The Club (1980)
8/10
Forget the sports theme - just a fantastic film full of great characters
21 January 2011
Warning: Spoilers
What can I say? A complete and utter gem of a film. Saw it many years ago on Channel 4 (in the eighties I think) and never forgot it. Bought it last week off Amazon watched it last night and it was every bit as good as I remembered it. How many past favourites can you say that about? When I get into conversations about favourite films or why all sports films are awful I mention this film and nobody has ever heard of it! Certainly in England that is the case (as the miserable tally of 16 reviews on this site for a 30 year old film testifies!). It's incredible - I've never seen a film with so much verbal conflict. Every scene seems to have a barny (argument) in it, but do you ever grow tired of them? No you don't! That is because they appear completely natural and not contrived at all - full credit to everyone there. My favourite character is Jock, what a complete an utter rotter! And the hilarious thing is he thinks he is really popular! Love it.

My preference, and this is not a criticism, would have been to have all the fun at the club plus more of a study of the wayward club star's relationship with his partner. I thought her transition from a non-competitive hippy type into a protective and proud wife could have been fascinating and very interesting to watch. But hey that's just me.

I would recommend this film to anyone.
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