We read the book ‘A Kestrel for a Knave’ at my secondary school and it made a massive impression on me. Looking back on it now, maybe it helped awaken the idea that stories, and local stories at that, have the power to inform and educate as much as the ‘classics’ they tried to get us into back then. I remember ‘Romeo and Juliet’ also being on our list of books to read, and I still get the horrors at the memory of the mangling of the Shakespearian language when passages were read out loud in class. No, if anything was to get through into the head of a football & pop music obsessed kid like me back then, a book had to speak my kind of language and this book by Barry Hines certainly did that. The school then followed up the book with a screening of the film ‘Kes’ by Ken Loach. When I saw that, it had even more of an impact than the book.
What a film that is. A wonderful tale of a kid, Billy Casper, played by first time non-professional David Bradley, who had won the part when aged 14 after local auditions. This coming of age in bleak circumstances film, finds Billy discovering an all-consuming passion for training a Kestrel in the fields of Barnsley, South Yorkshire. The love he has for that bird is the one glimmer of ‘hope’ in his life.
There are also some wonderful scenes within ‘Kes’ that have lived with us of a certain generation to this day. I’ve only got to say to certain mates of mine; ‘It’s the fair haired, slightly balding Bobby Charlton to kick off’ and we’re quickly reliving quite possibly the greatest football match of all time…
But I’m getting ahead of myself. The 1969 film was directed by Ken Loach working with his colleague and regular producer Tony Garnett. Loach was already well known for serious TV dramas like ‘Cathy Come Home’ and his first feature film and personal fave of mine ‘Poor Cow’ starring Carol White and Terence Stamp. For ‘Kes’, Loach and Garnett wanted to use real people in many of the parts as opposed to actors and apart from the established Colin Welland, they were non-professional.
The production was from the same stable as ‘Saturday Night Sunday Morning’ and ‘The Loneliness of a Long Distance Runner’ namely Woodfall Films. Chief cameraman was the celebrated Chris Menges and the splendid soundtrack by John Cameron has soaring flute solos by the marvellous Harold McNair. The film was shot entirley on location in and around the streets of Lundwood and Tankersely in just over 8 weeks at a cost of £157,000.00. Off set, the bird(s) were trained by Richard Hines, brother of the writer of the book, Barry.
‘Hands off cocks, on socks’
Poor old Casper lives in a rough, tough mining community and is bullied at home as well at school, so exists in a twilight world of avoiding a beating from someone, usually brother Jud or a schoolteacher.
‘He’s a hopeless case’ says his mother played by Lynn Ferris, better known as Ivy Tilsley in Coronation Street of course a few years later.
‘I’m not going down pit..’
Billy ‘pilfers’ the baby Kestrel from its nest and decides to learn falconry, to look after it properly. He also ‘pilfers’ the book to learn that from as well. The film follows the gradual relationship built up between Billy and ‘Kes’ as he rears the bird, with the bird giving a purpose to Billy’s life and an escape from his daily grim routine. His English teacher at school Mr Farthing, played by Colin Welland, takes an interest in Casper and the bird and gets him up in class to talk about falconry, which totally enthrals his class mates.
‘Denis Law is in the wash this week’
Casper’s biggest teaching nemesis is sports master Mr Sugden played brilliantly by ex pro wrestler Brian Glover. For the aforementioned classic football match, Casper’s class are first seen running across a muddy field in a variety of different colour football kits, with Glover proudly trotting in amongst them in a pristine maroon tracksuit. Teams are quickly picked, with Mr Sugden getting the best players, of course.
He then takes off his tracksuit top, to reveal his immaculate Manchester United football kit and declares he is ‘Charlton today lad, Denis Law is in the wash this week…’ In the mind of Glover, it is the 5th round of the FA Cup, with Manchester United versus Spurs ‘so there is no clash of colours.’
From the kick off, Glover dominates the match, pushing kids out of his path on his mazy dribbles. Spurs though, go one up and Casper gets the heavy waterlogged leather football thrown at him by Glover, and blamed for the goal.
To redress the balance, Glover takes a dive in the opposition penalty box, and blows the whistle around his own neck, signifying a penalty.
Of course, he takes it himself, but the keeper saves it. ‘You moved’ he says to the ‘Spurs’ keeper. Retake.
‘Goal! ‘And Bobby Charlton has equalised for Manchester United’
Next goal wins it and it goes to ‘Spurs’ after a great individual run and it is they that go through to the 6th round.
Classic stuff.
Sadly for Casper, it all turns sour when Jud leaves a tenner out for him to put a bet on with, but instead, Billy decides to buy himself some food with the money – fish & chips to be precise from a chip shop still operating in the original town and now called Casper’s in homage – after being told the horses Jud has picked out have no chance in winning. Of course, they romp home and Jud goes spare. In scenes that are still tough to watch today, Jud kills ‘Kes’ as revenge. A heartbroken Billy retrieves its body from a dustbin and buries it near the fields it once flew in. Please note: The real bird used in these scenes had died of natural causes. Phew.
The film has rightly been deemed a British classic, and is very rarely outside any ‘top ten of all time’ poll. It also picked up two Baftas in 1971. One of Colin Welland for Best Supporting Actor and a Best Newcomer for David Bradley in the lead role.
The South Yorkshire accent in the film is as thick as the mud in Casper’s goalmouth at times and this proved tricky when screened in the USA. It was reported back to Loach that some American film executives said they could ‘understand Hungarian better than the dialect in the film.’
David Bradley left school at 17 and carried on in the acting profession, training at the Royal National Theatre and working around the world under the name of Dai Bradley.
Barry Hines died aged 76 after suffering from Alzheimer’s in 2016.
Ken Loach now aged 83 continues to direct and has had many successes over the years such as ‘I Daniel Blake’ ‘Rif Raff’ and ‘Sweet Sixteen’ to name but a few.
The Mumper of SE5
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