Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Forgotten Movies, A Taste of Honey




In the 1960s British working class life had a good run at the movie theater. A Taste of Honey was one of my favorites. It featured a knockout performance by Rita Tushingham as Jo, a girl tossed out on the streets of Salford by her Mum, who gets pregnant by a black man and eventually finds a home with a gay man.

The gritty look of this film suggests noir and it is. The song, performed by Herb Albert among others, was a big success. When did we give up making domestic dramas about real people. If we get this sort of gritty film today, it usually concerns a crime.

The film was directed by Tony Richardson.

Other forgotten movies can be found here.

13 comments:

George said...

Once movies about starships, aliens, and superheros started making hundreds of millions of dollars for Hollywood, they gave up making movies about real people.

Anonymous said...

I haven't seen this one in a long, long time. I associate it with other black & white British movies of the time, like LONELINESS OF THE LONG DISTRANCE RUNNER and SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY MORNING.

Jeff M.

pattinase (abbott) said...

All of which I like, Jeff.
Yep, about the summer of 76 or so.

Unknown said...

From somewhat earlier, two I liked were EXPRESSO BONGO and ROOM AT THE TOP.

pattinase (abbott) said...

ROOM AT THE TOP was wonderful. Never saw EXPRESSO have to look for it. Oh, right, no more netflix because they refuse to allow me to get them by mail.

Anonymous said...

Patti - Leave it to you to find such a great-sounding film. I admit I've never seen this one but it intrigues me.

John McFetridge said...

Yes, it usually concerns a crime.

Remember when African-Americans would sometimes say that the rest of the world was only interested in them if they were singing and dancing?

Now people are only interested in the working class if we're committing crimes.

And, apparently, the only working class people in America live in Boston.

pattinase (abbott) said...

Or so we would think. Maybe we just like the accents.

SteveHL said...

One of my favorite movies. Back in the late '60's, after this film, The Leather Boys, The Girl with Green Eyes, and The Knack, I was sure that Tushingham would be one of the all-time great stars, but it never happened.

And of course not all working class people live in Boston...just the best ones.

pattinase (abbott) said...

Adore all of these movie, Steve. As well as THE L-SHAPED ROOM.
They live in a great place so that helps.

Todd Mason said...

Of course, if more people went to see SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY MORNING and NOTHING BUT A MAN and THE L-SHAPED ROOM, the moneyfolk would fund a few more of those (not that they funded those too much, either).

From THE GREEN ROOM, where comedian Bill Burr noted that there's an old joke that Boston is a racist version of San Francisco. That it managed, more than any other major city in the country, to keep such rigorous ethnic/neighborhood hostilities going for so long, in so many directions, is a testament of some sort.

If you're willing, yet, to watch film on your computer, here's the entirety of ESPRESSO BONGO:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwLRppxfg7g

pattinase (abbott) said...

Thanks, Todd.

Kitty said...

I wish I had seen this post back on August 23rd. I saw this movie on TV for the first time. It must have been 1964-65, when I was a freshman in high school. It fit right in with my teen-aged angst at the time. I'd play hooky from school and watch this movie and eat Yodels. I have it on VHS and DVD now.