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      Poor Cow

      Released Jan 31, 1968 1h 41m Drama List
      50% 16 Reviews Tomatometer 79% 250+ Ratings Audience Score A young woman has many failed relationships, including a union with a thief that produces a son. Read More Read Less

      Audience Reviews

      View All (18) audience reviews
      Audience Member Carol White stars as a young working class woman with a new child and married to John Bindon, a callous young thief who shows her little affection or regard. Bindon ends up going to jail and she takes up with Terence Stamp, a friend of Bindon's who's also a thief, but shows her legitimate affection. They are happy for a while, but he's arrested and sentenced to a few decades in jail. She drifts around with several jobs and men until Bindon gets out and she moves back in with him. Ken Loach's first feature film is a fairly rambling and clearly improvised film that paints a pretty grim and remorseless picture of a class of people that seem to have literally no options. It's best known these days for being used in "The Limey" as flashbacks to Stamp's past. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/01/23 Full Review Audience Member Damning representation of what being poor means in 60's Britain. The constant struggle of the single mum is superbly represented in a pseudo documentary style. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/06/23 Full Review Audience Member Typical British kitchen sink drama as a young woman goes from one bad relationship to another Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/10/23 Full Review Audience Member A young mother from the poor side of England struggles to find some happiness by falling in love with the wrong men and making the wrong decisions. Despite Ken Loach's affinity to working class storytelling and a stand out music score by none other than Donovan, this film cannot get past its unlikeable characters and its dead moments that make the film inevitably seem a little overstretched. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/24/23 Full Review eric b Director Ken Loach's first feature is an insightful but somewhat shapeless portrait of a vivacious young woman (Carol White) struggling to raise a baby in a dingy English neighborhood. Within the opening minutes, her husband is sent to prison after a bungled robbery. She soon latches onto a second man (Terence Stamp) but, unfortunately, he too has been pressed into a life of crime. He is more sensitive to her needs but also is sentenced before long, which means Stamp fans may be frustrated with his lack of screen time. From there, our heroine takes a job in a rowdy pub, dabbles in cheesecake modeling and tries to fill her relationship void with casual lovers. There is no moral lesson here -- this is just how a woman on her own manages to stay afloat. The story fades out inconclusively. Donovan provides a few tunes for the soundtrack (Stamp himself sings "Colours"), and various other pop songs are heard throughout -- almost as if a crew member's transistor radio is randomly playing in the background. The effect is a bit ragged, and further shaky elements include the girl's sporadic narration, an odd decision to close with a documentary-style interview and some awkward title cards that rarely add useful information. The lighting often seems too warm and pleasing for the story's gritty tone, but an initial childbirth scene and an overgenerous amount of toddler nudity add some controversy. "Poor Cow" usually gets lumped with its era's "kitchen-sink" movement, but there are much better examples of the genre to seek out. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review simon d A good film that was part of the movement that makes British film what it is today Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Read all reviews Post a rating

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      Critics Reviews

      View All (16) Critics Reviews
      Pauline Kael New Yorker The low life is suffocated in tastefulness. Jul 6, 2022 Full Review Richard Roud Guardian If I hadn't seen Poor Cow with my own eyes, I would never have believed that a film with so much to offer could ultimately be so downright awful. Mar 20, 2018 Full Review David Jenkins Little White Lies Moody, poetic and artful. Another side of Ken Loach. Rated: 4/5 Jun 26, 2016 Full Review James Mottram Total Film As a portrait of a struggling mum it's spot-on. Rated: 3/5 Jan 3, 2017 Full Review MFB Critics Monthly Film Bulletin Not even Carol White as Joy, glowing with vitality and beautifully modulating the heroine's different moods, can make of Poor Cow more than a superficial, slightly patronising incursion into the nether realms of social realism. Mar 14, 2015 Full Review Amber Wilkinson Eye for Film Poor Cow is certainly a gritty portrayal of life on the breadline in the late Sixties, shot in a documentary style, but that does not mean that it is wholly downbeat. Rated: 3.5/5 Mar 14, 2015 Full Review Read all reviews

      Movie Info

      Synopsis A young woman has many failed relationships, including a union with a thief that produces a son.
      Director
      Ken Loach
      Screenwriter
      Ken Loach, Nell Dunn, Nell Dunn
      Distributor
      National General Pictures, Universal Pictures
      Production Co
      Vic Films Productions Ltd., Anglo-Amalgamated Productions, The National Film Finance Corp., Fenchurch
      Genre
      Drama
      Original Language
      English (United Kingdom)
      Release Date (Theaters)
      Jan 31, 1968, Wide
      Runtime
      1h 41m