If the British New Wave gave a cinematic voice to the young working-class angst, I don't think this has resonated as loudly and insistingly as in Tony Richardson's "The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner" adapted from John Stilltoe's short story, and maybe for that reason I felt the film should have kept some distance from the original material and went for a totally different ending, one that could have lived up to the poetic premise of the title.
There's a deliberately oriented angle in the portrayal of the rogue and rebellious Colin Smith (Tom Courtenay) as a delinquent who's had more than one reason to have fallen into crime -a bakery thief sent him right to boy's reformatory- but as the film gets deeper in his backstory, it's hard not to sense a certain waste when Colin decides to betray the expectations of the Governor -played by Michael Redgrave- and deliberately lose the race that could have taken his path to a new life. I can see how a downer ending could work on the paper as the more intellect-appealing writing can do without a victory driven by a triumphant score but I can't think of a more unpleasant ending to a film that started so well.
It's kitchen-sink of drama with premises of greatness thrown into the sink for the sake of a realism that was uncalled for. Colin is resentful and bitter all right, he's one of these 'angry young men' figures that literally rowed over the British New Wave and Courtenay's portrayal of Colin is so opposite to his dreamy "Billy Liar" that watching the two films back to back creates quite a mood whiplash and reveals perhaps one similar weakness: the obsessional craving for stoic realism and its underwhelming effect. I don't recall a film with a proper good ending but even Billy Liar went back to the status that was quo... in "Loneliness", after all the hopes put on Colin as a future prize runner and the privileged treatment he received, like running alone while everybody is at work, to see him throw that away and resign to a life of bitterness left me perplexed.
There is a great deal of creativity in the way the story and backstory of Colin overlap with long running sequences à la "Marathon Man" where Colin put the various episodes of life together and try to get an answer of that riddle of a life where he saw his father die from illness, his mother use the insurance money, get a new man and where in need to buy a coat, he deliberately burnt the money from his mother's new friend and stole the bakery. Such moments make rather difficult to root for Colin especially when the methods of the house never strike as too brutal. Richardson isn't painting morality with grey shades, there's a fair use of social commentary about some brutal methods, frugal discipline (to which the boy answer with riots) or the awkward new psychological modern tools in their infacy but if anything, no one seems too hostile toward Colin.
I guess in that emotional turmoil, I preferred the long parts of running where he could enjoy a slice of freedom, these escapades with his friend and two girls, this cute moment with his pal where they turned off TV and started mocking the pompous speech from some politician, these moments had the innocence Colin lacked and show the genuine warmth within the boy... but Richardson was actually telling us to resent the adult, the upper-class adult as a matter of fact, building an artificial bond with the leather-jacket bad boys of the working class, as if there was anything wrong to seek order even in the realm of freedom. Thinking about it, Colin needed order in his life and sports could teach him a little discipline in the name of self-improvement, a sense of competition that didn't go with beating and a respect of pure fair play like the way he shook hands with his opponent (James Fox).
"Loneliness", labeled a sport movies, played like an anti-sport movie where the value of sport is denaturalized because it's embodied by the upper class and the final gesture of Colin is like the last snook, his last revenge... was it deliberate? An inspired montage makes all his life episodes converge into that final sequence where he can explore back all the events of his life and decides that he won't be the puppet of the Governor, but by disqualifying himself, he is no pawn, but he's out of the game, his own master in a game-less universe, disappointing his pals, his family, his friends.... The final is a mystery, I felt we needed a little more but somewhat Richardson decided to stick to the original material and make sport the poison rather part of the antidote.
I wish I could like the film a little more but I was so disappointed by the final act that I couldn't find it a sign of liberation but of sheer selfishness, it's possible that times have changed, and if that ending was satisfactory back then, well, the film hasn't aged very well. And it's real shame because it had all the makings of a little classic with excellent cinematography, a great riot sequence, some good deal of poetry though the overuse of jazzy music might be the hint of the film trying to emulate the French New Wave and end with a downer that makes no sense but is stylish enough and puzzling enough to date.
Tony Richardson would direct the more upbeat "Tom Jones" the later year but apart from Courtenay's performance and Redgrave's subdued portrayal of authority, the film is perhaps my major disappointment. Blame it on the ending, instead of answering the opening quote "why am I running?" it leaves us with that bitter question "why is he not?".
There's a deliberately oriented angle in the portrayal of the rogue and rebellious Colin Smith (Tom Courtenay) as a delinquent who's had more than one reason to have fallen into crime -a bakery thief sent him right to boy's reformatory- but as the film gets deeper in his backstory, it's hard not to sense a certain waste when Colin decides to betray the expectations of the Governor -played by Michael Redgrave- and deliberately lose the race that could have taken his path to a new life. I can see how a downer ending could work on the paper as the more intellect-appealing writing can do without a victory driven by a triumphant score but I can't think of a more unpleasant ending to a film that started so well.
It's kitchen-sink of drama with premises of greatness thrown into the sink for the sake of a realism that was uncalled for. Colin is resentful and bitter all right, he's one of these 'angry young men' figures that literally rowed over the British New Wave and Courtenay's portrayal of Colin is so opposite to his dreamy "Billy Liar" that watching the two films back to back creates quite a mood whiplash and reveals perhaps one similar weakness: the obsessional craving for stoic realism and its underwhelming effect. I don't recall a film with a proper good ending but even Billy Liar went back to the status that was quo... in "Loneliness", after all the hopes put on Colin as a future prize runner and the privileged treatment he received, like running alone while everybody is at work, to see him throw that away and resign to a life of bitterness left me perplexed.
There is a great deal of creativity in the way the story and backstory of Colin overlap with long running sequences à la "Marathon Man" where Colin put the various episodes of life together and try to get an answer of that riddle of a life where he saw his father die from illness, his mother use the insurance money, get a new man and where in need to buy a coat, he deliberately burnt the money from his mother's new friend and stole the bakery. Such moments make rather difficult to root for Colin especially when the methods of the house never strike as too brutal. Richardson isn't painting morality with grey shades, there's a fair use of social commentary about some brutal methods, frugal discipline (to which the boy answer with riots) or the awkward new psychological modern tools in their infacy but if anything, no one seems too hostile toward Colin.
I guess in that emotional turmoil, I preferred the long parts of running where he could enjoy a slice of freedom, these escapades with his friend and two girls, this cute moment with his pal where they turned off TV and started mocking the pompous speech from some politician, these moments had the innocence Colin lacked and show the genuine warmth within the boy... but Richardson was actually telling us to resent the adult, the upper-class adult as a matter of fact, building an artificial bond with the leather-jacket bad boys of the working class, as if there was anything wrong to seek order even in the realm of freedom. Thinking about it, Colin needed order in his life and sports could teach him a little discipline in the name of self-improvement, a sense of competition that didn't go with beating and a respect of pure fair play like the way he shook hands with his opponent (James Fox).
"Loneliness", labeled a sport movies, played like an anti-sport movie where the value of sport is denaturalized because it's embodied by the upper class and the final gesture of Colin is like the last snook, his last revenge... was it deliberate? An inspired montage makes all his life episodes converge into that final sequence where he can explore back all the events of his life and decides that he won't be the puppet of the Governor, but by disqualifying himself, he is no pawn, but he's out of the game, his own master in a game-less universe, disappointing his pals, his family, his friends.... The final is a mystery, I felt we needed a little more but somewhat Richardson decided to stick to the original material and make sport the poison rather part of the antidote.
I wish I could like the film a little more but I was so disappointed by the final act that I couldn't find it a sign of liberation but of sheer selfishness, it's possible that times have changed, and if that ending was satisfactory back then, well, the film hasn't aged very well. And it's real shame because it had all the makings of a little classic with excellent cinematography, a great riot sequence, some good deal of poetry though the overuse of jazzy music might be the hint of the film trying to emulate the French New Wave and end with a downer that makes no sense but is stylish enough and puzzling enough to date.
Tony Richardson would direct the more upbeat "Tom Jones" the later year but apart from Courtenay's performance and Redgrave's subdued portrayal of authority, the film is perhaps my major disappointment. Blame it on the ending, instead of answering the opening quote "why am I running?" it leaves us with that bitter question "why is he not?".