It has a lot of clarity... which sometimes almost makes it blunt or melodramatic, but which may also save the movie from pretentiousness. I guess it may be dark enough without obscuring anything on top of that. The excellent acting really helps it work.

Psychotic.

Great character study buoyed by fantastic performances and unrelenting direction. The non linear narrative felt unnecessarily confusing but, with the strength lying in the emotions of the characters and harsh ambiance, it wasn't a big problem.

I had high hopes for this one - however I was a little underwhelmed by the cinematic style. I can get behind the idea of British free cinema, as long as I don't have to watch any more of them.

Maybe about half an hour too long (although having said that, I don't know what I'd cut out of it). Melodramatic bursts of music at the start and finish. We also get to (or have to) hear Harris warming up for "MacArthur Park" several years later.

Probably the best that these early British social realism films had to offer.

Excellent film.

A stark, bleak downer of a film, centered around a relationship obviously doomed from the start. There really isn't a single bright moment to be found, and Anderson lets every depressing moment play out in harsh realism. Richard Harris is superb in the lead, seething with brutality and frustration like a British Brando. The narrative, told partly in flashback, does occasionally make the chronology confusing.

Tale of brutish ambition and the inevitable damage wrought on the fragile people and objects it hopes to possess. Harris is outstanding in his savage and frustrated attempts to express himself. Anderson composes some starkly beautiful shots and also incorporates some effective rugby league scenes.