Audience Member
I loved this way more than I expected to. An excellent little slice of life film about a small-town big fish in a swinging '60s man's world that's just starting to swing out of their grasp as the season, the times and their ages start to creep up on them. It's endlessly fascinating to me that this came out the same year as A Hard Day's Night because in a lot of ways they mirror each other. A Hard Day's Night portrays a rather bubblegum playground for its main men, who can have everything they want and yet the women hold a looming power to shape their worlds - they're only as free as their fans allow them to be. The System is the more kitchen-sink drama where women are hunted, second-class prey. Yet once these women play the game right back, the cracks in the fragile masculine system breaks apart in seconds - it doesn't hold up if nobody believes in it's strength.
Oliver Reed makes the entire film as Tinker, the charming rogue of the beach. He's masterful as the ringleader of a group of guys who all playfully-aggressively pursue women so that they can check off notches in their bedposts. Reed owns every inch of the screen through his expressions and movements - his insincere smiles, sarcastic quips, lecherous stares, masculine prowl, and his scuffles with his fists or with tennis rackets. But also through his heart-on-his-sleeve honesty and his double-blind vulnerability. There's so much going on in Reed's character it's astounding for a movie that's essentially about picking up girls.
He's a perfect portrait of the Stockholm Syndrome cage of masculinity. He's boxed himself in so tightly that he has no where to go but brag about how great it is to be so trapped. He's like the guy who can barely pay rent but boasts about how many strippers he's put through college. But he's strong and he's attractive, men and women can't seem to help but fall for the charade.
I also loved Jane Merrow as the unattainable rich girl Nicola who's better at Tinker's System than he is. She's mesmerizing to watch as she moves coolly though both her high brow and the low brow worlds, while still managing to come out on top and wholly herself - probably the best gift money could buy women in the '60s. There's also Barbara Ferris who has a heartbreaking drunk monologue wondering why men are only interested in sex when all she wants is to be loved. It makes you really empathize with why women latched on to the 'dream' of pregnancy at the time; somebody to love you without objectifying you.
Last but not least there's the engaging and beautiful cinematography by Nicholas Roeg. A mixture of the handheld man-on-the-street documentary style, with beautifully crafted fashion magazine-worthy shots. Everybody in this movie is beautiful, it's that summer beach dream. Between that, the fun music video style editing, and a perfect pop soundtrack from The Searchers, this is really a mid '60s gem.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
02/06/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Offbeat to begin with, it slowly becomes a conventional relationship story that actually mirrors the transition in the main character from a player to something else.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
02/06/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Kind of the British version of a teen film like "Where the Girls Are" crossed with Nicholas Ray. Michael Winner directs Oliver Reed and his Jersey Shore-like pals chasing rich girls in at a seaside vacation spot. The film is a lot edgier and more sexually overt than American teen films of the same time and that's what makes this film interesting. While Reed and his cad friends initially come to the resort town looking to have their way with tourist girls, the film takes an interesting turn when Reed comes to realize that it's them and not the rich tourists who are being exploited. It was also kind of interesting to see Reed as a roguishly handsome young man, as opposed to the large imposing Orson Welles-like figure I'm more used to seeing him as.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
01/31/23
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Audience Member
good UK 'angry young men" pic
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
01/21/23
Full Review
Audience Member
A class warfare love story yet Fabulous! Starring young Oliver Reed. Rich girl vs. poor guy. Refreshing look at movies, not anything like today's bland ones. What a great gift to be able to see a life, even if fictional and not terribly credible of young men on the prowl for tourist gals.
[img]http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51JaTC3PMeL._SX300_.jpg[/img]
But don't mistake this film as some stupid lightweight one. It is about as serious a film as can be despite the outward appearance initially. The weight of class in Great Britain becomes terribly obvious, espicially at the tennis match. Wait for it.
Quote to remember from the film:
As to girls: "I never make the same mistake twice, I make them hundreds of times."---Oliver Reed as Tinker
As to the rich: "I suppose one doesn't grind the face of the poor, they waterski over them"--- Oliver Reed to the rich father after seeing the waterski wealthy ones come home
If this was typical party life in merry old England (where every gal is obtainable), then count me in. But let's face it, this is a movie and accept it as such.
But these guys, like 23 (or so, as he says) Tinker (Reed) are after rich tourist gals. He believes he has an obligation to "take" what he can, much like any hunter and his prey. He chases one rich girl in particular. The band of brothers here have darn near made a business out of chasing rich or near rich tourist females. They eschew marriage, feeling their youth will last forever.
[img]http://modculture.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/07/13/system.jpg[/img]
The "System", as such it is, is a method of meeting rich tourist girls which is really just a modified version of the more honest approach. It involves gimmicks like using cameras to mask one's real intentions or "breaking the ice" so to speak. The "System" is rather technical and clinical and therefore rather heartless and disingenuous. And THAT becomes the problem for our man Tinker.
[img]http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_XsVALQtGIZM/TMTBxB6eS6I/AAAAAAAASx8/OXtfRgxT3qk/s1600/Pan-G677+Burke+The+System.jpg[/img]
It's that British New Wave film period, early 1960's, that presented new stars like Oliver Reed, Richard Harris, Richard Burton and Albert Finney to the halls of legendary actors.
[img]http://i.ebayimg.com/t/British-1sht-Film-Movie-Poster-The-SYSTEM-Oliver-Reed-27x40-1Sheet-1965-F-VF-/00/s/MTYwMFgxMjAw/z/tzEAAOxygKZSRbra/$(KGrHqQOKpMFIsbG!p)MBSRbrZR3tw~~60_35.JPG[/img]
Shocking look at what some 1960's film making looked like, visit a trip back in time. Film screen legend Oliver Reed leads a band of dudes looking to have fun with gals on their Engish seaside vacation. Black and white.
[img]http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51F0CL2hH1L._SX300_.jpg[/img]
The moral of this story is be careful what you chase, you might just get it! Legend actor Oliver Reed gets caught up in love when love was not quite what he was after.
[img]https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQgfWUwxLIed3ujf9ChlraIeBT-rwuTioKo5aTXqMivLn1iPCss-g[/img]
NOTES:
1 If you care to notice, people are at parties and the beach dancing the "twist". The Twist was an outrageously popular dance craze started, or at least made popular, by singer Chubby Checker. White people actually had the chance to move their bodies, its so funny realize that today.
2 Introduces the term "grockle", or tourist. "They can't bear to leave their transistors [radios]"
3 The car is a huge Buick, owned by the girl of his dreams.
SEE a clip from the film:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEnNdGTWsPI OR this one
www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wqe1h3byUw
[img]http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5cw7Kl0kucs/ShW9mZ-JLUI/AAAAAAAABRU/mUGVnT2ZcME/s400/oliver_reed_fest.JPG[/img]
Oliver Reed as Tinker
Jane Merrow as Nicola
Barbara Ferris as Suzy
Julia Foster as Lorna
Harry Andrews as Larsey
Ann Lynn as Ella
Guy Doleman as Philip
Andrew Ray as Willy
John Porter-Davison as Grib
Clive Colin Bowler as Sneakers
Iain Gregory as Sammy
David Hemmings as David
John Alderton as Nidge
Jeremy Burnham as Ivor
Mark Burns as Michael
Derek Nimmo as James
Derek Newark as Alfred
[img]http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01390/oliver_reed_best_1390199c.jpg[/img] Oliver Reed
Directed by
Michael Winner
Written by
Peter Draper
Starring
Oliver Reed
Jane Merrow
Barbara Ferris
Julia Foster
Harry Andrews
Music by
Stanley Black
Cinematography
Nicolas Roeg
Distributed by
Bryanston Films
Release date(s)
11 October 1964
Running time
93 minutes
Country
United Kingdom
Language
English
SEE the entire film here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tqz_arBcz8
[img]http://www.videovista.net/reviews/aug09/system2.jpg[/img] The fox, Reed, gets outfoxed his self
[img]http://images.moviepostershop.com/the-girl-getters-movie-poster-1965-1010254549.jpg[/img]..
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
01/19/23
Full Review
Audience Member
It's that rare beast, a good Michael Winner movie! Oliver Reed heads a strong cast and Darlington gets a mention!
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
01/21/23
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