The Reckoning

50 years ago anti-heroes sold movies, though thankfully not this one. Audiences were delighted that there was no longer a required convention for villains to get caught, and directors exploited the new freedom to excess. This is a prime example of that excess. Our hero is a schizophrenic, one moment delighting in the rich mans trappings - flash car, large property in fashionable Surrey, wife with all the social graces, conventional senior management position in solid London based corporation, the next behaving like a football hooligan when he rediscovers his roots. His treatment of females is so despicable I'm not surprised that distributors wouldn't touch this film.

At the end I wished that I was back in the fifties and that he was the one due the reckoning. No such luck.

The film has some merit for the acting and camerawork but as entertainment it just left a nasty taste in the mouth.

A British drama; A story about a man who rises from a slum to the height of cut-throat big business in London. Returning home, and under the strain of his father's death he cracks and he begins to confront his demons. Based on Patrick Hall's novel, "The Harp that Once", a slice of British realism, the film is about a prodigal son returning home. It is an unflinching exploration of the British class system. Nicol Williamson gives a muscular performance showing self-pity and self-loathing and revenge, a man of few redeeming qualities. It's a film that avoids a debt to convention, but it says very little about the place of women in its character study. The fast editing creates a furious narrative pace but it is a touch too long.

Indicator are a small British blu-ray label who seem to have made it their ultimate goal to unearth some of the best and weirdest forgotten gems from Britain's cinematic past, routinely releasing titles I've never even heard of that turn out to be well worthy of a remaster and rediscovery. One such title is Jack Gold's The Reckoning, a tough, lean thriller about a no-nonsense businessman who travels up North seeking vengeance. Sound familiar? The Reckoning has been compared to Get Carter, which was released the following year, and the two films certainly share some similarities. Yet tonally and thematically the two are worlds apart, with Gold's film more eager to explore class divide and national identity than Carter's more straightforward revenge fantasy. The Reckoning may also be the better film: a punishing experience full of off-putting characters that leaves more of a lasting impression than what many consider to be Michael Caine's finest hour.

It tells the story of Mick Marler (Nicol Williamson), a corporate ball-buster who has worked his way up the ladder over the years with a combination of ruthless business savvy and sheer intimidation. He seems satisfied with his high income and strong social standing, but also has a button-pushing, gold-digging wife (Ann Bell) to contend with. After putting the pieces in place for a business manoeuvre that will favour both himself and his boss (as well as doing away with his biggest rival), Mick heads up north to Liverpool to visit his working-class Irish family. Immediately upon arrival, he discovers his father has died from a heart attack, but is disturbed when he discovers bruising on his father's body. After doing some digging, Mick learns that his father got into a fight with some English 'teddy boys', suffering the fatal heart attack after being punched and kicked to the ground by one of the gang. With his Irish blood boiling inside of him, Mick decides that he must avenge his father, but he also has responsibilities back home.

Torn between his two worlds, Mick goes on a journey of self-discovery that ultimately makes him even more loathsome. When he is in the South, he laughs at the idea of being bound by blood and tradition to avenge his father, but when he is back North, a beast is awoken inside him, and he is irresistibly drawn to embracing his primitive instincts. It's a tough, ugly film that asks you to stick with this part-thug, part-corporate psychopath for just shy of two hours, but John McGrath's screenplay - based on the novel by Patrick Hall - trusts the audience to at least try to understand the man who breezes between two equally brutal, yet entirely different, worlds. This isn't action-packed or even violent as you would expect from a man-on-a-revenge-mission movie, but takes its time to develop this hateful yet fascinating character who used his working-class upbringing to batter his way into the world of lavish dinner parties and fast cars, and was both intrigued and repulsed by what he found. Williamson is excellent, managing to emote both outer ferocity and inner turmoil at the same time, and it's a puzzle why the actor didn't go on to land bigger roles. While it's chaotic at times, The Reckoning is a true forgotten gem that highlights how important the work carried out by Indicator really is.

Jack Gold made his name on British television and "The Reckoning", which he made in 1970, often has the feeling of television drama about it and this is both something of a compliment and a curse in that, while it often displays a certain intelligence in its handling of the relationships on view, it is also blighted by a shooting style more in keeping with the small screen than the large.

It is adapted by John McGrath from Patrick Hall's novel "The Harp that Once" and centres on working-class Liverpool lad Mick Marler, who has made it big in the world of London business and who has returned home for his father's funeral. It's a strange, somewhat schizophrenic film, part thriller and part character study, reasonably entertaining on one level and yet constantly misfiring. Nicol Williamson, who plays Marler, was at the time considered to be the finest stage actor of his generation but you would never guess it from his performance here. It's an hysterical, over-played piece of acting; a juicy slice of ham and he's virtually never off the screen. He's half sympathetic anti-hero and half hissable villain and he plays to the gods. It's left to Rachel Roberts in the much too small a part of an oversexed doctor's receptionist to walk off with the picture. She certainly looks like she's enjoying herself and is having a grand time upstaging the male lead. Other fine actors like Paul Rodgers and Ann Bell are wasted. A curio at best.

I am in complete agreement with dan-filson-928-874987: THE RECKONING (which could almost be called a lost film now)is a powerful drama with a bravura performance by Nicol Williamson at its heart. Williamson specialised in being hard to like: he relished the negative attributes of every character he played. His performances tend to be quite broad, but the complete absence of sentimentality keeps them fresh. In THE RECKONING director Jack Gold keeps theatricality at bay. The powerful ending described by dan-filson-928-874987 is a fresh memory for me even after 40 years. Yes, there are similarities to GET CARTER: but CARTER is a genre picture, and THE RECKONING is a character drama. Both films are highly accomplished, but comparing them doesn't really shed much light on either, in my opinion. Time for Columbia or the BFI to get hold of a master and issue this on DVD.