The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner
British icon Tom Courtenay plays Colin, a defiant teenager who refuses to settle into a job at the factory where his father worked. Caught for petty thieving, he is sent to borstal. There, he discovers his talent for cross-country running and the governor (Michael Redgrave, Dead of Night) gives him the chance to redeem himself in a race against a local public school.
Woodfall Film Productions, the independent company led by director Tony Richardson and writer John Osbourne, created this passionate and explosive tale of rebellion, which was praised for Richardson's iconic cinematic style, triumphantly contrasting the gritty reality of life in a northern town with the escapism of Colin's country runs. This British New Wave classic propelled Tom Courtney to fame and won him a BAFTA for Best Newcomer.
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- Commentary by film historian Robert Murphy, with lead actor Tom Courtenay and writer Alan Sillitoe
- Video essay by cinematographer Walter Lassally
- Momma Don’t Allow (1956), Richardson’s first theatrical film