# Any good British Kitchen sink/Angry young man recommendations? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 20, 2006, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-good-british-kitchen-sink-angry-young-man-recommendations/349164 "2006-03-20T17:45:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jacob\_Silj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Jacob\_Silj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jacob_Silj)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2006, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-good-british-kitchen-sink-angry-young-man-recommendations/349164/1 "2006-03-20T17:45:14Z")
These are the ones I have seen- any there other good ones I have missed? A Taste of Honey This Sporting Life If… Room at the Top Saturday NIght & Sunday Morning Lonliness of the Long Distance Runner The Leather Boys (is this the most misleading movie title ever?) Billy Liar Due to their criminal lack of availability in the US I have yet to see Kes or Cathy Come Home. Also if there is a category for neo-kitchen sink: Ratcatcher Nil by Mouth ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2006, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-good-british-kitchen-sink-angry-young-man-recommendations/349164/2 "2006-03-20T18:21:39Z")
**Withnail & I** , a mordantly hilarious character study of two unemployed actors who get by on cigarettes, booze, pills, and pot. Although the “I” character is rather more level-headed and optimistic, his housemate Withnail is irretrievably acerbic, nihilistic, and impulsive. He’s also royally pissed off with his agent, with gay directors who won’t hire him unless they get a piece of his ass, with the landlord, his family (who disapproves of his wanting to be an actor), with the proprietors of genteel tea houses, etc. etc. Though made in 1986, a far cry from the classic postwar “angry young man” era of the 50’s-early 60’s, it was set in 1969. ---
**Author:** ![Jacob\_Silj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Jacob\_Silj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jacob_Silj)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2006, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-good-british-kitchen-sink-angry-young-man-recommendations/349164/3 "2006-03-20T23:03:21Z")
Thanks! Have just added to my Netflix queue. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2006, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-good-british-kitchen-sink-angry-young-man-recommendations/349164/4 "2006-03-20T23:32:37Z")
I feel like I’m stating the obvious, but what about [_Look Back in Anger_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0051879/), the film of the original Angry Young Man play? ---
**Author:** ![Jacob\_Silj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Jacob\_Silj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jacob_Silj)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2006, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-good-british-kitchen-sink-angry-young-man-recommendations/349164/5 "2006-03-21T14:37:26Z")
Thanks Usram, I have seen “Look Back in Anger”, just forgot to add it to my list :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2006, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-good-british-kitchen-sink-angry-young-man-recommendations/349164/6 "2006-03-21T15:18:04Z")
A revival of Joe Orton’s 1964 [Entertaining Mr. Sloane](http://imdb.com/title/tt0065700/?fr=c2l0ZT1kZnx0dD0xfGZiPXV8cG49MHxrdz0xfHE9ZW50ZXJ0YWluaW5nIG1yLiBzbG9hbmV8ZnQ9MXxteD0yMHxsbT01MDB8Y289MXxodG1sPTF8bm09MQ__;fc=1;ft=20;fm=1) just opened in NYC, to mixed reviews. I’d never heard of the play before, and it sounded pretty fascinating. Unfortunately, the 1970 film seems not to be available on VHS or DVD. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2006, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-good-british-kitchen-sink-angry-young-man-recommendations/349164/7 "2006-03-21T15:19:13Z")
[QUOTE=Jacob Silj] Any good British Kitchen sink/Angry young man recommendations? [/QUOTE] 😕 Could you contextualize that for ignorant Yanks? ---
**Author:** ![Jacob\_Silj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Jacob\_Silj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jacob_Silj)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2006, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-good-british-kitchen-sink-angry-young-man-recommendations/349164/8 "2006-03-21T15:38:35Z")
Sorry for not being clear “angry young man” and “kitchen sink” were types of plays/films/TV programmes that came about in the UK in the late 50’s and 60’s. They were seen as a sort of “new wave” in that they depicted the harsh realities of the avearge Briton, as opposed to the happiness and gaiety that were previously shown in film. The “angry young man” films centered around a, yep, angry young man, usually from a poor gray dreary working class town, and his fight to break out of his surroundings. “Kitchen sink” dramas would be pretty much the same, only without the angry young man. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2006, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-good-british-kitchen-sink-angry-young-man-recommendations/349164/9 "2006-03-21T16:04:13Z")
You mentioned “_ **If…** _”, does “_ **O Lucky Man!** _” qualify? ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2006, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-good-british-kitchen-sink-angry-young-man-recommendations/349164/10 "2006-03-21T19:20:58Z")
[QUOTE=blondebear] You mentioned “_ **If…** _”, does “_ **O Lucky Man!** _” qualify? [/QUOTE] It’s been awhile since I’ve seen the movie but I don’t think **O Lucky Man!** qualifies. It’s more of an episodic surrealistic satire about Britain (and, by extension, Western capitalistic society) in the early 70’s. The lead character (played by Malcolm McDowell) is not an “angry young man” but an “everyman” with deliberate Chaplinesque overtones. (If you’ve seen both movies, it’s apparent \*\*O Lucky Man! \*\* is very much Lindsey Anderson’s homage to Chaplin’s **Modern Times**.) Also, since you brought it up, I would argue \*\*If… \*\* doesn’t qualify either since it was made in the late 60’ and was set at a British boarding school–hardly the typical working class environment you found in movies and plays of the Kitchen Sink/Angry Young Man variety. ---
**Author:** ![Jacob\_Silj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Jacob\_Silj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jacob_Silj)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2006, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-good-british-kitchen-sink-angry-young-man-recommendations/349164/11 "2006-03-21T19:51:33Z")
I also feel that “If…” does not belong, but I included it in my OP because it is included in a list of these films on [www.filmsite.org](http://www.filmsite.org). They also inexplicably include “Peeping Tom” and “Morgan! A Suitable Case for Treatment”… ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-good-british-kitchen-sink-angry-young-man-recommendations/349164/12 "2006-03-23T19:26:23Z")
**Jacob** , if you’re still around, BBC Radio 4 is doing a documentary today or tomorrow about the Royal Court Theatre that spawned kitchen sink drama. You should be able to find it on the [listen again](http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/arts/) arts page in the next couple of days. It’ll be there for a week. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-good-british-kitchen-sink-angry-young-man-recommendations/349164/13 "2006-03-23T19:29:34Z")
…And if you can’t find it by title, it might be in tonight’s arts magazine programme, [Front Row](http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/arts/frontrow/index.shtml). ---
**Author:** ![Jacob\_Silj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Jacob\_Silj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jacob_Silj)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-good-british-kitchen-sink-angry-young-man-recommendations/349164/14 "2006-03-23T19:42:28Z")
jjimm, thanks a bunch! ---
**Author:** ![UntouchedTakeaway](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d78d45/32.png) [@UntouchedTakeaway](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UntouchedTakeaway)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-good-british-kitchen-sink-angry-young-man-recommendations/349164/15 "2006-03-23T19:46:22Z")
A Kind of Loving [http://imdb.com/title/tt0056141/](http://imdb.com/title/tt0056141/) Poor Cow [http://imdb.com/title/tt0062141/](http://imdb.com/title/tt0062141/) (scenes from this were used in “The Limey” - both featured Terence Stamp) If you can find PC on DVD (American), I would kill for a copy. VCNJ~ ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-good-british-kitchen-sink-angry-young-man-recommendations/349164/16 "2006-03-23T23:23:48Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] 😕 Could you contextualize that for ignorant Yanks? [/QUOTE] > **[Kitchen sink realism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitchen_sink_realism)** > > Kitchen sink realism (or kitchen sink drama) is a British cultural movement that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s in theatre, art, novels, mainstream and independent cinema, and television, whose protagonists usually could be described as "angry young men" who were disillusioned with modern society. It used a style of social realism that depicted the domestic situations of working-class Britons living in cramped rented accommodation, and spending their off-hours drinking in grimy pu T... ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2006, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-good-british-kitchen-sink-angry-young-man-recommendations/349164/17 "2006-03-26T19:48:21Z")
**Jacob** , more info from the Beeb. In addition to a documentary about the Royal Court, Radio 4 is about to start an entire series of classic kitchen sink dramas for radio, one a week, for several weeks, to celebrate its 50th birthday (sorry I’m not reporting this effectively: I was in really bad traffic, doing 70 on a rainy freeway when I heard it so didn’t give it my full attention). I can’t yet find listings, but will post back when I have more info. ---
**Author:** ![Tevildo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Tevildo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tevildo)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2006, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-good-british-kitchen-sink-angry-young-man-recommendations/349164/18 "2006-03-26T20:27:23Z")
It’s probably a bit too sentimental and “positive” to count as Kitchen Sink, but I think you might enjoy [Whistle Down The Wind](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055618/). For something which is perhaps a bit _too_ modern and gritty to fall into the category, but still a definite sucessor of the genre, [The Cement Garden](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106535/). ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2006, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-good-british-kitchen-sink-angry-young-man-recommendations/349164/19 "2006-03-26T22:03:08Z")
[QUOTE=lissener] > **[Kitchen sink realism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitchen_sink_realism)** > > Kitchen sink realism (or kitchen sink drama) is a British cultural movement that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s in theatre, art, novels, mainstream and independent cinema, and television, whose protagonists usually could be described as "angry young men" who were disillusioned with modern society. It used a style of social realism that depicted the domestic situations of working-class Britons living in cramped rented accommodation, and spending their off-hours drinking in grimy pu T... [/QUOTE] Hmmm . . . According to that article, the “Kitchen Sink Realism” movement was very different from the “Angry Young Men,” and should be regarded as its successor. The article on “Angry Young Men” – [Angry young men - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angry_Young_Men) – is also very interesting: > [@](#): > > As a catchphrase, the term was applied to a large, incoherently-defined group, and was rejected by most of the writers to whom it was applied; see for instance “Answer to a Letter from Joe” by John Wain (Essays on Literature and Ideas, 1963). Some commentators, following publisher Tom Maschler, who edited a collection of political-literary essays by the “Angries” (Declaration, 1957), divided them into three groups: > > 1. The New University Wits (a term applied by William Van O’Connor in his 1963 study The New University Wits and the End of Modernism), Oxbridge malcontents who explored the contrast between their upper-class university privilege and their middle-class upbringings. They included Kingsley Amis, Philip Larkin, and John Wain, all of whom were also part of the poetic circle known as The Movement. > > 2. Writers mostly of lower-class origin concerned with their political and economic aspirations. Some of these were left-wing and some were right-wing. They included John Osborne (whose play Look Back in Anger is a basic “Angries” text), Harold Pinter, John Braine, and Alan Sillitoe. William Cooper, the early model AYM, though Cambridge-educated was a “provincial” writer in his frankness and material and is included in this group. > > 3. A small group of young existentialist philosophers led by Colin Wilson and also including Stuart Holroyd and Bill Hopkins. > > Friendships, rivalries, and acknowledgments of common literary aims within each of these three groups could be intense (the relationship between Amis and Larkin is considered one of the great literary friendships of the 20th century). But the writers in each group tended to view the other groups with bewilderment and incomprehension, and observers could find no common thread among them all except that they were contemporaries who were not of the upper-class establishment or proteges of existing literary circles (thus the perception of them as “angry” outsiders) who tended to avoid radical experimentalism in their literary style.