Review of This Sporting Life (1963) by Norbert P — 04 May 2013

The film started promisingly enough but the story, pacing and over-the-top bluster of Richard Harris gets tedious. I loved the 'kitchen sink" realism and it's a wonderfully filmed crisp black and white visual experience but the story is too baggy for my liking and Harris doing his best brooding British Brando impersonation is very charismatic.

His overacting though took me out of the picture more than once and the director, Lindsay Anderson, though seemingly in possession of a workable bag of tricks, faulters with pacing and mediocre overall direction.