This Sporting Life
This Sporting Life is a 1963 British kitchen sink drama film directed by Lindsay Anderson. Based on the 1960 novel of the same name by David Storey, which won the 1960 Macmillan Fiction Award, it recounts the story of a rugby league footballer in Wakefield, a mining city in Yorkshire, whose romantic life is not as successful as his sporting life. Storey, a former professional rugby league footballer, also wrote the screenplay.
Plot
Set in the fictional city of City, the film is about Frank Machin, a bitter young coal miner from the West Riding of Yorkshire. The first part of the story is told through a series of flashbacks when Frank is anaesthetised in a dentist's chair, having had his front teeth broken in a rugby league match, and recovering at a Christmas party. The second part takes place after he has fully regained his senses, and proceeds without flashbacks.
Awards
More details
| author | David Storey |
|---|---|
| award | National Board of Review: Top Ten Films |
| contentLocation | Yorkshire |
| director | Lindsay Anderson |
| editor | Peter Taylor |
| genre | drama social |
| keywords | belong boarding house bolton priory brain haemorrhage break cerebral haemorrhage christmas party coal miner drink fur coat great ape kept woman loose forward (number 13) married nothing one person reject rid river rugby league scar suicide suspect talk west west riding of yorkshire will to survive |
| musicBy | Robert Gerhard |
| nomination | Academy Award for Best Actor Academy Award for Best Actress |
| producer | Karel Reisz |
| productionCompany | Independent Artists |
| publisher | The Rank Organisation |