6. The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner (1962)
A rebellious youth called Colin (played by Tom Courtenay) gets slung into borstal for robbing a bakery. During carceration, Colin reveals that he is a fantastic long distance runner, and on this basis he rises through the ranks. During his runs, he day dreams about his past before borstal and he reappraises his situation as the governor's (Michael Redgrave) golden athlete. He refuses to take place in a race against snotty schoolchildren. He nearly wins the race but stops at the finish line and lets the others go past him. In doing so, he flips the bird against authority and ends up ignored by the Governor, working in the machine shop. However, he is happy and calm in this lowly position. The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner is very kitchen sink fare in that it has a grim and depressing storyline and setting. It primarily settles on class differences for its main theme - evoking a 'them' versus 'us' attitude. You can say on one level that Colin pisses his future away by his act of defiance and on another level you can say that he was true to his beliefs and wouldn't capitulate to the system and the glorified position it put him in. Class distinction has become less of a Bogeyman these days, but the film is great fun to watch as an act of individual rebellion and also a celebration, visually, of the English countryside replete with jazz music.