Poor Cow

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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 3.5/5 Stars •  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 3.5/5 Stars •  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 3/5 Stars •  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 3/5 Stars •  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 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member Interesting older movie. Main character, Joy, manages to be equally sympathetic and unlikeable! You watch this girl make one bad choice after another, yet the consequences aren't quite as bad as you are waiting for. In one way it is good, she is a stupid girl, but you can't seriously wish bad on her, even when she kind of deserves it. On the other, you wait for a culmination of her actions which doesn't quite pay off. I guess it is lifelike in that way. On a shallow note, I enjoyed the 60's hair and make up. Very glam too look at, even though the story was definitely not! Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/22/23 Full Review Read all reviews

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