A Matter of Choice

It's been about 15 years since I saw this film but I recall it was actually a very good film. It deals with the implications of everyday decisions, in this case the decision made by two people over which route to take home, and how these fateful decisions can effect a wide circle of people. Low budget and black and white with no standout acting performances, it is nevertheless coherent and thought provoking.

Don't watch this film for the sake of Anthony Steel, because he is almost put out at once. You keep hoping for his recovery, he is after all Anthony Steel and the only star attraction of the film, but he does nothing to earn it. He is just swept away by those circumstances, which no one can do anything about, since no one ever could about the force of circumstances. Here they are exposed to their maximum of perplexity of chance. No one is really guilty of anything of all that happens, and yet they all contribute to their fantastic machination, being all perfectly innocent victims of chance. The two boys get away with pure fright, they least of all wanted anything of this to happen, and yet only they caused this fantastic train of events which no one could stop or control. At first the film seems innocent and stupid enough, young boys do foolish things, but when once there is a traffic casualty no one can stop the avalanche of destiny, really the force of circumstances. It's a wonderful, fantastic, skilfully contrived maze of a film, where only the audience can understand the utter helplessness of the unfortunate actors and their most unintentional mess.

The IMDb need to revise their plot synopsis of this film as it reveals the ending, which is well worth waiting for.

Based on a story by the film's director and the actor Derren Nesbitt, who had recently worked together on 'The Man in the Back Seat' and 'Strongroom' and between them devised another engrossing account of escalating panic with a satisfyingly abrupt payoff at the conclusion; although the title and the opening narration that justifies it seem very much like last minute contrivances.

Like its predecessors it provides a vivid snapshot of life just after the Beatles' first LP (with London after dark full of men going home grumpy because all they'd got at the doorstep of the woman they'd just spent the evening lavishing what charm they could muster, along with their hard-earned money, was a quick "thank-you"). It's also crammed with fascinating period details like the nightclub which charges a whopping 5/- for admission - and the racial mixture of its clientele - and the malfunctioning sandwich machine which sets the whole final chain of events in motion.

Although top-billed, Anthony Steel is given very little to say or do...

Malcolm Gerald and Michael Davis get to their shared flat and find themselves at loose ends. They want to find some young women to have sex with, but a trip to a hip disco leaves them partnerless, so they head home. They want a sandwich, so they use an automat machine, but it doesn't work. This eventually results in their accidentally shoving a policeman in front of a car containing adulterers Anthony Steele and Jeanne Moody. Matters proceed from there with disaster all around.

There's an air of depression that overlays everything in this movie, a thorough sense of dissatisfaction with life and the world as matters ratchet forward; the young men want to do the right thing, but don't want any consequences. The lovers are unhappy with the situation, with Miss Moody preparing to go to California with her husband, leaving Steele to grumble and whine. I found myself wishing for a more moral world for this movie to take place in, but there's no sense of it, only consequences in a random universe.

Talking Pictures - 2025 Strange as I was expecting Anthony Steel to be the lead, but he did not have that much of a part at all.

The main parts were Mike and Tony whose introduction was very odd. They seemed like extras from Carrying On Camping rather than a couple of likely lads looking to pull girls.

Charles and Lisa Grant seemed ill-suited, although nice to see the Major from Fawlty Towers.

It was all rather wooden and didn't have the gritty realism of some of the kitchen-sink dramas of the time.

However, the plot was quite good and the ending had a twist which would have had serious implications for the "likely lads".