Look Back in Anger (1959)

There isn't much of one. The story basically involves an examination of the lives of Jimmy Porter, his wife Allison, their friend Cliff Lewis and Allison's friend Helena Charles. Allison (Mary Ure) is an upper class young lady who has chosen to marry a less pedigreed man (Richard Burton), although he is University educated. The couple live in a grimy dismal flat with their friend, Cliff (Gary Raymond) living in the spare room down the steps. Despite his education, Jimmy prefers to run a sweet stand in the local street market with Cliff. At nights, Jimmy goes to the local jazz club and plays a mean horn. Jimmy is the original "angry young man" of British postwar lore.

For some reason he is particularly angry at his wife, railing at her in lengthy tirades for most of the time they are together. It's not entirely clear why he is so bitter towards her given that she obviously broke with her family to be with him and treats him in a completely decent manner. Cliff tries to intercede and keep the peace. Then Allison's friend, Helena (Claire Bloom) shows up. She is appearing in a play in town and wants to stay with her friend. Cliff agrees to give up his room although he is still on the premises and Jimmy takes an instant, malignant dislike to Helena. Helena is not the shrinking violet Allison is. She talks back. Jimmy feels compelled to give her a hard time at every turn. It turns out Allison is pregnant. Jimmy apparently couldn't care less about this and Allison ends up leaving, with Helena's assistance, to go back to her parents and escape Jimmy's frankly incomprehensible abuse.

Once Allison is gone, Helena moves in for the kill. She and Jimmy end up in a clinch and immediately become very much the loving happy couple. Jimmy now treats her with great love and respect and Cliff becomes the odd man out, for sure. Cliff decides to leave to seek his fortune elsewhere (presumably in London). As Jimmy and Helena are seeing Cliff off at the train station, who shows up but Allison. Helena bows out of the scene and Jimmy learns that Allison has lost the baby and suffered such internal damage in the process that she will never be able to have any children. They reconcile to face the future together.

Like many projects that start out as a play, the film suffers from a certain static quality, long stretches in the bed-sitter where Jimmy goes on and on spewing venom at his emotionally beaten down wife. It doesn't always make for the most riveting filmmaking. However, there are many highly worthwhile scenes, such as those between Jimmy and the older woman, Mrs. Tanner (Dame Edith Evans), who has always been a help and support to him. She is the only person he adores without question or criticism and he is devastated by her death. The vulnerable man beneath the often poisonous façade peeks out in these scenes as it does in a few fleeting tender scenes with Allison. Jimmy also proves himself an honorable person when he attempts to defend another stall operator who is the victim of prejudice. At other times Jimmy can be very impish and funny when clowning around with Cliff. Indeed, some of the tirades have their amusing moments such as the one where Jimmy suggests that Allison’s mother is contained in their chest of drawers. All in all, definitely worth seeing.

As Cliff, Gary assays a Welsh accent with aplomb. He easily convinces as the rather dim but sweet working class follower to Jimmy's leader. Gary ably portrays a rather childlike and earnest personality in Cliff. Clearly proximity with Jimmy and Allison has not helped Cliff's self-esteem. In the presence of the lightning intelligence and eloquence of Jimmy and the pure patrician grace of Allison, Cliff describes himself as "common as dirt". At one point he advises Helena that he "loves these two people very much" and that it is only due to his interventions that they are still together. Yet, the relationship is so replete with negativity one immediately wonders why he would think this was a worthwhile goal. The answer that springs to the fore immediately is Cliff's apparent need to create a family with Allison and Jimmy. By turns Jimmy seems to be his best friend, his older brother and his hero. The worshipful look he directs at Jimmy in the second scene in which Jimmy is playing in the club is remarkable to behold. Cliff’s face is suffused with such awe and adoration it's almost heart-breaking.

And his relationship with Allison is equally complex. There is much physical affection between them, including a scene where she rubs his shoulders. She parades around the apartment in her slip with nary a thought that Cliff is an adult male who might be affected by such a sight. Yet, she treats Cliff in a mostly motherly way that seems to dispel such questions. At other times, he is her only confidant. One senses that Cliff looks up to Allison much as he looks up to Jimmy. When Helena comes along, Cliff's world is turned upside down. He is no longer the glue that holds his "family" together but an unwelcome fifth wheel, a fact he seems to grasp quite quickly. When he leaves Jimmy comments to Helena that Cliff is "sloppy and irritating" but that he has the biggest heart in the world. It seems a very apt description and it is provided rather wistfully by Jimmy who must realize that he has lost his best friend and his greatest supporter with the loss of Cliff.

Gary is incredibly young and gorgeous in this film. He was only 23 when the film was made and he has the most amazing head of hair on him at this stage in his life - as dark and thick as any I've ever seen. His face is absolutely exquisite. He seems to have the most perfect skin-like he never had one zit as a teenager. Of course he’s the tallest man in the room, as always and he looks scads younger than Richard Burton who was, indeed, ten years older than Gary. He wears a baggy sweater throughout most of the film so an idea of how his body looked at this point is pretty difficult to come by, but he looks like he might have been a little heavier at this point in his life than he was later. Still skinny but not as skinny as in Playboy of the Western World and Rat Patrol. Thankfully he is in many scenes in this movie as the second male lead so he can be gazed upon extensively. For that alone the movie rates highly for me.

Photos from "Look Back in Anger"

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