This Sporting Life

"He only believed in strength - love was a word he hadn't the power to say."

1963 2h 14m EN

👍

7.0

SOLID

★7.0TMDB · 127

Drama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

In early 1960s Northern England, Frank Machin is mean, tough and ambitious enough to become an immediate star in the rugby league team run by local employer Weaver.

“He only believed in strength - love was a word he hadn't the power to say.”

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Where to watch · US

Cast

Richard Harris
Frank Machin
Rachel Roberts
Mrs. Margaret Hammond
Alan Badel
Gerald Weaver
William Hartnell
'Dad' Johnson
Colin Blakely
Maurice Braithwaite
Vanda Godsell
Mrs Anne Weaver
Anne Cunningham
Judith
Jack Watson
Len Miller

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Lindsay Anderson
Writers: David Storey
Languages: English
Countries: United Kingdom

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $0.3M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

63 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Lindsay Anderson, shot by Denys N. Coop. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Roberto Gerhard. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Peter Taylor shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Richard Harris and Rachel Roberts and Alan Badel carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "He only believed in strength - love was a word he hadn't the power to say.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0057578 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Lindsay Anderson directs. Denys N. Coop behind the camera. Roberto Gerhard scores. Peter Taylor cuts. Produced in United Kingdom. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Shot for just $0.3M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
263 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
3Directed by Lindsay Anderson, shot by Denys N. Coop. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Original score by Roberto Gerhard. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor Peter Taylor shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Richard Harris and Rachel Roberts and Alan Badel carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "He only believed in strength - love was a word he hadn't the power to say.".
8IMDB entry: tt0057578 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
9Classified under 11 themes, including "northern england", "based on novel or book", "sports", "widow".

The technical file

Cinematography: Denys N. Coop
Original score: Roberto Gerhard
Editing: Peter Taylor
Makeup / hair: Bob Lawrance
Runtime: 134 min · 2h 14m
Status: Released
Budget: $286,281
Original language: EN
IMDB: This Sporting Life (1963)

Awards

National Board of Review: Top Ten Films

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

Lindsay Anderson

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

John Chard2014-09-26
★ 9/10
It's about time you took that rock of weight off your shoulders. This Sporting Life is directed by Lindsay Anderson and written by David Storey. It stars Richard Harris, Rachel Roberts, Alan Badel, William Hartnell, Colin Blakely, Vanda Godsell and Anne Cunningham. Music is by Roberto Gerhard and cinematography by Denys Coop. Frank Machin (Harris) gets the opportunity to utilise his brute strength and angry nature out on the Rugby League field. It looks a match made in sporting heaven as Machin quickly establishes himself as a star in waiting, but off the field he is less successful at life's challenges... You taking the jam out of someone's sandwich without asking for it? Pigeon holed as Brit Kitchen Sink Drama or Brit New Wave, This Sporting Life is regardless a very unique and powerful film. It was director Anderson's first full length feature and also Harris' break out performance. What transpires over the course of the two hour plus running time, is a tale of mud, blood and emotionally fractured characters. Set to a grim back drop of a damp Yorkshire city, with coal mines and factories the means of employment, the streets are paved with stone and the terraced houses charred by the soot of the chimney smoke. Just a big ape on the football field. This back drop marries up perfectly with Machin's life, where even out on the pitch he comes to understand that he's in a vortex of unfulfillment. There are some bright spots dripped into proceedings, hope dangled like a golden carrot, especially with one beautiful sequence as Frank plays with Margaret's (Roberts) kids, but bleakness is never far away, the story demands that. Margaret is his landlady and object of his brutish desire, she's one of life's warriors but struggling to keep up the good fight. Widowed and still burned by her husband's death, her relationship with Frank is heart aching in its hopelessness. Has the polishing of a pair of boots ever been so sad as it is here? Harris is a revelation, a tour de force, feral yet anguished, all coiled up in one hulking frame. Roberts, likewise, is terrific, a measured and layered turn that helps to bring the best out of Harris. Around the central pair are a roll call of grand British actors aiding the quality of the production, while Anderson and his editor Peter Taylor use brilliant bold-cut transitions to let the flashback narrative work its magic. From the whack of an arm thundering into Machin's teeth at the beginning of the film, to his punching of a spider on the wall at the end, this is a 1960s British classic of some considerable worth. 9/10
CinemaSerf2025-01-07
★ 7/10
Richard Harris is on great form here as the aspiring rugby league player "Frank" in a northern English town who is about to hit the big time. An enormous payment of £1,000 is offered and that's going to change not just his life, but possibly that of his landlady "Mrs. Hammond" (Rachel Roberts). She's quite a distant widow who keeps a low profile but he's interested in her, despite her dour exterior. Yes, in a physical way - but also because he desperately wants her to start to live again. With his new career comes cash, acclaim and success but there's also an emptiness as he seeks some greater sense of validation or purpose, and as that search proves elusive he descends into a drink fuelled abyss. His boss is the calculating and wealthy "Weaver" (Alan Badel) who cares not for the man at all, only for results and he's married to the bored Vanda Godsell who wouldn't mind a little fun with their tough new protégé either. As to the cause of the widow's unhappiness? Well rumours abound as to the cause - accidental or otherwise - of her late husband's death and those seem destined to map out her life - unless she and he can, perhaps, break that cycle of depression and find happiness? It's violent - both in spirit and delivery, and it clearly demonstrates the attitudes supporting a prevailing atmosphere of "acceptable levels" of domestic violence as the emotions of love, lust and anger vacillate for control of this immature young man, but it also features a subtle degree of decency and even respect deep down in there, too. There's quite a poignant effort from William Hartnell as his well-meaning but rather ineffectual dad and Colin Blakely also delivers well as his best pal "Maurice" who serves as a useful foil for the turbulent "Frank" as the story evolves. It's a social commentary, but not so much one on society at large as such but more of the grasping and unfilled nature of human life, frustration and exasperation and Harris really does imbue that compellingly.