User reviews

Given director Michael Winner's critical reputation today, it's hard to remember that he, too, once enjoyed a moment in the sun. For a brief period at the start of the 1960s, the director received good reviews on both side of the Atlantic, most especially from the American critics impressed by his ability to adapt very contemporary subject matter and make it appeal to an international youth audience. In particular, The System, followed in turn by The Jokers (1966), and then I'll Never Forget What's'isname (1967), attracted attention. All three films starred Oliver Reed, cast after Winner had spotted the potential of the actor who had previously appeared in Hammer horror films.

Overshadowed by the slackness and crudity of some of his later, more ambitious projects, these early titles are overlooked. But for The System, at the time of its release, Newsweek praised Winner as the unheralded director of a "consistently intelligent and often brilliant low-budget import." Seen today it can be identified as part of a group of films that have interesting anticipations of each other within British cinema. In the film Reed plays 'Tinker' a seaside photographer, the charismatic leader of a group of young men seeking sexual conquest at the seaside.

The System, unsubtly re-titled The Girl-Getters for the USA, was felt to be controversial in subject matter at the time, although by today's standards it is pretty mild. Reed had earlier appeared as a tearaway in another resort-set movie, Losey's cult item The Damned (1961); in the present film it is almost as if the young thug from the previous story has moved on a little to a newly precarious living, at least as far as he might be able to. The character Tinker is much more self-confessional in the present movie, and to that extent has attracted comparisons to Alfie (1966), which took the self-examination of a moral vacuum to a much greater level. The System co-stars some well-known names: John Alderton, Harry Andrews, and Derek Nimmo all appear.

Originally, Julie Christie was slated to appear too as Tinker's posh love interest Nicola, but unfortunately this deal fell through and the role was taken by Jane Merrow. There's also a young David Hemmings, playing a relative on his first trip to the sexually exploitative seaside. Two years later the actor was to star in another film in which photography is also at the centre of activity, Antonioni's Blow Up. In The System there is reference to 'the takers and the taken' extending the photographic metaphor, but unlike in the 1966 movie there is no doubt as to what we are seeing. And Tinker leaves his exposed negatives to the mercies of a commercial developer, away from private obsession.

The 'system' in question is the methodical way the group of friends play the 'grockles' (their name for holidaymakers). As they admit, they have to "take what they can from the visitors (to) prepare for the cold winter." Filmed in Torquay and Brixham, Winner's film is rich on location and atmosphere, effects helped immeasurably by the widescreen work of cinematographer Nicolas Roeg. Reed proves his stature as a star in a film that is, ultimately, all about him. From the first sight of him in a seaside hat, camera in hand, lounging on a railway platform, he is rarely off screen. His magnetic appearance makes one overlook the inelegance displayed on the dance floor in one scene (the manic moves of which recall his short-lived appearance back in Beat Girl, 1959).

Tinker is someone who, at the start of the film at least, is confident in his own motives and position in life; one who has preyed and succeeded repeatedly over the brief four-month holiday season. As the story progresses, however, he will discover that his position is more circumscribed than he thought and that, judged by his own standards and motives; he can find situations painfully reversed. Tinker has relationships with three main women during the course of the film: the wife of the local seaside comedian (his 'winter bird'); with Lorna, a naïve single tourist (Julia Foster); and a visiting rich man's daughter Nicola.

One of the most interesting points of the film is how readily the case-hardened Tinker falls for Nicola. Is his sudden vulnerability a symptom of underlying self-deception, or has the promiscuous photographer merely overreached himself socially as well as emotionally? Humiliated during a game of tennis with Nicola's rich friends, away from the sexual shenanigans at the beach, Tinker is confronted with another system: the class war. When blowing bubbles back and forth during his curious 'seduction' of his Nicola in his room earlier, Tinker had nothing to lose; by contrast the strike of a tennis ball into his face proves painful on more than one level, as a reminder of his limitations.

In his memoir Winner Takes All the director says that The System "changed my life" - that is laid the foundations, after previous false starts, for a successful career as filmmaker. Star, Reed, too, was to go on and find fame and fortune - at least until his drink-related behaviour got the better of him and he became a parody of his earlier, dynamic self. Co-star Jane Merrow sadly failed to capitalise on her success here, and drifted into television and obscurity. The film itself, after its initial period of praise and notoriety, vanished into the never-land of rare screenings on TV and so its belated appearance on DVD, albeit without extras, is to be welcomed. Although now dated in some elements, it remains a reminder of the hidden strengths of British cinema of the 1960s and a related part of the 'social problem' cycle of the time.

As a young man in his late teens, this film brings back fond memories of Torquay and Paignton where the film was made.

It all started on Elberry Cove, near Goodrington, with a big, all night barbecue. It was supposed to be a warm summers evening, which was not quite the case, but it was a lot of fun.

I was there as an Extra with Naomi, the daughter of the late Don Kite (Film director) Most of the activity of this film took place around Paignton Harbour and in fact Tinker's Pad or Flat was the Harbour Lights Restaurant.

For all us teens, the 400 Club in Torquay, was the place to go. In fact it was the only place that had disco type dancing. And the 400 Club played a big part in the film, with a fight and scuffle, the we had to drag Tinker across the road and throw him in the harbour, I can't actually remember whether we did or not, but I know that his camera went in.

This film was probably very close to the truth, you get the feeling that the Writer, Peter Draper had been following us about taking notes on our activities throughout the summer months, particularly as we used to go down to Elberry Cove for barbeque's and dancing at the 400 Club

I give this film 8 for the memories

You might think that by 1964 the world was all swinging sophistication, but no it was like this, I remember. I had recently started working, in a bank. It was hand written ledgers and an outside toilet! Yep, life revolved a fair bit around getting girls and then making sure you didn't get them pregnant and then 'having to get married'. Everyone is s bit too old here, of course, although David Hemmings looks like a little angel. Oliver Reed puts in a good performance as the leader although it's hard at the end to take his more introspective ponderings. Great direction by Michael Winner, there not many people have said that, and the movie speeds along with some excellent sequences, especially the wedding celebration on the beach, played more like a wake. Winner is an under rated director, he did a couple of others of this ilk, then I like his Innocents and there is Death Wish. I liked the hated Death Weekend but in general his career went downhill and it stops people giving the earlier films a chance. Well worth watching, if only to appreciate that the mid 60's in Britain were still much like the 50's, except with teenagers.

"The System" was both the first time director Michael Winner had ventured away from films featuring pop groups to something more serious and representative of the 60s, and the first time Oliver Reed had a lead role that wasn't in a Hammer horror. The scene where you see him for the first time in the camera range gives you some idea of what kind of screen presence he had before the booze became more important than the image. As Tinker the photographer, the leader of a randy gang in Brighton, Reed is exceptionally good, and also in the cast are John Alderton, David Hemmings, and Andrew Ray, all offering good support. The film gets under the skin of the decade and manages to be interesting to watch as well.

Looking back at any 1960's film one can't but help look at the shops, the streets, the way people dressed, the girls, and and the boys. The food even, I noticed the Kurzel cake display in one scenes, this is all great visual history. The film is obviously cashing on the new found Great British Youth culture, on the band waggon of the Beatles, A hard Days night. A film well worth seeing, but perhaps not too many times. Wendy Richards, gets a very small walk on part, and like the DVD cover box said the film contains a host of British stars some were to make it big much later on. The film is very tame by todays standards but there is a feeling of a youthful freeing up which was happening at the time, a good period film of times gone by. See it today.

Strange to think that this is set around the same time as Quadrophenia, with a similar modish feel and seaside destination. Like Quad, it has a fine up and coming cast including Oliver Reed, John Alderton, Julia Foster, Derek Nimmo, Derek Hemmings... It starts with a rackety beat group song complete with whoa yeahs! (why is it the Beatles still sound fresh doing that while other bands sound a bit naff and dated?) The 'system' refers to the local lads at Torquay who work out how to pull girls during the summer season when tourists flock to the seaside holiday resort (no easyJet back then). It opens as the lads walk down the train from London checking out the talent and alerting the leader of the gang Tinker (a young but still not particularly boyish Ollie Reed).

Very early on you suss that this film is Alfie without the charm. This may be a good thing, seeing as Alfie isn't exactly a role model. None of the gang are charismatic but the moral trajectory is much the same as Alfie but without any of that Swinging London cheek or sex appeal. Still, it's a fascinating snapshot of the period. Nicolas Roeg did the photography, and er, Michael Winner the directing. Dramatically it faffs about a bit in the final third act.

Oliver Reed is Tinker, a beach photographer who with his mates spends the summer season trying to seduce as many young girls on holiday as they can. They are seasoned professionals who know which buttons to press, but the years are gaining and a young girl Nicola (Jane Merrow) arrives, a model who also knows her way around. Tinker falls in love with her, but will she succumb to his charms and equally does she need him.

Quite witty and sharp observations about seaside romance, the characters who exist there, the various classes and the British seaside holiday in general. Oliver Reed is good as Tinker, if possibly a little miscast and is supported by a wide array of British character actors, a number of whom, eg David Hemings, went on to bigger things. It's a sometimes funny, often sad affair with wizened seaside exploiter of girls Reed starting to not cope with real life and romance to the extent that you actually end up feeling a bit sorry for him.

When I saw " The System " for the first time I was about 14 years of age,and had never heard of Oliver Reed or David Hemmings.By today's standards it is hardly very shocking or thrilling;and yet in 1964 it was rather risqué,being about young men who were essentially trying to get young ladies into bed.It is filmed in black and white,and has a young and very handsome Oliver Reed seducing young ladies,but eventually falling in love.It also has a young David Hemmings,who later goes on to make some of the more memorable films of the 60's.It has many quality performances from British character actors, such as Juliette Foster and John Alderton.It also is directed by the very underrated Michael winner,and is worth viewing for its cinematographic interest,but also for its particular take on the 1960's.

Oliver Reed is "Tinker". He cuts quite a dashing sight as he and his gang seek a good time in the resorts of Devon. No woman is safe from their charms as they intend to seduce their way through the visiting female population. The eponymous "System" was cleverly devised enabling them to assess the suitability of their marks - allowing the maximum of "fun" and the minimum danger of any sort of commitment. For a while it works until, that is, Reed falls foul of his own methods and becomes smitten with Jane Merrow ("Nicola") the daughter of a wealthy visitor who is quite capable of protecting herself from his advances. What now ensues is their cat ad mouse game, both vying for upper hand and we get a modicum of enjoyment watching the tables turned on the charismatic, and photogenic Reed. The photography can be quite intimate, we feel included to a certain extent in their antics, and it's got quite a decent mod-beat soundtrack starting off with, an admittedly poor, title song from the Searchers - and that all serves to set the scene quite well for this depiction of the callowness of their youth. At times, it authentically delves into the seedier, occasionally violent, side of 19060s Britain, and there is quite an interesting scene where Merrow walks the length of the esplanade (fully clothed) being eyed up by dozens of men in their budgie-smugglers - it is as if they are actually on parade for her, though they'd never admit as much. It's shallow, but I think it's meant to be - and though it really struggles to retain any potency 50-odd years later, (by 2008, it had be re-rated as a 12) it is still quite an interesting observation of the almost tribal behaviour of both sexes when "let loose". The acting is nothing special, it has to be said - this is very much film to look at, and is worth that, still.

As a Paigntonian, I feel the need to correct a point of fact in FilmFlaneur's review, which by the way, in all other respects I found to be excellent, erudite, expansive and extremely interesting. However, FilmFlanuer states that The System was filmed in Torquay and Brixham, but it was predominantly filmed in Paignton. Scenes beneath Paignton Pier and at The Harbour Lights restaurant (used as a flat in the film) spring to mind immediately, even 50+ years after seeing some of the filming personally and about 30 years since I last saw the film itself. .

A blast from the past for those young in the early 60s is the belated DVD release of THE SYSTEM (US Title: THE GO-GETTERS) made in 63 and released in 64 - when I saw it aged 18 when it would have played here in the UK for a week on release as part of a double bill and then promptly vanished without trace until I saw the DVD yesterday. It comes with a nice 8 page booklet too setting the film in context which is a model of its kind, if only more DVD re-issues followed suit!

The film directed by Michael Winner with marvellous black and white photography by Nicholas Roeg is set in one of those English seaside towns following a gang of young men, led by the then very charismatic Oliver Reed, and their amorous pursuits over the summer and is actually a perfect compendium of European cinema trends of the time - there are Antonioniish moments (the tennis game here has a real ball) and it ends like LA DOLCE VITA in a Felliniesque dawn at the beach as the disillusioned characters realise the summer is over. The script by Peter Draper anticipates elements of DARLING and BLOWUP.

It sports of course a great cast of English young players of the time (Barbara Ferris, Julia Foster, Ann Lynn, John Alderton) as well as reliables like Harry Andrews. Of the young cast David Hemmings (rather in the background here) would two years later personify the 60s when chosen by Antonioni for his lead in BLOWUP. Jane Merrow (Hemmings' girlfriend of the time, and a replacement for Julie Christie who was doing BILLY LIAR) is perfect as Nicola the rich girl whom Reed falls for but she plays the game better than he does. I got to meet her myself once ...

Winner of course may be rather a figure of fun now, one forgets that in the 60s before those DEATH WISHES etc his films caught the moment as well as any by Richard Lester, Losey, Schlesinger or the underrated Clive Donner, with titles like THE JOKERS and I'LL NEVER FORGET WHATSHISNAME where Reed was meant to be his character from THE SYSTEM five years later.

In all its a perfect early 60s movie full of sounds and faces and the mood of that time before the 60s happened. For anyone interested in English cinema or remembers the era, its a real pleasure to see again 40+ years later !

This is an early Michael Winner effort from the time before he went all over the top and Death Wishy. The opening credits music tell you all you need to know about the tone of this movie. As Beatle-esque sounding music plays you know this is obviously a movie aimed at the youth of the era.

Starring Oliver Read as seasonal worker by the seaside, he earns a little money as a photographer and spends the rest of his time womanising with his group of friends. However the film has a very downbeat tone despite all the frivolity, so you can only guess this was some kind of finger wagging morality tale. As nobody seems to be having any real fun. However in walks or rather drives a posh girl that threatens to end Oliver's womanising as he grows attached to her. The question being whether this relationship will amount to anything and if he has a future with someone obviously out of his league.

Its hard to see what the attraction of this movie is, apart from the novelty of being an early Reed and Winner outing. Or maybe its nostalgia by people who remember it the first time around? Regardless, new viewers won't find this too entertaining with its dour outlook and at times slow moving plot. Underwhelming for the names attached.

With the Girl-Getters or The System as it was shown to be when i lived in the UK is a tale of misspent youth on a Southern England coastal town. Like many of these towns the folk lay dormant for most of the year until the summer comes, and with it trade in the form of tourism. This was in a time before the package tour and the Costa-del-slosh that most of the young men have reverted to. This was a time when a virile young male spent his days prowling the promenade in search of his prey. The system was a cunning plan thought up by Tinker played brilliantly by the late Oliver Reed, was to a method of getting as much action of the female variety as possible. I will not ruin the surprise by revealing what the system exactly entails but needless to say it works with measured success. Until that is Tinker falls fowl of his own tricks and has his heart broken by a more fiestly young lady with a nice sports car and a wealthy father. The Soundtrack is particularly commendable as can be gleaned from the opening titles, and continues with a particulary mod beat. I particularly enjoyed the film as I am of the same age as Reed in the film and it is good to see that little has changed in our quest for summer fun except for perhaps the fashion of the time and hairstyles. Or has it.

I first saw this film when it was released (in 1964) and it had a profound effect on me then, imagine my surprise when I saw it in the middle of the night on TV a few days ago and it hasn't lost any of it's freshness. Oliver Reed is brilliant, as he always was before he took to the bottle, and the idea of the girl turning the tables on the cock-sure man is executed magnificently. Furthermore the quote that I remember for forty years still rang true (Harry Andrews, a photographer, says "we're here to make memories" and Oliver Reed's reply "I thought we were here to make money"). People may laugh at Michale Winner now but this was god, very good. Even today.

THE SYSTEM is yet another 'gang film' for youthful star Oliver Reed, who made loads of these pictures over the years. It's not on the same level as THE DAMNED, THE PARTY'S OVER, or even BEAT GIRL, but it does have elements of interest for British film fans although I wish the subject matter had been a little darker.

Reed plays the leader of a gang of young men (including David Hemmings, of course) who spend the summer months in a beachside tourist trap, preying on the young beautiful women who come to visit. The men take it in turn to woo the women by means of a special system they have devised which sees the females divided equally between the group. However, the threat of real love is ever present, which may break up the group.

It's fair to say that a film like THE SYSTEM has dated a lot since first release as the characters and general social milieu have long since disappeared. What one seemed progressive now feels very tame, although Reed's acting remains strong and the supporting cast do very well. This was an early film in the career of Michael Winner, who does his best to deliver a beautifully-shot production.

British lads chase available birds around the seaside; avid shutterbug who 'collects' young lovelies may have found the girl who has won his heart and not just his libido. As directed by Michael Winner, photographed by Nicolas Roeg, and starring a somewhat-green yet still charismatic Oliver Reed, "The Girl-Getters" is full of blooming talent yet is a rather mediocre drama about would-be jaded boys and girls contemplating sex (the hunt for a willing girl seems to be more exciting to the guys than the actual conquest). It's hard to get an accurate reading on the youthful Reed: his heavy lids and soft, persuasive bedroom voice ooze false sincerity--but when put on the spot by the teasing model who sort-of fancies him, he suddenly becomes a deadly serious grown-up contemplating his feelings. The rock 'n roll music and pre-Swinging London fashions (and morals) are interesting, but Winner's quasi-documentary style is scattershot, and the plot doesn't gather much momentum. *1/2 from ****

A neglected but in its unassuming way very well-made little melodrama by a young Michael Winner, shot mainly on location around Torbay right at the start of the Swinging Sixties era. Fairly racy in its day, it never tries to sensationalise its premise that casual sex is as normal as the twist among the holidaying young people.

The cast is exceptional. This was Winner's first collaboration with Oliver Reed, whose charisma and aura of watchful menace here is unmistakable. There was never another star in British cinema quite like him. Jane Merrow is just as excellent as the sympathetic but ultimately unattainable Nicola; she makes the character totally three-dimensional without any histrionics. Barbara Ferris also stands out among a talented young cast, especially in her final stoned lament at the evening beach-party.

Winner is helped immeasurably by a brilliant cinematographer, Nicolas Roeg (here in between lensing such notable Brit-flicks as The Caretaker, Nothing But the Best and Masque of the Red Death). His location work right from the title sequence gives a vivid sense of place of a jaded seaside resort in the last days of summer.

Directorial flair is surprisingly confident, borrowing just enough new-wave technique to languidly establish the film's youth pedigree without ever indulging in obtrusive effect for its own sake.

Winner's previous film, West 11, a lowlife murder suspensor, also made good use of a mainly young cast. After The System he moved on to bigger but not necessarily better things before Hollywood swamped what talent he had. A pity, because this film, never acknowledged as being one of the best British b-films of the time, really is pretty good.

THE GIRL-GETTERS is really THE SYSTEM as the other title makes little sense -- and although the British New Wave comedy/drama does begin like a horny-dudes ensemble, it soon narrows solely onto Oliver Reed as Tinker, head of the wolf pack who "gets his" by falling in love with a rich model as cool, smooth, complicated and yes, beautiful as he is...

Director Michael Winner, before the Charles Bronson action flicks, began an eclectic partnership with post-Hammer villain Reed, and this is both their best work: Winner providing a looser LONELINESS OF THE LONG DISTANCE RUNNER vibe with similar satirical montage breaks; and Reed who, as Tinker... the local womanizing photographer... is all smiles and robust energy, hardly frowning or scowling before a long career playing scowling villains...

Taking place during two weeks at a British vacation spot, there's a kind of 24-hour feeling, and THE SYSTEM must've influenced AMERICAN GRAFFITI as we're put right there with the characters (including a female version of Tinker; a sullen married lady; a "finally grown up" engaged guy; and RUNNER starlet Julia Foster as a ditsy conquest)...

All hanging out at this sunny retreat where tourists abound, and our boys use their titular SYSTEM to cover the entire area (for girls and money), saving up for the approaching Winter, a plot-point mentioned many (perhaps too many) times throughout...

And although they never reach that particular season, you can still feel the foreboding chill move in, ironically after Reed's creative and, for the first time, genuine charm had almost completely thawed Jane Merrow's sublime dream-girl, Nicola, in what's more of a prolonged end of a party than a beginning, middle and end of a romantic summertime adventure -- yet it's all that too.

Whenever you question the quality of both Michael Winner and the late Oliver Reed's films in recent years don't judge them until you go back to the sixties where they both started out.

Here is a very low budget and rarely seen little movie that shows both the potential of both star and director.

Made two years before Michael Caine's ALFIE, THE SYSTEM takes a look at similar themes, having a good time while you're young and pulling birds. It is of course seen through the eyes of the male perspective as Ollie and pals Andrew Ray, John Alderton and David Hemmings go on a sexual rampage in a seaside town of Britain.

Winner helped launch the career of Oliver Reed and they worked together again several times throughout the sixties but this early piece of nostalgic British cinema is worth a look especially if you were a teenager in the early sixties.

Oliver Reed Is the leader here of a bunch of wanton youths, all around their 20s or below, looking for kicks among the girls on the beaches of Torquay. It's not a very remarkable film, but it gives a nice view of life among young people in the early 60s and has quite some charm with a touch of melancholy as well, like Fellini's "I vitelloni", a story of the same kind of irresponsible youngsters, while Oliver Reed actually makes a fascinating performance, a very odd character in many films, usually of the wrong kind, gangsters and bullies, but here he is still perfect. Just to listen to his language is quite an experience. The music is typical of the early 60s, shallow and noisy, while one female character sticks out: Jane Merrow as Nicola, the girl who makes Oliver Reed lose his bearings, a part originally intended for Julie Christie, but she was busy elsewhere. It's an interesting documentary entertainment with great photography but, like the drifters, leaving nothing behind.

I quite enjoyed Michael Winner's direction of DEATH WISH (1974), which I regarded as his finest effort... until I watched THE SYSTEM (UK 1964), an intelligent view of its time, unafraid to throw the cat among the social pigeons of UK society.

Very many films have tried, but THE SYSTEM reflects the restlessness of youth in the 1960s like very few have succeeded in doing. This generation born in a world war and now reaching adulthood is coming to grips with love, the loss of innocence, changing individual and social priorities, changing labor markets, an increasingly international world (Reed's German accent deserves praise), the generation gap, and a great many other thorns besides.

THE SYSTEM provides an eloquent take not only of its time but, most of all, of social strata. In that particular regard, it manages even keener incisiveness than the much better known, and admittedly better finished and photographed BLOW UP which Italy's Michelangelo Antonioni would direct two years later. I am in no doubt that this film served as some kind of blueprint to Antonioni. Curiously, David Hemmings - who plays a small part in THE SYSTEM - would act as the male lead, and photographer, in BLOW UP.

Petite, commonly pretty and plump, apparently not particularly sharp Julia Foster provides the golden nugget comment: "There are two kinds of people: the takers and the taken."

The script, also penned by Winner, is superb, roaringly brought to life by the handsomely rugged Oliver Reed, in his career-best performance, surpassing even his excellent rendition of Sykes in OLIVER!, or his memorable parts in THE JOKERS, ASSASSINATION BUREAU or GLADIATOR. Reed conveys the image of a young photographer used to getting his way with girls, and with life in a tourism-reliant part of the UK, but now finds himself facing the authority of his boss (a callous Harry Andrews), the threat of another photographer competing for his niche, and, above all, his inability to compete with the rich. The woman he loves tells him not to say "I love you" and simply bypasses his life by taking an assignment in Rome.

Jane Merrow, Barbara Ferris also deliver very good performances.

Cinematography, with its staccato editing, has to rate excellent for a low budget film. Above all, what I take from THE SYSTEM is that it makes you think - you realize that this film done 60 years ago and reflecting the morals of the day, continues to apply in many ways today, even if the Internet has helped blur many social stigmas and differences, brought on many new quandaries, too, and changed much of our daily living.

I recommend it wholeheartedly.