Look Back in Anger

Released Jan 1, 1958

1h 39m

Drama

List

92%

13 Reviews

Tomatometer

76%

1,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

In Northern England, frustrated college dropout Jimmy Porter (Richard Burton) plays music at a jazz club at night and by day works at a candy stall with partner Cliff Lewis (Gary Raymond), who lives with Jimmy and his wife, Alison (Mary Ure). Embittered by the strictures of working-class life, Jimmy constantly insults Alison, whose family is upper class. When Alison invites her best friend, self-assured Helena (Claire Bloom), to stay with them, Jimmy's grievances threaten to boil over.

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steve d

One of Richard Burton's best performances and that is saying something.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Incredibly annoying and obnoxiously angry Richard Burton's character will drive you insane with his ridiculous over acting and rudeness And then it all falls into place Beautifully written and filmed there is a reason this film is revered as a classic film noir masterpiece, it's an absolute cracker and it's available for another 10 days on BBC iPlayer

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/26/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Burton's anger (is it real or is it all an act?) is hard to listen to if you've known a person like this character in real life. Burton is too real, too raw. He seems to draw upon an anger that exists within him, not something that comes from a script. But how can those of us living fifty years later in other countries judge this? This is not a fun, entertaining movie to watch. Burton is always just one step away from beating the hell out of Bloom. In real life, he would do just that. Go figure if you can.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/16/23

Full Review

Audience Member

The first of the British "Kitchen Sink" Realism pictures (from director Tony Richardson) aims to take an unvarnished look at contemporary working class life. Richard Burton plays Jimmy Porter, an angry young man with a strong animosity toward the middle class bourgeoisie who is nevertheless married to a young woman from that class. We learn that he has a university education but he isn't using it - instead he is working at the local market selling sweets from a stall. Jimmy is hard to understand - he is nasty to everyone, particularly his wife Alison (Mary Ure) and her friend Helena (Claire Bloom). He is chummy with his friend Cliff (Gary Raymond) who lives with the couple and he adores his former landlady "Ma" Tanner (Dame Edith Evans) who is earthy and working class. But I can't understand the man and his resentments - he just comes across like a prick. Some have argued that Burton (at age 34) was too old for the part and perhaps he lacks the immaturity that is necessary to convince an audience that his generalised hostility is borne from youthful wilfulness and resistance rather than just dickishness. If he wants to fight "the man" and fight for the working class, he isn't going about it the right way. I guess we are to mean to see him as frustrated. But then the plot has him inexplicably have an affair with the once hated friend and then eventually return to his wife (but why she returns to him is hard to fathom). He's mixed up, I'm mixed up. (The original play may make more sense). If you are looking for kitchen sink films, I'd recommend Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960), A Taste of Honey (1961), or The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962; also by Richardson), all better than this one (which nevertheless looks pretty good in moody B&W and has some nice jazz interludes).

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/04/23

Full Review

s r

An angry, sad drama. Good acting, but not inspirational.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

excellent drama as a musician living in near poverty with his middle class wife leads to a breakdown in their relationship and to him into an affair.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/10/23

Full Review

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Tony Richardson

Director

Richard Burton

Jimmy Porter

Claire Bloom

Helena Charles

Edith Evans

Mrs. Tanner

Mary Ure

Alison Porter

Gary Raymond

Cliff Lewis

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Peter Bradshaw

Guardian

There's no doubt that Richard Burton gives some firepower to those famous rant speeches, arias of self-hate and rage that might otherwise be overpoweringly shrill and petulant.

Rated: 4/5

Mar 30, 2018

Full Review

Penelope Houston

Sight & Sound

Tony Richardson, directing his first feature, has given it a tough, vital style which represents something new in British cinema.

Mar 29, 2018

Full Review

Manny Farber

The New Leader

Despite every golden impurity, Richardson's film is somewhat of a spell-binder, thanks mostly to its solid pictorial "memories" of the archaic Warner Brothers clutter style... [the film] bulges with a good deal of marred but interesting visual detail.

Sep 14, 2021

Full Review

Jennie Kermode

Eye for Film

It still has plenty to say.

Rated: 3.5/5

Mar 30, 2018

Full Review

MFB Critics

Monthly Film Bulletin

Richard Burton's playing is forcefully intelligent, Claire Bloom's unexpectedly sharp-edged, and Gary Raymond's easily relaxed. All in all, from "the best young play of its generation" has invigoratingly come the best young film of our generation.

Feb 16, 2016

Full Review

Dennis Schwartz

Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews

Though a trend setting film, with snappy play dialogue, well-acted and competently crafted, its depressing tone makes it a tough watch.

Rated: B

Mar 23, 2008

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Synopsis

In Northern England, frustrated college dropout Jimmy Porter (Richard Burton) plays music at a jazz club at night and by day works at a candy stall with partner Cliff Lewis (Gary Raymond), who lives with Jimmy and his wife, Alison (Mary Ure). Embittered by the strictures of working-class life, Jimmy constantly insults Alison, whose family is upper class. When Alison invites her best friend, self-assured Helena (Claire Bloom), to stay with them, Jimmy's grievances threaten to boil over.

Director: Tony Richardson
Screenwriter: Nigel Kneale, John Osborne
Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures
Production Co: Orion Pictures, Woodfall Film Productions
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jan 1, 1958, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 28, 2017
Runtime: 1h 39m

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