While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

A neglected but in its unassuming way very well-made little melodrama by a young Michael Winner, shot mainly on location around Torbay right at the start of the Swinging Sixties era. Fairly racy in its day, it never tries to sensationalise its premise that casual sex is as normal as the twist among the holidaying young people.The cast is exceptional. This was Winner's first collaboration with Oliver Reed, whose charisma and aura of watchful menace here is unmistakable. There was never another star in British cinema quite like him. Jane Merrow is just as excellent as the sympathetic but ultimately unattainable Nicola; she makes the character totally three-dimensional without any histrionics. Barbara Ferris also stands out among a talented young cast, especially in her final stoned lament at the evening beach-party.Winner is helped immeasurably by a brilliant cinematographer, Nicolas Roeg (here in between lensing such notable Brit-flicks as The Caretaker, Nothing But the Best and Masque of the Red Death). His location work right from the title sequence gives a vivid sense of place of a jaded seaside resort in the last days of summer.Directorial flair is surprisingly confident, borrowing just enough new-wave technique to languidly establish the film's youth pedigree without ever indulging in obtrusive effect for its own sake.Winner's previous film, West 11, a lowlife murder suspensor, also made good use of a mainly young cast. After The System he moved on to bigger but not necessarily better things before Hollywood swamped what talent he had. A pity, because this film, never acknowledged as being one of the best British b-films of the time, really is pretty good.

Film buffs tend to turn up their noses at the mention of the name Michael Winner, but the fact is he made some pretty decent films back in the '60's ( 'The Cool Mikado' excepted! ), of which 'The System' was one.Shot in glorious black and white, it is set in a small British seaside resort, where a gang of young men prey on young female tourists. Object? Sexual conquest. Tinker ( Oliver Reed ), the self-styled leader of this pack of wolves, is a happy-go-lucky photographer who snaps the girls when they arrive, secures their hotel names and room numbers, and then shares the pictures out among his pals, naturally keeping the best looking one for himself. He calls this method 'The System'.Tinker takes a shine to rich man's daughter Nicola ( Jane Merrow ), and begins courting her. She knows what he is up to, and does not attempt to discourage him. Their relationship develops and Tinker finds himself genuinely falling in love, but Nicola is not keen on settling down.Similarities between this film and 'Alfie', released a mere two years later, are uncanny. Both feature a good-looking young man whose interest in females goes only as far as the bedroom. Both feature said hero getting his comeuppance at the end - and at the hands of a woman. The ending implies that, despite being rebuffed, Tinker will be back at the railway station the next summer, still practising The System. Both feature the lovely Julia Foster too.As 'Tinker', Reed gives a magnetic performance. You can see why the girls fall for him like dominoes. Watching this film with my wife, she commented on his eyes, and she's right. They are like blow lamps. Jane Merrow, an actress known mainly to me through her television work such as 'Danger Man' and 'The Prisoner' is gorgeous as the elegant 'Nicola'. Tinker's gang includes David Hemmings ( two years away from starring in the iconic 'Blow-Up' ) and John Alderton, future star of the T.V. sitcom 'Please Sir!'. His character, Nidge, earns Tinker's wrath by openly admitting he has gotten one of his conquests pregnant. Tinker gives him the address of a back-street abortionist ( it was illegal when this was made ), but his friend does the decent thing and marries the girl.I was only two when this came out, so cannot say for certain whether its depiction of the young people of that era is in any way accurate. It feels authentic though. The fight between Tinker and Derek Newark's character is brutal indeed, as is a later scrap involving the rest of the gang. The use of broken bottles in said fight probably contributed to the film's earning of an 'X' certificate ( today it would be 18 ).The whole British holiday atmosphere is wonderfully captured. As Denis Norden once said: "it will take you back - even if you were never there originally!".Peter Draper wrote the thoughtful script, he later collaborated with Reed and Winner on the equally memorable 'I'll Never Forget What'sis name'. He really should have penned more movies.I'm so glad that this picture has resurfaced on D.V.D. One to put on the shelf next to classics such as 'Alfie' and 'Georgy Girl'.

When I saw " The System " for the first time I was about 14 years of age,and had never heard of Oliver Reed or David Hemmings.By today's standards it is hardly very shocking or thrilling;and yet in 1964 it was rather risqué,being about young men who were essentially trying to get young ladies into bed.It is filmed in black and white,and has a young and very handsome Oliver Reed seducing young ladies,but eventually falling in love.It also has a young David Hemmings,who later goes on to make some of the more memorable films of the 60's.It has many quality performances from British character actors, such as Juliette Foster and John Alderton.It also is directed by the very underrated Michael winner,and is worth viewing for its cinematographic interest,but also for its particular take on the 1960's.

With the Girl-Getters or The System as it was shown to be when i lived in the UK is a tale of misspent youth on a Southern England coastal town. Like many of these towns the folk lay dormant for most of the year until the summer comes, and with it trade in the form of tourism. This was in a time before the package tour and the Costa-del-slosh that most of the young men have reverted to. This was a time when a virile young male spent his days prowling the promenade in search of his prey. The system was a cunning plan thought up by Tinker played brilliantly by the late Oliver Reed, was to a method of getting as much action of the female variety as possible. I will not ruin the surprise by revealing what the system exactly entails but needless to say it works with measured success. Until that is Tinker falls fowl of his own tricks and has his heart broken by a more fiestly young lady with a nice sports car and a wealthy father. The Soundtrack is particularly commendable as can be gleaned from the opening titles, and continues with a particulary mod beat. I particularly enjoyed the film as I am of the same age as Reed in the film and it is good to see that little has changed in our quest for summer fun except for perhaps the fashion of the time and hairstyles. Or has it.