Rent The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962)

Teenage Wasteland. - The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner review by Steve

Sincere though laborious adaptation scripted by Alan Sillitoe from his own short story and filmed in the style of the British new wave. So it’s a look at ordinary lives made with authenticity and documentary style realism in legitimate locations, with the use of hand held cameras and natural lighting.

The frame of the author’s original story is sturdy but there is so much ballast loaded onto it that it becomes awkward and overextended. A feral kid (Tom Courtney) who habitually commits petty crime is sent to borstal where he is handpicked by the governor (Michael Redgrave) to represent the institution in a prize race.

The prison scenes endure, including the runner’s final act of futile rebellion. Tony Richardson’s Free Cinema vérité approach is robust. But the flashbacks to the boy’s impoverished existence in Nottingham slums are commonplace and burdened with mundane political insight.

The language of the unruly adolescents is dated and inert, though as a visual record of how things once were done, it stands up. There’s too much Sillitoe; not enough Richardson. Tom Courtney’s debut performance is convincing, but this feels more like something to study than entertainment.