Old Boys

The real star of the film is the location. Having said no to both the Harry Potter series and If, Lancing College has finally succumbed to a coming-of-age movie where the nerd wins the day. And it's the location which makes the movie, as the film-makers get the most out of it. Well worth a watch.

I came across "Old Boys" by accident on British TV when channel-flicking, and luckily just as the Continuity voice announced it was a film about a public school (so I had none of the pre-conceptions that other IMDB reviewers had).

For a time I wondered about in which period it was set, thinking that it might be the early 20th century, so it was a surprise when a 1980s Volvo appeared. In fact much of the film sought to recreate the sort of public school and its bizarre rituals that might have existed a century or more ago, and certainly nothing like the one I attended in the early 1960s. We would not have reacted to "The Dam Busters" in the jingoistic way that the boys in the film did. There was a palpable sense of lust when at the end of term my school screened "Some Like it Hot" with Marilyn Monroe in a very tight dress,)

Pauline Etienne was sweet enough as Agnes, but Agnes Laurent as and in "The French Mistress" (the 1960 film about a young woman accidentally appointed as the French teacher at an English public school) was more likely to have aroused emotions among pupils and staff).

A scene near the end reminded me of Tom Courtenay's act of defiance in "The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner" released in 1960.

The cast and settings were excellent - Lancing College, where filming took place, must be one of the most imposing of Brittain's public schools, with Eton, Marlborough and Winchester all having less conspicuous buildings that do not catch the public eye.

Slightly preposterous plot but very nicely acted and produced. Gorgeous setting of Lancing College and scenes in Lewes help the visuals.The story could be told in half the time but that wouldn't make much of a film! The film is set in the 1980s and, unfortunately, propogates a stereotyped version of life at an English Public School which is far from the reality. (It wasn't that bad when I went to one in the 60s!). Worth viewing.

Some movies take a thin smear of ideas and bulk them out with ninety minutes of dialog, overemoting, manipulation, and stuff getting shifted about on the screen. But "Old Boys" takes a rich selection (or maybe an over-generous selection) of ideas and throws them all together, in the hope that enough of the bits will stick together long enough to keep a story-line going. And keep the fun going.

A parody of English boarding school stories? Make it an over-the-top parody. Eccentric school customs? Make them bizarre customs. A weird traditional "sport"? Make it a demented sport. French teacher writes second-rate novels? They're third rate, and he hauls around cartons of unsold copies. Role reversal at the end? Make that all go crazy. Happy ending? No, this is adolescence, and it's not meant to be happy. And it's not meant to end! What adolescence does to you is supposed to stay with you for the rest of your life. But it probably won't. When you think about it, getting all grown up and adult is a pretty stupid thing to do. Maybe this adult stuff is something for girls. I hope not.

Yes, "Old Boys" does look like a classroom of kids were invited to throw their best ideas into the middle, and when a movie was made out of this "material", they were all able to point out some bits and say, "I suggested that." There's some very nice cutting, quick flicks between "the nerd I probably look like" and "the hero I would like to be" or "the person I prefer to see myself as, though still of course a nerd." Whatever the story's developments (if that's not too strong a word) everything always remains fresh, like a dewy early morning in a magical English countryside. If you're prepared to cut this movie some slack, and come along for the ride, you might discover that any boring parts are quite hard to find. Scatterbrain energy and unrepressed exuberance, what else is youth for?

It's a film I recommend for the boy in every male. And what about females? Dunno. You can never tell with girls. They're a different species, mysterious, baffling. They're girls.

Another of those films that start in the middle and finish at the beginning and no one is any the wiser. No very funny and not very entertaining either. My advice find something else.