Laurence Olivier reinvented himself in The Entertainer and set to work with the angry young turks of British theatre and film. A new generation of talent like John Osbourne and Tony Richardson who would had regarded Olivier as yesterday's man as this film introduces Albert Finney and Alan Bates, the next generation of great actors.
Legend has it that Olivier initially dismissed the new generation of left wing playwrights that emerged in the 1950s. When Olivier was directing The Prince and the Showgirl, Arthur Miller then married to Marilyn Monroe showed up in London and wanted to see the plays by these young up and coming talent. Olivier accompanied Miller to the theatre and after the show asked Osbourne to write something for him, the result was The Entertainer.
Olivier plays washed up music hall comedian Archie Rice. He was never as funny as his father. He has evaded paying his taxes for twenty years, an undischarged bankrupt who has not paid his co-workers and worse of all, he is not making his audience laugh.
Set during the time of the Suez crisis, the moment Britain realised they were no longer a world power. Archie's son who is in the army is kidnapped out in Egypt. He is in a loveless marriage with second wife Phoebe and as ever he has a wandering eye and at the moment shacked up with the runner up of the Miss Great Britain contest. Archie hopes her family will bankroll his next production.
Archie's family wants him to move to Canada to start a new life in the hotel business, but Archie clings on to that next big break that will never come his way. Like Britain, Archie is decaying and in decline, unable to afford the bills.
The film has an outstanding performance from Olivier. Despite the plaudits and the Oscar, Olivier knows he is fighting for his legacy by showing the new generation that he still has what it takes to blow everyone off the screen.
The film was shot on location Morecambe and Blackpool, two seaside resorts in Lancashire that were still experiencing the glory days in the early 1960s when this film was made. I used to work near the Winter Gardens in Blackpool in the late 1990s, at which time the resort were experiencing mainly day visitors and some of the old backstreet hotels were now residences for people on social security. At least it was in better shape than Morecambe, an area my work also covered. That was in need of the last rites.
Legend has it that Olivier initially dismissed the new generation of left wing playwrights that emerged in the 1950s. When Olivier was directing The Prince and the Showgirl, Arthur Miller then married to Marilyn Monroe showed up in London and wanted to see the plays by these young up and coming talent. Olivier accompanied Miller to the theatre and after the show asked Osbourne to write something for him, the result was The Entertainer.
Olivier plays washed up music hall comedian Archie Rice. He was never as funny as his father. He has evaded paying his taxes for twenty years, an undischarged bankrupt who has not paid his co-workers and worse of all, he is not making his audience laugh.
Set during the time of the Suez crisis, the moment Britain realised they were no longer a world power. Archie's son who is in the army is kidnapped out in Egypt. He is in a loveless marriage with second wife Phoebe and as ever he has a wandering eye and at the moment shacked up with the runner up of the Miss Great Britain contest. Archie hopes her family will bankroll his next production.
Archie's family wants him to move to Canada to start a new life in the hotel business, but Archie clings on to that next big break that will never come his way. Like Britain, Archie is decaying and in decline, unable to afford the bills.
The film has an outstanding performance from Olivier. Despite the plaudits and the Oscar, Olivier knows he is fighting for his legacy by showing the new generation that he still has what it takes to blow everyone off the screen.
The film was shot on location Morecambe and Blackpool, two seaside resorts in Lancashire that were still experiencing the glory days in the early 1960s when this film was made. I used to work near the Winter Gardens in Blackpool in the late 1990s, at which time the resort were experiencing mainly day visitors and some of the old backstreet hotels were now residences for people on social security. At least it was in better shape than Morecambe, an area my work also covered. That was in need of the last rites.