The Knack... and How to Get It

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The Knack... and How to Get It

Released Jun 29, 1965

1h 24m

Comedy

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Popcornmeter

72%

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18 Reviews

68%

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1,000+ Ratings

Desperate to improve his luck with women, London schoolteacher Colin (Michael Crawford) enlists his artist roommate, Tom (Donal Donnelly), to help drag a brass bed back to their flat. Along the way they meet Nancy (Rita Tushingham), a new girl in town, who follows them home. There they encounter Tolen (Ray Brooks), the third roommate and a consummate lady-killer. He tries to help Colin seduce Nancy, but ends up whisking her away on his motorcycle instead, and Colin is determined to get her back.

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John Russell Taylor

Sight & Sound

The sets by television designer Assheton Gorton only emphasise one's earlier mystification that the British cinema has not made more use of his remarkable talents.

Mar 31, 2020

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Pauline Kael

McCall's

In The Knack, the running jokes and gags never come off.

Sep 20, 2023

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Elizabeth Hardwick

Vogue

The Knack is very funny. Richard Lester, its director, is an original talent with a sense of this very minute.

Jun 20, 2023

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Sean Axmaker

Stream on Demand

... a delightfully frivolous take on swinging London and the sexual revolution.

Oct 9, 2022

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Judith Crist

New York Herald Tribune

Richard Lester, the director who demonstrated his own knack with A Hard Day's Night, knows just how to disorganize a fragile little plot to make it a wonderfully rollicking, go-with-the-breeze film.

Aug 15, 2022

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Edward Zatlyn

Los Angeles Free Press

The screenplay by Charles Wood (based on the play by Ann Jellicoe) is alive, written for the cinema with as many sight gags and visual trips as can be packed or stacked into the thin little story line.

Feb 4, 2020

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O g

Even the proto-Spencerisms - facially, verbally and in carrying out some fairly strenuous stunts - that Michael Crawford intriguingly exhibits in this film don't save it from being unwatchable. Equal parts "quirky", misguided and plain nasty.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

07/26/25

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Leaburn O

Not the best Palme D'Or winner. Crawford stars so it is a humourous version of The Servant in my eyes. Bit weird and difficult to follow or care about. Watched on DVD.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

03/26/24

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steve d

If this is the Knack, I don't want it.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

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Audience Member

Fantastically tongue-in-cheek social critique! Love the narrative and editing experimentation going on here. Made me laugh quite a bit. The two male leads are the kind of people you love to hate, but the film doesn't initially frame them in a negative light which I liked.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/15/23

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Audience Member

This is the movie Richard Lester made in between his two Beatles movies. It couldn't be more 1965. Phantom of the Opera fans might enjoy seeing Michael Crawford as a shy nerd.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

02/04/23

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Audience Member

La revolucion sexual de los 60s y el arte de la conquista en un tono farsico y comico que sacara mas de una sonrisa. Se puede ver.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/17/23

Full Review

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Richard Lester

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Rita Tushingham

Nancy Jones

Ray Brooks

Tolen

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Synopsis

Desperate to improve his luck with women, London schoolteacher Colin (Michael Crawford) enlists his artist roommate, Tom (Donal Donnelly), to help drag a brass bed back to their flat. Along the way they meet Nancy (Rita Tushingham), a new girl in town, who follows them home. There they encounter Tolen (Ray Brooks), the third roommate and a consummate lady-killer. He tries to help Colin seduce Nancy, but ends up whisking her away on his motorcycle instead, and Colin is determined to get her back.

Director: Richard Lester
Producer: Oscar Lewenstein
Screenwriter: Charles Wood
Distributor: Lopert Pictures Corp.
Production Co: Woodfall Film Productions
Genre: Comedy
Original Language: British English
Release Date (Theaters): Jun 29, 1965, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Sep 16, 2008
Runtime: 1h 24m

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