Great Britain

Director Lindsay Anderson pulls no punches in his classic screen adaptation of the hard-hitting David Storey novel about violence and its effect on the quality of life. Richard Harris and Rachel Roberts are outstanding as Machin, the professional rugby player who carries the violence of the football field into every area of his life, and Mrs Hammond, the frigid and withdrawn woman with whom he lodges and conducts a joyless affair. As well as examining their relationship in minute and painful detail, the film contains some of the most brutal and realistic footage of all-out sporting conflict ever filmed.