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It's the days when university was quite special, where the students that attended liked to revel, a pint of bitter in Ye Olde Crown, making locals squeal and frown, boys and girls were kept apart, not on the level. But like today some found their way to go astray, as their hormones opened other doors for play, on this occasion it's the wife, of a lecturer in strife, who entices Harry through, her porch doorway. More high jinks leads to a climb up Lucy Tower, where poor Phil decides to mimic a rain shower, and cascades down to the floor, his ascent turns into pour, and the life of Harry continues, as dour.

This film is well worth a look despite it having some weaknesses that stop it from truly being a memorable film. Strangely, the greatest weakness this film has is its central plotline, that being the affair with Harry Brown and the professor's wife. This comes across as melodramatic and somewhat forced while the rest of the film is realistic and absorbing.

I wanted to see the movie because of Samantha Eggar, very young here, before the movies that made me fall in love with her, "The Collector" and "The Walking Stick". But she has just a small, unrepresentative role. Ralph Thomas made later "Deadlier Than the Male"(1967), a film that I saw many times and that I really liked when I was just a teenager. In this "Young and Willing" (1962) we have also a very young Ian McShane, discovered by me also when I was a teenager in "If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium" (1969). The revelation of this film is Virginia Maskell, excellent in the role of a woman who's married to a man who loves her in his own way, without giving her sex. Paul Rogers is also very good in the role of that man, her husband, a professor. A very very young and unrecognizable John Hurt, in the role of Ian McShane's colleague, who dies falling from the Lincoln tower. Not bad, but neither a masterpiece.

Ian McShane's debut film has him playing a scholarship university student, Harry Brown, who has a high opinion of himself and comes unstuck by taking too many risks.

As a plot, The Wild and the Willing is dated and a bit forced, but the interest these days is in the cast - top billed are Paul Rogers and the ill-fated Virginia Maskell, but we also have McShane (best known these days for Lovejoy and Deadwood), John Hurt (here not really displaying the qualities he would in The English Civil Servant, The Elephant Man, and 1984), Johnny Briggs (Coronation Street's Mike Baldwin), and Jeremy Brett (probably the screen's best Sherlock Holmes).

So the film is watchable and has interest because of its cast, but it isn't really a classic. If you like the usual story of shenanigans at university with a macabre twist, then you'll probably like this. If not, just enjoy some youthful performances from actors you'll know much better from their later work.

I am prompted to offer this review of The Wild and the Willing by what I think is its undeserved user rating on this site. While the film has its shortcomings it does offer some good entertainment for those who enjoy the atmosphere of the play hard-work little milieu of young 1960's university students. The banter and dialogue of especially the first half is good as well as the characters and motivations of many of the leads - the bright angry working class boy who fits right in but is forever feeling guilty about it; the good looking girls seeking that superior male meal ticket while being abruptly dismissive of lesser types wanting their company; the emotionally unsatisfied wife of a cold academic looking for comfort in younger male students and many others. And this is probably where it runs off the rails a bit in the second half with the relationship between the wife and the working class student being rushed and not quite plausible in its sudden intensity given he has been happily dating a young Samantha Eggar. The dramatic finale of the prank is also a little overblown. Overall this site's user rating of 6 is too low for a film that has many enjoyable attributes not least the acting of Ian McShane, Virginia Maskell, Samantha Eggar and others. I would clearly list it in the upper 7's.

Knighthood-seeking university professor "Chown" (Paul Rogers) is married to "Virginia" (Virgina Maskell) who has a penchant, after the tiniest bit of persuasion, for his student "Brown" (Ian McShane). He is quite a compelling character who lives life on the edge and makes friends easily. When things come to a bit of an head, "Brown" and his friend "Phil" (John Hurt) decide that they are going to fly their rag flag from the top of the tower of the school - but might that be one risky venture too far for this man? I suppose it is trying to show us a clash of cultures and classes, but the undercooked writing is just too pedestrian and the acting doesn't ever allow the thing to catch fire. That's a problem with a film where lust, envy and forbidden romance is crucial to the characters' development, and though Rogers proves a safe enough pair of hands, the others only present us with something that could just as readily have been produced by the students the cast are trying to represent. It's perhaps not fair to be too critical, we have moved on considerably from the racist and ageist toxicity depicted here from 1962, but McShane, Hurt and a few other familiar faces just can't imbue this with any sense of reality. It scratches the surface of so many topics, but that's about the disappointing height of it.

This is the sort of movie that should be so bad it is good. It is just bad, period. Notable only for being the debuts of some good actors who do the best they can with unintentionally parodic material. But the pacing is so slow and the characters so uninteresting my only reaction was to sit watching, stupefied, as it just went on and on.

This 'angry young man' film was brilliantly parodied by Harry Enfield in NORBERT SMITH: A LIFE which I dearly wish I had watched instead.

Christmas Day 2016 was the first time I saw this film despite my 70 years of age.Was this because British TV networks did not consider this film had enough popular appeal?I enjoyed seeing a young Ian McShane(Lovejoy), Samantha Eggar, John Hurt. Johnny Briggs, (Mike Baldwin in Coronation Street), Jeremy Brett, David Sumner the latter of whom I had not seen since he played Patrick Sullavan in the mid sixties long running t.v.series "The Sullavan Brothers".As to the plot of university students who never seem to do any study but spend their time larking around even finding time to have an affair with a tutor's wife; I found unconvincing.Every undergraduate I have met are kept busy studying their subject, going to tutorials and lectures, writing essays if they are serious using tax payers money, (remember this is 1962 and one could study at University then at the tax payers expense) to fund their study.Even though this was filmed in 1962 which is now 54 years ago, the actors still looked too old!

The script was variable and I awarded this film 6/10 as above average.

Ian McShane (in his screen debut) is a brilliant student who makes friends easily among his peers, but has no respect for the university. He makes passes at his master's wife, indulges in pranks, and thoroughly resents the hidebound attitudes of the class-ridden institution. But is it their snobbery or his?

Producer Betty Box has gifted director Ralph Thomas with an astonishing troupe of young performers, including John Hurt (also in his big-screen debut), Jeremy Brett, and Samantha Eggar. Thomas has responded by offering a very workmanlike screen adaptation of Laurence Dobie & Robert Sloman's play, opened up nicely, with Lincoln standing in for the fictional academic town. Thomas' typically middle-brow work doesn't offer much in the way of surprising revelation, save that the lower classes must pull up their socks as well and the upper set. Still, the performances are melancholic, Lincoln is very photogenic, and the story of a man who grows up a little too late is a good one.

I saw some of this film being shot around Lincoln Cathedral, an area not condusive to great film making. The film is important because of the debut of three future stars. Firstly the brigadier's daughter Samantha Eggar (older half sister of the also beautiful Toni) who went onto fame in The Collector and, for U.S. audiences, Dr Dolittle. Faded from view pretty quickly. Secondly Ian McShane who has had a long career, more in the U.K., but has been in some U.S blockbuster miniseries. He is also known to A&E audiences for his portrayal of a lovable, rascally antique dealer in the hilarious "LoveJoy'series. Last but certainly the best known is John Hurt who has proven himself in the International cinema as a highly respected actor and star. Don't watch the film watch the people.