Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Fantastic!

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Supposedly a sensation in its time - and you can see why. There is an intensity in the portrayal of human relationships that is rarely seen in films from that era.However, this sensationalist aspect has ebbed away from the film over time. What you are left with is a film which, at times, is elegantly shot with beautifully written lines, but which is also very difficult to engage with, or even tolerate, in 2018.The main issue is the central character, Jimmy, played by Richard Burton. He is fundamentally unlikeable. More than that, he is a bully and a boor and an exploiter of women. Yet we are supposed to see him as some kind of hero (or perhaps anti-hero), when really he deserves none of the attention his friends and lovers give him.His instant seduction of another woman moments after his wife (belatedly) walks out on him is frankly preposterous. At release, it may have been seen as scandalous, but not now.The only element of decency he shows is where he defends an immigrant market trader, and that is one of the few scenes in the film that actually works.One for historical reference rather than modern enjoyment.

LOOK BACK IN ANGER has the distinction of being one of the first kitchen sink dramas that would become all the rage in the early 1960s. It's an adaptation of the famous John Osborne play about an angry young man and the love triangle in which he finds himself involving his wife and her best friend. I was surprised to see that Nigel Kneale adapted the story for the screen as this is well away from his comfort zone of science fiction and weirdness.The film features a typically bullish performance from Richard Burton as the protagonist who spends the entire running time bullying the women in his life (apart from his mother, as he loves her). Yes, the film is in essence a couple of of hours of Burton abusing people, so I didn't find it particularly entertaining. The characters are certainly well drawn with plenty of depth and more than realistic, but as a slice-of-life story nothing much really happens during the running time (there are no character arcs or anything like that) and I was left feeling depressed about what I'd just watched more than anything else.

Richard Burton, the worst actor of all time, overacts like never before in this dated crapfest. Burton, a wooden film actor who just copied Laurence Olivier, shouts his way through the entire film as he always did. Despite being from a working class background he could never portray working class characters convincingly. As if that were not bad enough, at 33 he was far too old to play Jimmy Porter. They mention that Jimmy is only 25, well Burton looked early 40s due to his alcoholism and chain smoking. Such a pity that they had to cast a far too old Burton, a graduate of the shouting school of acting, instead of Kenneth Haigh, star of the original acclaimed West End version. At least Haigh would only have been 27 at the time of filming, easily able to pass for 25. The whole story is uninteresting, dated and irrelevant.

Simply miserable film with Richard Burton angry at the whole world. Was he practicing for "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"Jimmy (Burton) can be described as being angry at society. What's his gripe?The tragic Mary Ure appears as his wife. Her tragedy was that she was a wonderful actress who unfortunately died so young. She is subjected to Burton's outbursts and eventually walks out on him.How lucky Edith Evans was to die in this film. Dame Edith had to contend with this incredible bad writing.A young and lovely Clare Bloom comes to visit and gets her friend (Ure) to leave this abuse. Then what happens? Bloom takes up with Burton. Come on. This is amateurish at best. Everyone seems to be walking out on poor Richard in this film. Yes, too many of us lost parents at a young age,but we didn't act with such hostility as Richard Burton did in this film.Even a plausible ending can't rescue this mess.I loved Burton on the trumpet.