British film of the 1980s

OMG! I forgot.

Another Country!!

Dance With A Stranger

[quote]That boring thing with the runners.

LOL!!!

All of the good British actors moved to Hollywood to accept huge paychecks for appearing in our big-budget dreck, that's what happened. Do they even make any films in the UK anymore?

What was the name of that movie where Julie Walters played a madam? That one was hillarious.

The DREADFUL - Absolute Beginners.

We r4 do but they're all either Jane Austen adaptations or about gangs set on grim inner city council estates

You're thinking of Personal Services r5

[quote]What was the name of that movie where Julie Walters played a madam? That one was hillarious.

Personal Services. I loved it too.

oooops, don't know what happened there

Personal Services >>

The 80s movies happened because of the creation of FilmFour. Through the 90s they moved into more commercial areas, which saw fewer arthouse movies funded and ultimately caused the company to collapse in 2002 after a series of expensive flops (Lucky Break, Croupier and Charlotte Grey).

Speaking of Julie Walters - Educating Rita.

[quote] or about gangs set on grim inner city council estates

You mean 'Gritty, urban, hard hitting realism' - which seems to have been a 'fashion' in British films for about 25 years.

and on TV.

[quote]That boring thing with the runners.

It's the only one I remember from your list, OP. I liked Another Country, too, though.

I loved Dreamchild.

[quote]Eighty-year-old Alice Hargreaves (Coral Browne) is about to visit Columbia University to attend a reception in honor of legendary fantasy author Lewis Carroll. As a child, Alice had a close friendship with the writer, who she knew as Rev. Charles Dodgson (Ian Holm), and their relationship was the creative catalyst for Dodgson's most beloved work. However, as Alice reflects on her experiences with the author, she realizes the complexity of their bond has had lasting, deeply felt ramifications.

Shirley Valentine

A Handful of Dust

White Mischief

Mona Lisa

Secret Places.

I met one of the young stars on holiday. She was floating about, very pleased with herself. She said "I'm an actress in England!" & I thought "Yeah right, whatya been in?"

& then I got back and there she was in this and it was very good. So was she.

Wetherby.

We Think the World of You

Wish You Were Here

I wish I could find White Mischief to rent/stream.

Have looked unsuccessfully for years.

[quote]We Think the World of You

I think you and I are the only ones here who'll remember that one, R19

The cutesy 'Hope & Glory'

R22 I loved We Think the World of You--and the novel is excellent too!

[quote]I loved We Think the World of You--and the novel is excellent too!

I'll check it out. Thanks.

Wetherby was excellent. It was the first time we saw Joely Richardson who played Vanessa as a young girl

The awful Madame Sousatzka.

The Turtle Diary - starring DL fave Glenda Jackson.

We Think the World of You has somehow lost its copyright and has been included on several of those Mill Creek 50 films DVD compilations.

Turtle Diary was a wonderful movie and is sadly out of print.

Whoever was looking for White Mischief, there's an R2 DVD available used on Amazon for $6

There were also many good films on TV in England in those days.

This is an especially good one and is on YouTube and the quality is good. HIGHLY recommended.

Great thread. I think I've seen all of these. British movies were great in the 80s. Another high-profile one I don't think has been mentioned, but is awful (IMO), is " Sammy and Rosie Get Laid."

[quote]There were also many good films on TV in England in those days.

I mean 'MADE FOR TV'.

[quote]Another high-profile one I don't think has been mentioned, but is awful (IMO), is " Sammy and Rosie Get Laid."

Yes, dreadful.

Anything with Richard E Grant was awful. He was my bete noir in those days. Everybody loved him.

Letter to Brezhnev

How is it that these haven't been mentioned yet - from Britian's finest filmaker?

The Terence Davies Trilogy 1984

Distant Voices, Still Lives 1988

And lastly, even tho it's from 1992: The Long Day Closes

"...Critic Armond White stated that "If asked to name the greatest gay film ever made, I’d say, with no hesitation, The Long Day Closes."...

"Rita Sue & Bob Too"

Sounds dreadful but is hilarious.

"Ya fuckin' slag!!"

British movies of the 80s were actually pretty corny. American movies were bad at that time, too.

That reminds me r33, Gregory's Girl...just sneaking in, from 1980

What was that other awful one set in Scotland everyone made such a fuss about?

Got it - Local Hero.

>>>>

You drink your coffee and I'll sip my tea....

A Private Function (1984)

The Long Good Friday (1979-1980).

Great movie. Great ending. The anti-hero must go to his death.

[quote]That boring thing with the runners.

I am almost too embarrassed to ask, but which movie is that referring to?

Elephant Man 1980 RIP John Hurt. You deserved the Oscar for this:

[R42 Chariots of Fire!]

This overblown pile of self-importance.

1982

[quote] Prick Up Your Ears (which deserves to be a great classic - especially with the gays, but is not).

Gary Oldman is an excellent actor, but he's nearly impossible to warm to.

"Rita Sue & Bob Too." Sounds dreadful but is hilarious."

Actually, it IS dreadful. British white trash aren't funny, they're ghastly. A guy in his thirties fucking two teenage girls...gag.

A Room With A View is my favorite movie. I was a young teenager when it was released. It changed my life. Rupert was one of those hot guys in it.

The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne. Maggie Smith's greatest performance.

[quote] How is it that these haven't been mentioned yet - from Britian's finest filmaker?

Terence Davies should thank whatever luck he's had in still getting people to give him money to make his dreadfully boring films. Every time another one of them sputters out of his asshole, I hear the praise and think- well, maybe this one will be different. But no, they're all celluloid seconal.

Another gay movie. Firth looking beautiful and Branagh looking like a pudding!

A Month in the Country.

Up yer bum!

Wish you were here. 1987.

Great performance from Emily Lloyd. And then she went nuts.

Rita Sue and Bob too. Classic 😃 I really liked The Krays movie too. I had high hopes for the remake with Tom Hardy. Sadly I found it a pile shite.

And of course The Mission - with this exultant sound track - and Robert de Niro before he gave up and Jeremy Irons before he became a dessicated old man.

[quote]Rita Sue and Bob too. Classic 😃

I am glad someone's backed me on this. I think you need to be English to get it.

[quote] I really liked The Krays movie too.

Yes, it was very good. People were very sneery about the two leads, those pop singers, but I thought they rose to the challenge admirably.

& lots of great supporting women in the cast - especially, Bille Whitelaw.

Scandal (1989) - another one people knocked that was very good.

[quote]Gary Oldman is an excellent actor, but he's nearly impossible to warm to.

Yes, but he was SO good in Prick Up Your Ears.

The whole film's on YT >

Rupert Graves and his penis were my favorite actors of the decade.

Beautiful Thing was tender and fresh without the boring. 1995 thereabouts.

Yes, Rupert Graves. Wonderful man.

Another Country was disappointingly boring. Still, the prettiest Colin Firth's ever been. Valmont a close second.

Are we going into the 90s?

'Truly Madly Deeply' (1990)

Full movie here >>

Never saw Claire Dolan. Wanted to. I know, 1990s again.

Greystoke did nothing for me.

Anyone here like it?

It was not high profile, but does anyone remember Wonderland aka The Fruit Machine (1988) with Robbie Coltrane as a drag queen?

I caught my mum watching that when it was on TV when I was around 14, R63. She tried to change the channel really quickly.

The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover. Bizarre and beautiful, great movie.

An Awfuly Big Adventure. Alan Rickman can do no wrong.

Edging in at 1999, Titus. An amazing movie that left me speechless.

Drowning By Numbers...amazing...

Withnail & I

Brideshead Revisited

That was a TV show, you moron.

Weren't there more - set in India in the 1930s Raj type films or were they all TV?

"Scandal (1989) - another one people knocked that was very good."

Who knocked it? I thought it got good reviews, and of course John Hurt was perfect in it.

[quote]Who knocked it? I thought it got good reviews, and of course John Hurt was perfect in it.

There were definitely a lot of people who felt as everyone who had been affected by it was still alive that it was in bad taste to rake it all over again.

R47...Me, too.

Was 12 years old when I first saw A Room With A View. I was into old Hollywood before that. (Obsessed with 40s movies and Montgomery Clift.) But A Room With A View opened a door to a whole new world. Because I loved that film, I read Forster...which lead to reading other English (and gay) literature. To see more films like that, I browsed the "foreign" section of the video stores -- where all the gay movies were because people didn't know what the fuck they were. (And believe me, if they had known there were homosexual films being rented, the Baptists would have burnt the place down.)

These British films showed me my first naked boy...my first time seeing two men kiss...have sex...say they were gay. Some were good...some great...some terrible. Most of the films weren't gay at all. It didn't matter. They showed me that there was a whole world beyond what movie was playing in the mall...what song was playing on the local radio station...what show was playing on the three TV networks. A whole world beyond conservative middle America.

Thanks, OP, for a great thread. Good to give these films some love. (And there's even a few I haven't seen.)

A film that hasn't been mentioned yet is Derek Jarman's "Caravaggio." (Definitely one of those gay films I got at the video store.) Can't say that I "like" it. His work is so remote. But I haven't seen it in years, so I should give it another chance. And it does have young Tilda Swinton and gorgeous Sean Bean.

>>>>

Which Kray brothers movie is the best?

Experience Preferred but Not Essential, set at a hotel during summer holidays, from the staff point of view, charming and wry.

Orlando, with Tilda, beautifully photographed (1992)

Nobody mentioned Lady Jane yet, loved the goblet smashing scene.

Another fan of White Mischief here. And I agree with an earlier poster -- Charles Dance was at his peak sexiness in that movie.

"That boring thing with the runners" was my favorite. I liked Ben Cross. And the music. And the shorts.

[quote]Greystoke did nothing for me.

I can't say I care for it, either. Andie McDowall sounds like a man in it.

Branagh's "Henry V" was a big deal.

Looks & Smiles/Ken Loach - 1981

High Hopes/Mike Leigh - 1988

Didn't that terrible live action Thunderbirds movie nearly bankrupt a British studio?

The Meaning of Lie (1983)

The Draughtsman's Contract (1982) by Peter Greenaway. He also directed another favourite of mine Prospero's Books (1991 ?).

Another vote for The Long Good Friday (1981). And I don't normally enjoy gangster / crime movies.

A Fish Called Wanda

Brazil

My Left Foot

The Bounty (I'm calling it British even if there's some $ reason not to)

The Tall Guy