mirroring of his own death?

7. The tone and impact of the credit sequence with the varied collage of close-ups of people in old age? The gallery of old people in New York sitting in the streets, talking landladies? The emphases on age? The recurring theme of age when Harry settled in Los Angeles? The gallery of people in California? Audience response to such continued visual impact of age?

8. The portrait of Harry Coombs? As one of these ordinary old people? How did he stand out in terms of character and character portrayal? How well did the audience get to know him? The filling-in of the background of his life and work, family? The memory of Jessie, the impact of Anna and his marriage and its happiness? The range of friends that he had? The fact that family was absent? That he wanted to live alone and independently? The bond of Tonto within this framework? The bond with the cat? The device of having soliloquies to Tonto and Art Carney's delivery of these important speeches? The feel of the bond between man and cat, loneliness and the need for a man to talk? The giving of information about his life and indicating his varying moods?

9. Harry and his way of life in New York? The people at the bench, Jacob and his talking about the Capitalists, his memories of Poland, the story about his first fair? His memories of his sexual life? The irony and pathos of his death and the important scene of Harry's identifying him and his memories? The sequence in the shop and the discussion with the shopkeeper? Trying to cross the road and the hurrying cars and his abuse? The pathos of his being mugged and his ironic comments about this? Authority ousting him and the big demonstration and his being lifted out of his apartment? The long scene of his coming back to his apartment with the familiar things, sitting down and talking to Tonto, reading the paper and sleeping? How wise was the observation of Harry's way of life in New York? The quality of the man?

10. Burt taking him home? The journey and the contrast with life in the city? Elaine and her wariness about having him but her trying to make his welcome? Burt Junior and Norman at the table and their antagonism? The irony of Norman's vow of silence and the way this was handled at the table, his diet? Harry's tolerance and understanding? The family squabbles and the pressures on Burt, Elaine and her being hurt? The importance of the visit by the black friend and the entertainment, the leading to friction? His getting up during the night, the encounter with Norman? How evident was it that he had to move out? His telling the truth to the family and their letting him go?

11. Harry's decision to go to Chicago? The fuss at the airport and his fear of flying, the encounter with the security guards, Tonto in the box? The cab ride and the chat with the lady? The cat in the bus and his taking it out to relieve itself, running away in the cemetery and his being stranded? The hitch-hiking? The decision to buy a car? The change of pace as Harry moved out of the city and the open vistas of the countryside and the people, for instance the long conversation with the car salesman about his age, hair-piece etc.? (N.B. the sequence in New York where he tried to get a new apartment, discussed way of life with the ageing landlady, her sudden turning on him about the cat?)

12. How credible was Harry's anger? Why was he angry, intolerant? The encounter with Burt and the gun in the middle of the night? The contrast with his tolerance of Norman and wanting to read up the books? The Jesus people and his picking them up hitch-hiking?

13. The importance of the encounter with Ginger? As a young girl, running away from home? How well delineated was her character, background, personality facets? The embarrassment at the motel for Harry? Their communicating with each other? Harry's care for her? Telling his story and her urging him to visit Jessie? The significance of the visit to the wrong Jessie? Encountering the right Jessie and the build-up about her background, especially with Isadora Duncan? Seeing her in the home? Her vagueness, her only partially recognising him? The encounter and the tenderness of it? Harry and his compassion and care for her? The memory of his true love? As symbolized in their dancing together? Age and regret?

14. The contrast with Chicago and its visual presentation? The meeting with Shirley, Norman's presence? The bond between them, the clashes and arguments? Shirley and her failed marriages? Their reminiscences as they walked by the lake? The bond between them?

15. Harry's experience with Norman and Ginger and the liberation of moving into States where he had never been? Space, the landscapes? Letting Ginger and Norman go to the commune - and the humorous irony of the telephone call to Burt and Elaine with the tears and the intervention of the operator?

16. Harry by himself and his getting lifts? The encounter with wade and their discussions? wade and his medical salesmanship, his giving Harry a massage? Two old men sharing amicably?

17. The contrast with the lift with the hooker? Her style and brashness? Friendliness? His disbelief? The discussion about money and the driving off the road to the melody of 'Love is a many Splendored Thing?

18. The change with Harry in Las Vegas? The liberating effect, drinking, gambling, wandering around? watching the singing and dancing girls? The luck and the bad luck of the gambler? His urinating in the pot and his being arrested? His worrying about Tonto?

19. His experience in jail and the visualizing of this, his first experience of imprisonment? The encounter with Sam Two Feathers? Two old men encountering one another? The white man and the red man? The discussion about mod. cons and the exchange? Sam and the story of modern living and practising his good and bad medicine? The making of medicine in the prison cell? The comment on the American Indians?

20. Harry's encounter with Los Angeles and the pace of life there. eg. the homosexual winking at him? (played by Mazursky himself.) The flashiness of life in California? Eddie and his car, apartment, affluence? The bond between father and the son? The sudden tears and Eddie telling his father the truth? Harry and his generosity with his money and arranging it for Eddie?

21. The significance of Tonto's death and the way that it was filmed, Harry standing there watching in the way that he watched Jacob?

22. What had Harry achieved by his wandering? Happiness, complacency? The significance of a happy old age in California? Playing chess, on the beach, the lady with the cats and her offer of the apartment, chasing a cat that looked like Tonto? The significance in tone of the final sequence of the encounter with the little girl and her poking her tongue out?

23. The achievement of the film? Portrait of a man, a man in his times and place? The achievement in life, independence, care, the influence on others, family? How nice a film, how warm? A particularly American film?

HARRY AND SON

US, 1984, 117 minutes, Colour.
Paul Newman, Robby Benson, Wilford Brimley, Ellen Barkin, Judith Ivey, Ossie Davis, Morgan Freeman, Joanne Woodward.
Directed by Paul Newman.

Harry and Son is very much a Paul Newman film. Not only does he star, he has co-written and directed the film. Wife Joanne Woodward has a good supporting character role. Newman also acts his age - a man almost 60, having lived a hard working life, now suffering illness and eventually dying. His would-be writer son is played by Robbie Benson (in his characteristic, almost idiosyncratic way).

Produced at the same time as Terms of Endearment, this film highlights father-son relationships. There is a toughness as well as sentiment in the treatment. There is also much warmth and insight. An excellent supporting cast including Wilford Brimley and Ellen Barkin make this an entertaining and thoughtful film. It did not do very well at all in the United States on its first release.

1. An entertaining film? A Paul Newman film - his contributions in acting, writing, directing? Audience response to Paul Newman over the decades? To the older Paul Newman?

2. The '80s and interest in family films? The influence of television and soap opera? The family film as highlighting relationships, feelings? Insight into relationships? A piece of Americana?

3. The Florida backgrounds, the emphasis on the ordinary American way of life: the building sites, car-wash, the average homes? The atmosphere of the ordinary? The quiet Henry Mancini score?

4. The emotional impact of the film: Paul Newman as older, ageing, illness and death? The contrast with Robbie Benson and the new generation? The quality of life, the bonds? The impact
of death? Sentiment, regret, tears?

5. The title and its focus on Harry as Harry whereas Howard is emphasised as son? The title sounding like the name of a firm? The highlighting of relationships, the father-son relationship? The traditional expectations in this relationship? Recent changes?

6. The portrait of Harry: seeing him at work, demolishing the buildings, his relish of this? The credits sequences and his exhilaration? Love of his job, its steadiness. skills? The best and Harry's accuracy? The bowling after work with. the buddies? Drinks? Harry's pain, his eyes, his almost killing his colleague? Its shattering effect on him? His pride? His leaving work? The sequences of his vainly looking for a job? The effect on him, his need for work? His drinking, going downhill? Going back to the machine at night and bashing the building? The police bringing him home? Seeing him at home: his slob behaviour e.g. at the meal? Yet his expectations of order and tidiness on Howard? Dressing up for dinner? Yet Harry's criticism of Howard e.g. about the beer, even driving to the beach and walking into the water? Yet the strong bond between the two? Jennifer's death and Harry's grieving? The two sharing visits to the cemetery? Talking? Yet Harry's expectations for Howard about work, not considering the car-wash worthwhile, wanting him to get a real job, the visit to his brother and working in his store? The fishing sequences and the bonds between the three? The growing criticisms, feeling that Howard couldn't hold down a job, Howard leaving the factory, the repossession firm? His attitude towards Lily and Katie? Howard helping Katie with the delivery? Yet Harry telling him to leave home? Howard's present of the coat? The outings later? Harry going to hospital and bringing the flowers? Reading the letter about Howard's success, his cheque for writing? His pride in his son? The night out, going to the secretary's house, the sexual encounter? The reconciliation with Howard? Going to the house, talking with Lily - their antagonisms, their friendship? An evening of contentment? Howard finding him dead? The meaning of his life, his work, his driving himself, his relaxing? Paul Newman embodying Harry?

7. Robbie Benson's portrait of Howard? As Harry's son? His love for his mother and her memory? Love for his sister and visiting her? Brother-in-law, the child? His intensity with his writing? The number of rejections? His theory about Hemingway and rejections? His working in the car-wash and enjoying it? The friends made e.g. the secretary and the sexual liaison, getting the job? Harry wanting him to get a job? The cardboard factory and the antagonism of the foreman, working, the assembly line, speeding it up and everything going skew-whiff? His being sacked? The friend at the carwash and the offer to join the repossession group, the pep-talk, the techniques, visiting the house, taking the car, getting caught? The friendship with the negro? Their discussions, the negro taking the job - and being successful? Howard and his athletics, swimming, surfboard? The tension at home - his love for his father, yet reaction e.g. to his coming and walking into the surf? His love for Katie, his being hurt, meeting her, talking, her expecting more of him, the reconciliation, the real love? Talking his story over with her? The buying of the coat? Her pregnancy, his comic anxiety, delivering the baby during the traffic jam? His father turning him out? The gift of the coat? The hospital sequences and his love for Katie? Lily's admiration for him? Visiting his home, living at the YMCA and knocking on his father's door? Taking him out - and Harry wearing the coat, the receiving of the cheque? Taking Harry to the secretary? Buying the house, everything set up for Harry's happy old age? The death and his grief? The funeral and all the friends present? His uncle, the negro, Lily? The final sequences of Katy and the young Harry (called after his father, the nickname of Big Fella which Harry had given him) on the beach? The difference between father and son?

8. The film's comment on the changing generations? Perennial themes? Love, difficulties of expression? Hurts? Harry's antagonism towards his daughter, their visit and the cynicism about the insurance, ridiculing her, breaking the crockery? Howard's disgust with his father? The daughter's grief at her father's death and yet wanting to find some blame?

9. Katie and Howie, the friendship, her pregnancy, her accusation towards Howie of neglecting her, the reconciliation, sharing, the story, the birth, the hospital visits, Katie giving her baby Harry's name because Howie loved him so much?

10. Joanne Woodward's sketch of Lily: eccentric, her shop, advice, antagonism towards Harry, the birth, the beach - and the moment of intimacy?

11. Harry's brother and his wealth, the fishing, his support of Howie at the end?

12. Sally and her friendship with Howie, sex, the encounter with Harry?

13. The comic touches with the repossession sequences, Ossie Davis the negro, his car, friendship with Howie, going into the repossession business?

14. The portrait of the American man's world - work, buddies? The regrets for a workaholic life? For lack of understanding for the next generation?

HARRIET CRAIG

US, 1950, 94 minutes, Black and White.
Joan Crawford, Wendell Corey, Lucille Watson.
Directed by Vincent Sherman.

Harriet Craig is based on a successful Broadway play, Craig's Wife. It is the story of a good man who marries a beautiful woman who is driven by an enormous urge to control others and have the perfect marriage and home. To further this end, she is relentless and unscrupulous with her husband's and cousin's emotions. This film succeeds in heightening the domestic conflict with spirited dialogue and a frighteningly convincing performance by Joan Crawford. While the drama is melodramatic, it is magnificent melodrama, not only making the audience hate Harriet, but making them realise that in her intensity and paranoiac devotion to husband and home while she inevitably destroys them, she is not unlike many suburban wives with ambition and driving force.

Some of the dialogue and manners are psychologically obvious, but Joan Crawford carries it along so well that we are caught up in it until the inevitable end where, abandoned but arrogant, she sweeps upstairs to her loneliness.

1. How was the situation in the Craig household quickly revealed in the hurried opening sequences of the film?

2. What were your initial impressions of Harriet Craig? Did they change?

3. Was Harriet merely fussy and pedantic or was she neurotic?

4. Did she love her husband, her mother, Clare?

5. How did her childhood experiences - her father with a blonde in the office, leaving her mother and herself when she was 14, poverty, work in a laundry - affect her later behaviour?

6. Her mother escaped responsibility by retreating into a world of fantasy. How did Harriet face responsibility?

7. Harriet said she hated travelling in a train, being driven and controlled by someone else. How did she control other people's lives? Walter's, Clare's?

8. How selfish was she - her reactions to the servants, to Walter's friends, her guests, Walter's promotion, Clare's romance, her neighbours, having children, etc?

9. Why did she lie? Did she think she was right to lie?

10. Walter was prepared to forgive her most things at the end - what was it that finally turned him away?

11. Did Harriet get what she deserved? Did you feel sorry for her at all?

12. What was the point of the neighbour trying to help at the end? How did it finalise Harriet's attitudes?

13. She was left alone at the end with her pride, herself and her home. What future do you see for her?

14. Although the film was melodramatic and many of the devices (especially Harriet's fussiness for tidiness) obvious, why does the film have a strong impact? How responsible is Joan Crawford's performance?

15. Are there many Harriet Craigs?

HARP OF BURMA

Japan, 1956, 116 minutes, Black and white.
Directed by Kon Ichikawa.

Harp of Burma is a Japanese version of the end of the war, a version of simple humanity and piety. The story is not complex -a soldier amongst the surrendering Japanese is commissioned to persuade a group that the war is over. He fails. Stunned in the firing and explosions, he is separated from his fellows and wanders Burma discovering, literally, heaps of war dead. This so affects his attitude that he becomes a wandering priest, burying the dead, preferring to remain in Burma to atone for the war, hoping that his small mission will have a message for his people. Japanese film style is more formalised than western styles, yet the Japanese soldiers appear as little different from the English who have won the war.

Ichikawa uses faces and posed stances to convey his message as well as harp music and massed chorus effect, especially with both Japanese and English singing to each other the melody of 'Home, Sweet Home".

This is a moving anti-war film from Japan (contrast the tough Merrill's Marauders also set in Burma). John Boorman’s 1968 Hell in the Pacific shows an American and a Japanese alone on an island during the war and their private war which seems so ridiculous, then their common efforts to survive. The similarities of Japanese and Americans (as well as the differences in manner and life style) emerge in the 1970 Tora! Tora! Tora!

1. How different is this war film from an American war film about the same theme? (e.g. Merrill's Marauders - set in Burma).

2. How does the typical Japanese soldier, as seen by the Japanese, appear to you?

3. If the Japanese soldier appears to you as little different from his American and British counterpart, what does this show you about human nature and about wars?

4. The film states at the beginning and end that Burma is red with the blood of war. How is this shown in the film? Why should Burma - far from Japan and England - have suffered so much?

5. Did the film help you to understand the Japanese in the war situation of 1945? Those willing to surrender, those who wanted to resist in the cave, the fear of prisoner-of-war camps?

6. What was the point of the singing of "Home, Sweet Home" by both sides?

7. What role did music play in the film? How did the Japanese respond to singing and harp music?

8. Did you sympathise with the hero - his bravery on his mission, his harp playing, his looking after the war dead?

9. What was the hero's reaction to so many war dead? Why did he want to bury as many as he could? How did all this change his life?

10. Why did he become a wandering priest? (Note the respect he was given everywhere).

11. How did he contrast with the soldiers in the camp?

12. What was the message of his new way of life - atoning, burying the dead? He said he thought that by contributing some good he would help peace.

13. Did the soldiers returning on the boat understand what he was doing? one soldier says he wonders whether the Japanese people would understand. Do you think this film would have helped a Japanese audience to see the enormity of the war and the need for atonement and reconstruction?

HAROLD AND MAUDE

US, 1971, 92 minutes, Colour.
Ruth Gordon, Bud Cort, Vivian Pickles, Cyril Cusack.
Directed by Hal Ashby.

It depends on how far out you like your comedy! For fans of eccentric farce, this is a very funny black comedy, weakened a little at the end by an unresolved compromise in the characterisation of Maude. Audiences will enjoy the romance between a 20-year-old lad with suicidal yearnings and an 80-year-old ultra-spontaneous lady who meet at funerals as straight comedy. But there is plenty of message underlying the characterisations as well as the settings and even the decor: about life, death, age, youth, freedom, nature and artificiality. Bud Cort and Ruth Gordon are excellently convincing comedians. Vivian Pickles as Harold's impossible mother is marvellously exasperating.

1. This film received great critical comment. Does it deserve it? How successful a comedy was it? Why? What particular facets appeal to you most? Why?

2. The film seemed to be a zany message comedy. What was the basic message of the film? Where was this best illustrated? The use of Cat Stevens' songs and lyrics?

3. The film was clearly a satire. How effective as satire was it? what were the targets of the satire? Modern societies and personalities? Modern preoccupations with life and death?

4. The film was also farcical. How successful was the farce element of the film? Is this where its expertise lay? Especially the suicide attempts, the exaggeration of the company of Harold and Maude, the dialogue? The film is obviously 'black' comedy. What is the value of 'black' comedy and playing humorously and satirically with serious themes of life and death? (Did the film remain within the bounds of good taste?)

5. How did the film explore themes of death and life, man and woman, old and young, nature and artifice, urban life and rural life? Were these the major themes of the film? Develop the implications of their treatment in the film.

6. The film played very much with reality and appearances. Where did truth emerge in the reality or in the appearance? What did the film have to say about truth and life?

7. The film obviously attacked the pretensions of modern society. It attacked the conventions of modern behaviour. How did it extol what is ordinary and plain? Was it successful in its attack on pretensions?

8. How interesting a character was Harold? Was he a character or a caricature? A kind of rich Cinderella-figure? The initial, impact of his suicide attempts? The reasons for these, the reasons for his attending funerals, his friendship with Maude? What did he want from his mother in terms of love and emotion? His treatment of the potential fiancees? What did he learn by his experience with, and love for, Maude? How liberated was he at the end?

9. How enjoyable a character was Maude? As a kind of 'fairy godmother'? The enjoyment of her eccentricity? An old person being more liberated than a young person? What values did she stand for? How strong a character was she, in deciding her death? What had she achieved during her life?

1O.Did the film have any insight into the nature of love? How real was the love of Harold and Maude? How much was it need and companionship?

11.How much of a caricature was Harold's mother? How ogreish was she? (As a contrast between the 'Cinderella figure' and the ‘Fairy godmother'?) How amusing was her performance? How horrifying was she?

12.The humour of the computer-dating? The suicide attempts, even Harold being outacted? What comment was made on society and its conventions here?

13.The incidental humour about the army and death? The satirical point in this sequence?

14.How moved were you by Maude's death? What was the impact on Harold? Did it break through his pretence and his preoccupation with death? Was he free, and could he return to life? Had Maude given her life for him?

15.How significant as social comment was this film? How well does it show the possibility of comedy and satire in giving insight into society?

HARDLY WORKING

US, 1981, 90 minutes, Colour.
Jerry Lewis, Susan Oliver.
Directed by Jerry Lewis.

Hardly Working is Jerry Lewis' comeback film of the '80s. His last major film was Which Way to the Front in the early 170s. He subsequently made The King of Comedy with Robert de Niro for director Martin Scorsese. The film opens with a reprise of many Jerry Lewis comedy sequences from earlier films. It then makes a transition to Jerry in his 50s as a clown, out of work, messing up many jobs - but eventually coming through. Many of his old verbal and visual gags are replayed - he believes in the perennial value of such comic turns. He has quite a good supporting cast for his shenanigans - much less emphasised and inane than in some previous films. French critics have often thought him one of the world's greatest comics, a view not shared even in the United States. Hardly Working is engaging enough entertainment and probably more than enough for his fans.

1. Jerry Lewis and his prestige during the '40s, '50s & '60s? European acclamation of his comic genius? His being a comedian, a clown? The ten year absence from the screen? The collage of previous comic excerpts to open this film? The transition to the '80s?

2. The film as a comedy of the '80s, presenting once more past comedy, the value of perennial routines? Clowning, visual humour, pratfalls, the combat with machines, verbal humour, sentiment? Jerry Lewis as the little man comedian? Victim, awkward? Losing but winning through at the end?

3. The American flavour of the comedy, Florida: homes, jobs, cities? America Post? A warm look at American society - with the critical touch?

4. Audience response to Jerry Lewis and his comedy, especially with the opening? The clown and his routines? The pathos and the laughter? His age? The serious undertones? The zaniness but less zany than when he was younger? Romance? Achievement? Bo as character? The American clown, entertaining the kids. going to his sister's. sequences at home, relating with his niece and nephew, the variety of American jobs and his messing them up, being funny? The work at the post office - the interviews with Frank, falling in love with his daughter? Friendship with Claude, companionship with Steve? His enjoying being a clown? The finale as a clown through the streets of the city? His achievement in the post office? The possibility of his going back to the circus?

5. His relationship with his sister Clare? Her concern about him? Her pressuring her husband? Her ringing the various jobs? Robert and his antagonism towards Bo? The comic routines ridiculing Robert? The response of the children?

6. The encounter with Millie and her son, the accident in the garage, their laughing, the tennis sequence, dating Millie and taking her to dinner? The discovery that she was Frank's daughter - and the humorous routine on the Frank. Millie, Bo variations? Her discovering him as a clown at the end? Her giving him the ride? Happy prospects? The obnoxious son and his antagonism towards Bo? At the end?

7. The variety of jobs and the set-ups for comedy: the garage and the cans spilling, the, Japanese meal. the glass warehouse, the disco - and the fantasy satire on John Travolta and Saturday Night Fever?

8. America Post and Frank and his lecture, Claude and his help, Steve and his help? The various pratfalls and spilling the letters? The deliveries and his friendliness? The test and his perfect success? The decision to dress as a clown and distribute the rabbits? His delighting people?

9. Gentle humour, slapstick, zaniness? Verbal and visual humour? Human foibles? Laughter and hope?

THE HARDER THEY FALL

US, 1956, 107 minutes, Black and white.
Humphrey Bogart, Rod Steiger, Jan Sterling, Mike Lane, Max Baer.
Directed by Mark Robson.

The Harder They Fall was Humphrey Bogart's last film. It is an expose of the boxing world and doesn't generally pull its punches. Bogart gives a strong performance at the end of his career although this is not one of his greatest films. He is well matched dramatically with a snarling Rod Steiger. The film was directed by Mark Robson who made a number of varied films over several decades, including the film versions of such best-sellers as Peyton Place, The Valley Of The Dolls. However he brings a much more vigorous style to this black and white study of boxing and corruption.

1. The indications of the title? The cynicism, the hard-hitting nature of the film? How enjoyable was this film? Or did it give a nasty atmosphere?

2. What is the value in films like this? Their hard-hitting exposure of rackets? Or are they sensationalising the rackets and presenting them sensationally? e.g. presenting the boxing sequences brutally and sensationally? Did you think this film kept a balance between exposure and sensation?

3. How realistic are films like this? Are the situations possible? Was this story of a world champion plausible? Do rackets operate like this really? Why do men become involved in rackets like this? Can they opt out? Are they after the money only? Are people as naive as Toro and his manager to be tricked like this? What is your response to these situations?

4. Comment on the style of the film and its relationship to its themes and treatment. The use of harsh black and white photography, the use of lighting and darkness, the pace of editing, the hard-hitting, fast-spoken dialogue, the tough atmosphere of the film, the tough style of acting, the cynicism and the sentimentality, the use of the boxing sequences? How successfully were the technical devices used?

5. Did you have sympathy for the victim of the rackets? The possibility of their naivety? The fact that Toro could believe in himself and his skill? Sympathy for his disillusionment? Revulsion at the way he was used? The options that he had at the end - to opt out, to lose the money, or to go on trying? What was best for Toro at the end?

6. What is your attitude towards boxing after seeing this film? As a sport with skill, as being used by racketeers, the brutality, the point of boxing? The sequences of death and brutality in the ring? What emotional response did the film-makers intend from the audience?

7. How interesting was Eddie Willis as the central character? Were we meant to identify with him? The Humphrey Bogart personality? Sympathy for him? Why did he become involved with the rackets? Did he just need the job? The money? Was he a weak character? The influence of his wife? His disillusionment? His personality clashes with Nick, Leo and the others? Why did he change his mind? Why did he repent? Did he redeem himself adequately? Where? His reconciliation with his wife? His helping of Toro? His writing the exposure?

8. How evil was Nick Benko? Was Rod Steiger's performance convincing? Realistic? Was it a caricature? Do such people live and act like these caricatures? How brutal was he? Selfish? Did he have any feelings? Did he deserve being taken down?

9. How did Beth act as an humanising influence in the film? Her love for her husband? Her putting the choices to him? Or was she a cliche character, the loving wife etc.?

10. What was the picture of the promoters? What morals did they have? Scruples? Sense of values? The nature of the deals, the styles of life and personality? Toro's manager as contrasting with this?

11. The place of the fatal fight in the film? Presupposing the previous parts of the film? Our emotional reaction to the death, and 11o Toro's merciless bashing?

12. Was the film convincing in its moving towards a final message? The ending with Eddie Willis writing his articles?

13. How valuable are films like this? As insights into human life and values? As presenting cynicism and brutality? As an appeal to human feeling? How pessimistic are films like this about the success of exposure of racketeers?

THE HARD WAY

US, 1942, 109 minutes, Black and white.
Ida Lupino, Joan Leslie, Dennis Morgan, Jack Carson, Gladys George, Faye Emerson, Paul Cavanagh, Roman Bohnen.
Directed by Vincent Sherman.

The Hard Way is a tough Warner Bros. melodrama of the early '40s. It has a strong role for Ida Lupino as a tough woman, devoted to the career of her sister, Joan Leslie. Dennis Morgan is quite successful as the hero/cad. Jack Carson has a fine role as a would-be/has-been comic and Gladys George also has a sequence as a has-been singer.

The film begins in a Pittsburgh mill town and then moves to the glamour of Broadway. In fact, the film seems to be a variation on the 'star is born' theme. There are many of the Warner Bros. songs from '30s films like 42nd. Street and Go Into Your Dance punctuating the action and the background, often giving comment to the action. The film was directed by Vincent Sherman.

1. An enjoyable '40s melodrama? Perennial themes?

2. Black and white photography, the mill town, the collage of the group on tour, New York and Broadway? The musical score and the use of popular songs of the period?

3. The familiarity of the plot, the variation on the 'star is born' themes? The suicide of the central character? The success of the star who is born? The flashback structure, the perspective of Helen's dying and looking at her life?

4. The ugliness of Green Hills, the Pennsylvania mill towns, people feeling trapped, the mines? The desire to escape? Helen marrying Sam and being caught? The graduation and the dress? The photo and Katy being laughed at? The ugliness of the town - and the audience wanting the characters to leave it?

5. Joan Leslie as Katy: pretty, the graduation, the dowdy dress, fighting with Sam, going out, the show, seeing Paul and Albert, imitating them at the drugstore, her boyfriend wanting to go home, AI bringing her home and confronting Helen, her wanting to go out again, her naivety, Al's proposal of marriage and going off with him to success?

6. Helen's story: the suicide and her being fished out of the river? Her memories? Hard life, married to Sam, having left him, fighting about the dress, wanting it for Katy, wanting Katy to get away? Challenging Al when he brought her home? Her change of manner, suave and insinuating style? Paul and the farewell at the station and her going? The act and its success? New York and buying dresses for Katy? Managing, her own life fulfilled in Katy? Back-stabbing and Paul calling her Lady Macbeth? Paul kissing her and leading her on? Her technique for ousting Albert? The nightclub and the contract? John Shagrue, success, the leading lady and her singing, Helen getting her drunk, insinuating that she should leave the show, getting Katy in?

7. Paul and his suave style, the girls, friendship with Albert, the act, kissing Helen, his comment about stabbing Albert, being out of town, confronting Helen with the truth?

8. Albert and his pleasant manner, in the show, afterwards in the drugstore, the encounter with Katy, falling in love, marrying her, the act, his hopes, not seeing the truth, the ousting and Helen's control, the nightclub act and its failure, his willingness to separate and let Katy succeed, the phone call after the first night, coming to the party, the confrontation, Katy's refusal to go with him, his listening to her record, Paul telling the truth, his killing himself? The lonely funeral with only three people there?

9. Katy and her success, Helen's success, Shagrue, Laura wanting to write the play, the pressure on Katy, her refusing to go with Albert, his death, her further success but her becoming weary? Encountering Paul, coming alive again? The discussion about the play and her tantrum? Going for the holiday, in love with Paul, the proposal, feeling she had to take Helen's side, the play, the opening night, Paul's coming and her not seeing him, the opening act and her forgetting lines, collapsing? The failure, walking with Helen and looking in the shop window, hating Helen? Meeting Paul and a happy future? Success, family?

10. Paul and his change, confronting Helen, offering Katy the choice, coming to see her, the support?

11. The actress turning into a has-been, singing her song, people interrupting, her drinking, Helen being her friend, her walking out? Gladys George's sketch of the character?

12. Shagrue as the producer, his hard decisions, Laura, her play, coping with Helen? The failure of the play?

13. Themes of success, stardom, working hard, back-stabbing and doublecrossing?

14. Helen, what had she achieved? Her defeat? Told off, hated, killing herself? The irony of the final words with the police saying that the rich have it all their own way?

15. The irony of the title and Helen and Katy's lives?

THE HARD WAY

Ireland, 1980, 88 minutes, Colour.
Patrick Mc Goohan, Lee Van Cleef, Donal Mc Cann, Edna O'Brien.
Directed by Michael Dryhurst.

The Hard Way is a grim Irish telemovie with John Boorman as its Executive producer. It portrays the last days of a hit man and the pressures put on him by syndicate chiefs when he wants to opt out. Patrick Mc Goohan is effective and credible as the hit man. Lee Van Cleef gives a good performance as the American boss. There is an interesting performance, most of it monologue to the camera, by Irish author Edna O'Brien. There is an excellent use of Irish location scenery, Irish music and the pervasive melancholy of violence in that country. The film is atmospheric and a character study rather than an action drama.

1. The impact of the film as telemovie? Drama? Action film? Character study? The impact on an Irish audience? International audience? Pace, mood? Sympathies?

2. The Irish atmosphere of the film: its plot and characters? The violence? The mood and the atmosphere of moroseness? The Irish cities, countryside? Accents and music?

3. The world of the violent men, the hit men? Their employment, activity all over the world? In Britain? American backing? International violence and terrorism? The Irish participation in world violence? The initial assassination? The train ride? The hiding of weapons? The arrangement of covers etc.? Organisation? The hit men and their professional sense, lifestyle? There being no exit? Going out the hard way?

4. The structure of the film: the focus on Connor, his murder, his wanting to be out? Mc Neal and his final job? Pressure and the interaction between the two men? Train? The international situation and the insight into international manipulation? Big business? The double cross? The chase? The final siege? McNeal's making contact with Connor? The mutual tricks and their deaths? The interweaving of the interview with Kathleen, her place in the plot. the action sequences, the end?

5. Audience judgment on Connor? His profession? His decisions? Treatment of wife and family? His attitudes towards Mc Neal? Kathleen's comments on him as a man, as hit man, his final decisions?

6. The portrait of Connor and Patrick Mc Goohan's sombre style? A morose Irishman, the importance of his being Irish. his father, guns, the marriage, his love for his daughters e.g. the postcard sequence, a silent man, patient and waiting, killing in cold blood, relationships with friends, his watching for Kathleen and saving her from the gunman? His motives for his work, relationships, broken marriage, children, opting out? His refusal to assassinate the African priest? His training for the job, the getting of the weapons? His changing attitudes? The change of plan, killing his pursuers? His shrewdness in action? The railyards? The challenge of surviving? The encounter with Mc Neal and his use of resources? Dying but winning? The hero of the film? The ugly Irishman? The ugliness of international pressure?

7. Mc Neal and American backing, his sureness in using Connor, their meetings, his attempts to persuade Connor? Getting the weapons? Arranging the assassination? Mc Neal and his visit to Paris and the set-up? The international deals? His return and his foiling the attempt to kill him? The arrangements for the set-up to meet Connor? His use of tricks - and defeated by them?

8. McNeal's henchmen, the businessmen, the contacts, the paramilitary? The gunmen and their skills? The shifting of money? International plots and government involvement?

9. The portrait of Kathleen - the impact of her talking to the audience, her reminiscences. her sadness as if Connor was dead? The marriage and its failure? Her judgments on his work and killing? Connor's providing for her, getting her out of danger? The discovery that she was in the cemetery?

10. A portrait of a contemporary violent man? A contemporary violent country? International violence? The themes of morality and violence?

A HARD DAY'S NIGHT

UK, 1964, 85 minutes, Black and white.
The Beatles, Wilfred Brambell, Norman Rossington, Victor Spinetti.
Directed by Richard Lester.

A Hard Day's Night was the first Beatles film. It was a great success. They then went on the make Help. They also appeared in Yellow Submarine and the film about their recording session, Let It Be.

The screenplay was written by Alun Owen, noted writer of comedies. It was directed by Richard Lester who had moved from directing commercials and working with the Goons (The Running, Jumping & Standing Still Film) to features like It's Trad, Dad and The Mouse on the Moon. He was to go on to a very successful career with such films as How' I Won the War and The Bed Sitting Room and later the Musketeers and Superman films.

The Beatles are encouraged to be themselves - or at least their image of the time. The film capitalises on their engaging personalities and their own particular styles. They are backed by Wilfred Brambell (pre-Steptoe) as Grandfather and a good supporting cast of English comedians. The film also introduced a number of their songs such as the title song and All My Loving, Ticket to Ride.

1 . An entertaining film? A Beatles vehicle? its impart in its time? In retrospect? A cult film?

2. Black and white photography? The tradition of zany British comedy? Goon comedy? Richard Lester's background in television commercials? Editing and pace? Special effects?

3. The introduction of the Beatles' music, the various songs, settings? Serious and humorous? The contribution of each of the Beatles to composition and performance?

4. The irony of the title, giving theme to the film? The zany experiences of the four? With their grandfather? The frantic antics and performance?

5. The personalities of each of the Beatles? The close-ups, their smiles, ways of speaking? The special focus on Ringo and his disappearance and their finding him again? John Lennon's humour - and the goonery of much of the dialogue? Paul McCartney? and George Harrison and their musical style?

6. The portrait of Grandfather - Wilfred Brambell as the typical cantankerous English grandfather - wanting to go on the trip, sowing seeds of discord, complaints?

7. The range of supporting cast and their contribution to the overall zany effect: Norm as the manager and all his problems, Shake as his assistant? Victor Spinetti's suave but ruffled television director? The shirt-advertising man, Milly, the police sergeant, the travellers in the train, the Twist Club manager?

8. The humour of the Beatles - in themselves, their enjoyment of life, jokes, zany behaviour, songs?

9. The film indicating their impact on popular culture - and people's long memories of their success in the '60s?