Review of Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960) by Rod A — 17 Jul 2008

Albert Finney was young and handsome at one point? Seriously though, Finney is excellent as the charismatic but flawed lead in this story of a young factory worker who fits squarely into the "angry young man" category.

Afraid of becoming "dead from the neck up" like his parents, he lashes out at everyone and everything, drinking heavily and seeing a married woman in an attempt to feel something, anything that isn't ordinary.

It's an interesting look at factory work in 1960s England and the characters are uniformly well-written. I'm fascinated by different cultures' approaches to sex and relationships throughout the years, and this provides an interesting peek into a time and place where everyone knows everyone else's business but turns a blind eye, where a man can somehow shrug off another man getting his wife pregnant because at the end of the day they're still going to be mates having a drink down the pub.

The very pragmatic way they have of speaking about these things and how they deal with them is less nuanced than modern day, yet in many ways these people have a more honest way of dealing with these things.

Perhaps I'm not explaining myself well, but I really got wrapped up in this tidy melodrama and I recommend it highly.