Up the Junction

This movie had a profound effect on me when I first craned my neck to see it from the front row of the Haymarket cinema in Newcastle upon Tyne. I was sixteen years old and on date with a guy that had a rich father, a triumph spitfire and the personality of deadwood. I fell deeply in love with Suzy Kendall knowing that it should have been Dennis Waterman. I saw this movie every night for two weeks. It captures those times exquisitely, almost painfully. I just need to hear the opening theme to be transported back. The clash of cultures, the poverty on both sides of the class divide. Polly had money but was surrounded by shallowness and snobbery. Her friends up the junction had loyalty, camaraderie and fun, but struggled to survive, scamming their way from pay day to pub, who was the poorer? Manfred Mann's excellent score insinuates it's way into the fabric of the movie, haunting and evocative. Give this one a chance, you won't regret it.

As someone who was born and brought up in Battersea in the 60's and 70's I can certainly attest that the tone of the film is spot-on.

Battersea was then a very working-class and rather depressed district, despite counting the very wealthy areas of Westminster and Chelsea as near neighbors. Today the difference is barely noticeable; then it hit one in the face.

Given the politics of the day, when unions were strong, the Communist Party of Great Britain still had a respectable face, and protests against the Vietnam War were taking place, the idea of a well-off young woman moving to south London to 'see things for herself' is not odd at all. Nowadays of course, it's the done thing to move to run down areas in the hope of seeing property prices rise.....

The film should be appreciated for what it is, a well-acted, involving and accurate snapshot of a less glamorous place and time in "Swinging 60's" London. About as good as you'll get without a time machine.

Up The Junction was made during the Summer of 1967 though there isn't much love & peace to be found in this film. Arguably the only likeable characters are Polly, an uptown girl who's trying to slum it in Battersea, and Pete (Dennis Waterman) the 'bit of rough' she falls for, and they're not without flaws. I always loved Dennis Waterman in Minder and his character in this film could easily pass for a young Terry McCann; anyone who doubts his ability as a straight actor should watch the showdown between Pete and Polly in the hotel room. The two sisters Sylvie and Rube are sweet & bubbly on the outside but later on reveal a nasty side, especially when mocking a work colleague who appears to have learning difficulties.

Apart from Pete, all the men are depicted as selfish, sex mad and prone to violence.

Up The Junction came out a few years after the golden age of kitchen sink drama, and maybe lacks their gritty Northern humour, but there's still plenty to recommend including some lovely, sweeping London skylines, nice views of the iconic Battersea power station, and a groovy soundtrack by Manfred Mann. Anyone nostalgic for the late 1960s will probably enjoy it.

Peter Collinson was already mellowing after his directorial debut with the incredibly nasty home invasion film 'The Penthouse' (1967); and let loose on Nell Dunn's stories in Technicolor with Manfred Mann on the soundtrack was obviously going to turn in a very different film from Ken Loach's 'Wednesday Play' of 1965.

What seemed like gritty realism in 1967 today seems as remote as the world evoked by Dickens (complete with Jewish stereotypes which really date it). Maureen Lipman is almost unrecognisably young and it's always good to see Adrienne Posta and Liz Fraser (who share a literally gut-renching sequence after the former has an abortion performed by a drunken Hylda Baker).

But the real star is Battersea power station, looming in the background back in the days when it was still permitted to smoke.

A very likeable if dated view of working class 60's London viewed the eyes of upper crust Polly Dean. Several tough and controversial issues (illegal abortions & wife beating) are covered which must have been brave at the time that the film was made. Strangely prophetic in the 'gentrification' of Battersea (one of the up-areas in recent property prices). Having been in the year I was born, I cannot fully comment on the authenticity of this films view of 60's life. However from my perspective and that of older relatives it is fairly accurate. The soundtrack (by Manfred Mann) is a superb slab of sixties beat\psychedelia. The characters are very likeable and the film is in my opinion a good introduction for any scholar of the period. 9/10