Poor Cow

Poor Cow

classified 15

Working Class Heroes: British Working Class on Film

Film

Please note: This was screened in Sept 2018

Director
Ken Loach
Cast
Terence Stamp, Carol White, John Bindon
Details
102 mins, 1967, UK
Primary language
English

A landmark in British social realist filmmaking, Ken Loach's debut feature film was a kitchen-sink drama starring Carol White (Cathy Come Home) as a working-class single mother living in the London slums.

Beautiful, free-spirited and resilient, Joy (White) faces a plight from a set of social circumstances largely outside her control. Married to a brutal, uncaring husband (John Bindon), his incarceration in jail nevertheless leaves her struggling to cope. Although living in poverty and enduring mistreatment by her partner, Joy’s resilience about her lot is seemingly rewarded when a chance of happiness emerges when she falls for her husband’s associate, Dave (Terence Stamp). A kind and gentle presence in her life, Joy and her young son decide to move in with him in the hope of a better future - but with heart-breaking results.

Full of '60s colour and songs - including the music of Donovan – Loach’s film was both stylistically innovative, and bore the early hallmarks of his signature improvised spontaneity, offset by a tender compassion for, and thoughtful involvement in, his subject. Heartfelt and immaculately observed, this is a fascinating example of an early work from British cinema’s unswerving champion of the working class.


× Close

Help us make our website work better for you

We use Google Analytics to gather information on how our website is used. This information helps us to make changes to our website that improve the usefulness and overall experience for our visitors. If you would like to help us to make continuous improvements to our website, please allow us to set "first-party" cookies (only readable by us) so that we can distinguish visitors and gain greater insights.

Allow cookies for analytics Deny cookies for analytics