Prick Up Your Ears **** (1987, Gary Oldman, Alfred Molina, Vanessa Redgrave, Wallace Shawn, Julie Walters, Frances Barber, Lindsay Duncan) – Classic Movie Review 2976

Director Stephen Frears’s provocative 1987 biopic is a cleverly written, powerfully acted biography of the brilliant Sixties gay playwright Joe Orton. It was advertised as ‘From the director of My Beautiful Laundrette’ and ‘They shared everything – except success’.

Based on the bestselling biography by John Lahr, Alan Bennett’s brilliantly expert and witty screenplay follows the trail of Orton (Gary Oldman) and his tragic relationship with Kenneth Halliwell (Alfred Molina), his sordid private life and his glittering public life as the author of three of Britain’s great comedies for the stage. Orton’s plays were Loot, Entertaining Mr Sloane (both filmed in 1970) and What the Butler Saw.

Oldman and Molina are superb in detailed, nuanced performances, while Vanessa Redgrave as Orton’s literary agent Peggy Ramsay completes a trio of fine turns. Bennett’s finely honed, in-tune script gets the best out of John Lahr’s biographical bestseller (Wallace Shawn plays Lahr) and director Frears is on top form with the film’s pace and atmosphere.

This fascinating story of a love affair gone wrong is both poignant and shocking, as well as darkly funny, and its realistic look at homosexuality in a period when it was still illegal in Britain may be an eye-opener for some people, along with swearing and scenes of graphic sex.

It was shot in London in Russell Square (Bloomsbury), 25 Noel Road (Islington), and Shaftesbury Avenue as well as Tangier, Morocco.

Bennett won the 1988 Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Screenplay and composer Stanley Myers won Best Artistic Contribution at the 1987 Cannes Film Festival.

Also in the cast are, Julie Walters, James Grant, Frances Barber, Lindsay Duncan, Janet Dale, Steven Mackintosh, Dave Atkins, Margaret Tyzack, Eric Richard, William Job, Rosalind Knight, Angus Mackay, Linda Spurrier, Charlotte Woodhouse, Helena Michell, Sean Pertwee, Charles McKeown, Selina Cadell, Neil Dudegon, Richard Wilson, Garry Cooper, Roger Lloyd Pack, John Moffatt, Karl Johnson, David Bradley, Joan Sanderson, Neville Smith, Spencer Leigh and Derek Jarman.

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© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 2976

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