Saturday Night and Sunday Morning's poster

Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960)

89 min
Directed by Karel Reisz

A 22-year-old factory worker lets loose on the weekends: drinking, brawling, and dating two women, one of whom is older and married.

2.1K 150 13

11:1

7.7

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Kenneth McMahon

A classic look at working class British life in the 60s. Bloody loved it.

10 years ago

I'm generally not much of a fan of the working-man slice-of-life British films of the 60s and 70s but somehow this one stuck with me. Maybe it's Albert Finney's commanding performance, or maybe it's the struggle of his character. He rails against whatever is right in front of him - his parents, his boss, the nasty lady across the street, even a billboard. He doesn't stand for anything, only against everything. "Whatever people say I am, that's what I'm not," he says into a mirror. But by not having a cause or a particular enemy, his struggle is so vague as to be universal.

3 years ago

Siskoid

Something I might call British Neo-Realism, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning is a film I respect more than like. It's the era of the "angry young man" narrative, and as a Baby Buster (I don't like being lumped in with GenXers, naturally), I totally get the want and need to question authority. But then, what are you doing instead? Young Albert Finney is excellent as Arthur, our chief angry young man, but Arthur rejects societal norms in the most obnoxious and useless way. He parties, he fools around, he plays dangerous pranks… And I get that this is a portrait of a generation, but it lacked one of two things to make me want to get invested in it. Either I need to understand the system he's rebelling against - he just seems to be doing it because he's a jerk, frankly - either the protagonist makes a point or rights a wrong (even if just by example) - but being a sociopath is not the same as questioning or rebelling against the status quo. As a portrait of disgruntled youth and blue collar Britain, it's fine. Well written, well shot, well acted. I just couldn't get a handle on why I should care.

4 years ago