8. Up The Junction (1968)
Polly Dean (Suzy Kendall of Giallo Torso fame) is embarrassed by her lavish upbringing and vacates Chelsea in order to slum it in Battersea. She gets a job in a confectionary factory in order to achieve financial independence from her family. Polly embraces the great unwashed when she makes friends with two working class sisters and a working class boy who abhors her for her privileged background. Illegal abortions and motorbike crashes come to haunt Polly in the film. A grim and miserable tale of life in working class London, everyone, despite the squalor and poverty, just carries on with life. It is also a snapshot of 1968 - the clothes, the hair, the music. The film deals with typical kitchen sink issues like back street abortion (which was handled with considerable tact in the movie). Despite a marvellous cast, the film is not widely highly regarded. It's a bit depressing, but the Manfred Mann psychedelic soundtrack and 1960s nostalgia make it highly watchable.