2. A Taste Of Honey (1961)
Based on the play of the same name by Shelagh Delaney, A Taste of Honey follows the exploits of Jo, a 17 year old girl with a hideous, demanding, alcoholic mother. She has a fall at school and hurts her knee. A black sailor called Jimmy brings Jo onto his ship to tend to the wound and they have a brief affair. Meanwhile Jo's mother has met and married a new man called Peter. Jo feels neglected, gets a job in a shoe shop and a flat of her own. She meets a gay student called Geoffrey whom she invites to live with her. When Jo finds out she is pregnant, Geoffrey offers to marry her but Jo's mother's relationship has gone kaput and she moves in with Jo. Geoffrey feels pushed out and leaves the flat and Jo to the care of her mother. Rita Tushingham made her big screen debut in A Taste of Honey. Her mother was played by the indomitable Dora Bryan. Exceptionally bold for its time - tackling unwed motherhood, alcoholism, homosexuality and inter-racial relationships - A Taste of Honey is still relevant enough today to ruffle a few feathers. I bet back then, that upon viewing the film, audiences thought "At last, some truth about life". Everyone knew at least one closet gay or one unwed mother, A Taste of Honey just has the balls to lay its cards on the table and we have to accept it warts and all.