The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner Page #3

Synopsis: A rebellious youth, sentenced to a boy's reformatory for robbing a bakery, rises through the ranks of the institution through his prowess as a long distance runner. During his solitary runs, reveries of his life and times before his incarceration lead him to re-evaluate his privileged status as the Governor's prize runner.
Genre: Drama, Sport
Director(s): Tony Richardson
Production: Continental
  Won 1 BAFTA Film Award. Another 4 wins & 2 nominations.
 
IMDB:
7.7
Rotten Tomatoes:
70%
NOT RATED
Year:
1962
104 min
776 Views


a bit better than this, Smith.

Surely your nerves were on edge,

weren't they?

You felt afraid.

Well, if I felt afraid,

I mean, I wouldn't have broken in, would I?

Yeah, all right, fair enough.

Look, I want you to help me.

I'm going to say a word

and I want you to reply with any word

that comes into your head, okay?

Like, if I say to you, "Food,"

what do you think of?

I'm sorry, I don't get the idea at all.

Well, would you like to do it to me?

- Say a word to me.

- Tape recorder.

Tape recorder. Desk.

I don't know why I said desk,

it just happened.

Now, I'll say one to you.

Water.

Football.

Football.

Sky.

Snow.

Snow, indeed.

- Girl.

- Look...

I mean, what are you trying to do to me?

- I don't understand.

- Now, come on, Smith,

please, I'm trying to help you, help me.

- Girl.

- Boy.

Boy.

- Have you got a girlfriend, Smith?

- What's she got to do with you?

Oh, right, right.

- Gun.

- Horses.

- Knife.

- Smoke.

- Car.

- Compass.

- Father.

- Dead.

Why did you say that? Is your father dead?

Right.

- When did he die?

- The other week.

The other week?

I'm very sorry.

Your mother was very upset, I expect.

- No.

- She wasn't?

Not very.

Well, I think that'll be all for now.

Thank you.

- You mean I can go now, sir?

- Yes.

All right, thank you very much, sir.

- I hope you do well here.

- I hope you do, sir.

- What?

- In a manner of speaking.

Oh, I see. Right. Thanks.

Well, they certainly drive themselves hard

on the playing field.

Well, they're high-spirited, Mr. Brown.

If they weren't, they wouldn't be here.

Each of us has to expend our energy

on something, you know.

"Mens sana in corpore sano,"eh?

Well, that's better than some of that

psychiatric stuff they shove at us.

You mark my words.

Yes, but surely you believe that

an emotional readjustment

might be the answer

to some of their problems.

Well, of course, I do,

if I didn't, I wouldn't be here, would I?

No.

But how do we tackle the basic aggression

- which these lads obviously feel?

- By channeling it in the right direction.

I was just wondering whether

life wasn't a little more complicated

than a football match.

Go on, Col, get to one. Go on then.

Come on!

- Did you see that?

- Oh, you had him there.

Right down the middle with it, Don.

- Get it.

- Foul ball!

- That's a foul, ref!

- Oh, come on.

Come on, ref, it's obvious...

- Swallowed your whistle, ref?

- Go.

- Come on.

- Go on, Col.

Get to one, go on then.

- Come on.

- Get around him.

- Come on, Col.

- Go, go. That's it. You're on your own.

- You're on your own, boy.

- Kyle!

- Shoot!

- Come on.

- Well done, mate.

- Great.

Great, everyone.

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Alan Sillitoe

Alan Sillitoe (4 March 1928 – 25 April 2010) was an English writer and one of the so-called "angry young men" of the 1950s. He disliked the label, as did most of the other writers to whom it was applied. He is best known for his debut novel Saturday Night and Sunday Morning and early short story The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, both of which were adapted into films. more…

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Submitted on August 05, 2018

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