- 4 months ago
This week Chris Deacy is joined in the studio by David Lawrence to discuss the films; Kes, The Wild Bunch, The Apostle, and Do The Right Thing.
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00:00Hello and welcome to Kent Film Club. I'm Chris Deesey and each week I'll be joined by a guest
00:17to dive deep into the impact certain films have had on their life. Each guest will reflect on
00:23the films which have meant the most to them over the years and every week there will be a Kent
00:27Film Trivia where we quiz you at home about a film that has a connection to the county and now let
00:33me introduce you to my guest for this week a music enthusiast having presented the music of Windrush
00:39at the Medway Africa and Caribbean Association's Windrush exhibition earlier this year. It is
00:45David Lawrence. Great to have you on the program David. Thanks for having me Chris. No problem. Well
00:51I don't know your films in advance but Ken Loach. Yes Kez. This is a film very very close to my heart
01:01I was introduced to the book at school by my head of theatre teacher and we read the book and we had to
01:15study some parts of it. It made an impact on us because it was so close to school life back then
01:25for us. Back then in North London growing up in the areas of Tottenham and those areas there was so
01:34many schools everywhere and you saw different types of kids from all walks of background but walks of life
01:40and then this young man in this foot in this film Casper he reminded me of a particular kid in our
01:51school Casper's story really told it really told that real story of poverty in those in those days it
02:03was I believe it was shot up north and so it was different to London life but then but that's the
02:10thing about Ken Loach isn't it because what he did going back to the mid 60s or the second half
02:15of the 60s was show working-class life yes show a different I mean obviously it was it was before
02:19my time but Ken Loach you know all the way through the 90s a lot of his films would be showing on TV
02:24at cinema and he's still making films today and and he's never lost that verve yes absolutely and you
02:32and you recognize his work when you see it it just has that look about it in this particular film
02:38where where the young man has nothing he has no home life he has quite a violent family members
02:47in particular in this film his older brother and he's having to make life for himself you know for
02:54instance he comes home from school there's no one there his mother leaves a penny on on the side he
03:00goes and buys himself a portion of chips and that's his dinner and and he's left to himself it was we
03:09saw this type of life growing up with a lot of families that were poor in in around the London
03:16area and so it made an impact on us but the film was absolutely beautifully shot and the mere fact that
03:24he becomes friendly with a kestrel and that kestrel becomes closer to him than than anything else and
03:34he looks forward to his spending time and training that kestrel and so you know it gave us all something
03:41to look for it as kids back then as I've always found this with Ken Loach films is that on the one
03:46hand you see the poverty you see people on the margins of society yes but also there's an amazing
03:52hopefulness in what he's presenting that the sense of connection the yearning for connection
03:57and the way that often that happens as we saw in uh i daniel blake for example in quite unexpected
04:02places yes yeah as i said ken loach's films you know they're outstanding and you know i we always
04:10look for that type of quality you know in when when searching for uh british direction right british
04:18directors um and so you know we're pleased to see there's so many films that have come out since
04:24then with similar along the similar vein and you know it's it's always worth uh uh research in ken
04:31loach's work is this a film that you can go back to and i mean i don't know absolutely in doing this
04:37whether you see anything different as it has wonder what has changed in the well the nearly 60 years since
04:43this film absolutely absolutely um a lot a lot has changed um that poverty is is still around but
04:50it's not as uh prevalent as it was back then i i think i think um these films are they are so
05:00important uh as archive you know archival historical uh references but yes there are a lot of films out
05:11that have been made since that uh that uh have similar vein similar similar story lines but
05:19it's not nothing like the original uh films that were made back then and are there any particular
05:25scenes uh that stand out there's so many there's so there are so many um i think uh one of one of the
05:33main scenes that i that stood out for me was he was bullied by his older brother quite a bit
05:38um in fact you you you you you you felt so sorry for him that the cruelty that was shown to him by his
05:46old older brother and i and one scene is where he comes home one day and his older brother is
05:52completely annihilated he's he's he's had too too many too many beers or whatever it is and he's he's
06:00passed out on on on on the sofa i think and uh casper uh goes over to his brother climbs on top of him
06:10and starts to have a conversation with him and he's he's slapping his brother this is for that and this
06:17and he's he's he's got an opportunity to to speak to his brother and tell his brother what he really
06:23thinks of him and that was that was we were all you know we were all rooting for him in the in the
06:27audience when we when we saw that uh but there's so many scenes there in in that in in the film it's
06:33just incredible well it is time now david to move on to your second chosen film and you've gone for
06:40the wild bunch yes yes and peckham park so around the same era but a very different type of genre
06:47yes absolutely the the the genre of of the cowboy the western okay so my my father was a police officer
06:56uh from the island of antigua and uh my godfather was also in the police force so that was very very
07:04i grew up in a household of a lot of men uh male opinionated uh uh life and you would you could
07:14always find the west westerns on tv on a sunday especially on the sunday in my house and we we sat
07:21back and we used to sit with our father and our uncles and watch these uh films now we didn't
07:27understand fully what these films were about uh we loved the action that was in them but it was only
07:33later on in in life that i i realized the stories and and the hidden messages in some of these great
07:41films and the wild bunch uh was certainly one of those that made an impression on me uh again it
07:49was the story of the underdogs um i think the it was it takes it's set in 1913 um where you have your
07:59your your billy the kids and your jesse james is now a lot older and they're having to deal with
08:06a more modern western society and so uh the struggle for them to survive becomes uh extremely
08:16difficult and so uh the wild bunch um who i think they said was based off of the uh butch cassidy and
08:24sundance sundance kid um they try to rob some some banks and rob some trains and they just doesn't go
08:34the way it normally does for them it's very frustrating for them because they know that
08:39they're getting on they know that the age is catching up with them and so they stumble on a
08:44mexican uh town where again just like uh magnificent seven uh there are people there that are being
08:54oppressed uh by uh ruthless uh governmental uh people and so the wild bunch decide that they're
09:02going to help uh this group and they make a stand and make a last stand and they uh do what they do
09:13best which is they they stand together they band together and they they help to liberate uh the
09:19underdogs and very easy to see how it connects in that sense with magnificent seven or the great
09:24escape it's the bonding because that was going to be my question yes as to why we find these films
09:30attractive what is alluring about gangsters but you actually answered that question because there
09:34may be outlaws there may be people on the wrong side of the law you mentioned your father being a
09:39policeman but here there's a sense of coming together absolutely honor absolutely and all of those things
09:45the honor and respect and and and and standing by your you know standing with your what you know
09:50being a man of your word and those those kind of things you find them in in great films like this
09:55and you and and it was those uh lessons that that i learned uh through watching these the sam peckinpah's
10:04work in this case um where there were you know there is uh some honor to be found and there are life
10:11lessons to be found if you know where to look so the wild bunch uh was uh was uh something that stood
10:18out for me anything in particular that stands out from us any particular scenes any particular
10:23again again very difficult because it's the whole film i think i think ultimately when they all look
10:31at each other at the end of the film and decide you know let's just go out in a blaze of glory we know
10:36we're going to go in to this town we know we're facing an army and there's only four of us
10:40um um um but we're ready we're ready to go now uh but we're going to take some people with us
10:48we're going to take some baddies with us and that that that uh the end of the film was just absolutely
10:55incredible uh especially when uh ernest bergenroin um uh reaches out to pike this is uh william holden's
11:05character william holden's character um and just as he's about to pass away he he calls out his name
11:14as the last uh goodbye sort of thing so it's an incredible incredible film incredible well that's
11:20about all the time we have for this first half of the show however before we go to the break we have
11:25a kent film trivia question for you at home which 2018 historical drama utilized the historic chatham
11:33dockyard was it a outlaw king b colette or c peter loo we'll reveal the answer right after this break
11:43don't go away
11:58hello and welcome back to kent film club just before that ad break we asked you at home
12:03a kent film trivia question which 2018 historical drama utilized the historic chatham dockyard
12:10i asked was it a outlaw king b colette or c peter loo and now i can reveal to you that the answer
12:16was in fact c peter loo the ever popular filming location was featured in the film within a number
12:22of its street scenes did you get the answer right well it is time david to move on to your next chosen film
12:30and you've gone for the apostle which i saw at the cinema 1998 well yeah okay right right i saw it
12:39yeah yeah wow yeah robert duval robert duval um one of my favorite actors uh what a film um i i was i was
12:48raised uh in a a gospel based household uh where you know um all things biblical was was presented to
12:58me as a young young boy uh as a as a form of of grounding and and a foundation to stand on
13:06and so a lot of the language in the the apostle i remember going going to church as a young young
13:13child um what can i say about the film the apostle uh directed by robert duval um
13:21um it's a such a human story uh it's it's actually uh was voted one of the best uh films ever um the
13:33the storyline uh is a there's a pastor who is he's married to farrah forcett in this this film and um
13:44um and unfortunately she steps outside of the marriage and has an affair and he finds out about
13:53it and he he confronts the man that had the affair with farrah forcett and he allowed his temper
14:03to get the better of him and he struck the man and caused the death of that man and now he he's on the
14:09run he's a good man he he his whole life is devoted to his faith and to the word of god and and everything
14:18that he does but that one mistake he made has now put him on the road where he has to flee and so the
14:28film shows you what he has to go through on that journey and even to the point where you know you can
14:36see that the god that he serves is clearly looking after him because he goes from place to place and
14:44wherever he goes he meets great uh success and he's meeting great people and i think at one stage
14:51uh um i think it's uh john beasley uh gives gives him an old building to start his own church and he
15:00starts his own church and and uh he saves so much people in that town and um even billy bob thornton
15:09uh who who was so against everything but then in the end gives his gives his life to christ and
15:17you know i was just thinking because when i was watching this you're right because he he's i mean if
15:22there's a redemption narrative in the film you have to be redeemed from something and he's a man of god
15:27he's a preacher he's building churches but he's also running away very small thing about the wild
15:32bunch he's running away from the law so he's a good man who's done a wrong thing absolutely and
15:38and uh he knows or or we know or suspect that it's going to catch up with him a very familiar
15:44movie trope yes actually having the lead character as a minister in that sense does throw these themes
15:50in the shop well the thing the thing is is that you don't want the lord to catch up with him that's
15:54that's the whole point about the film you're you're as as as a viewer you're you just want
15:59everything to go well for him you want him you want it to end great you want him to to to just go on
16:07and to become successful because you believe him you believe that he he truly you know he is a good
16:13character and you do believe it's just that uh the world um has a different uh a different
16:24path for him uh in terms of what he he did wrong he has to pay the price he must uh he must you know
16:32go to jail and so you you're rooting for him throughout the film that's that's the that's the
16:38that's what i love about uh the the film you you root for him and as it's going along
16:45is there a sense in which he talks about or remembers or confides him that he's done this is he is he running
16:53away from the law or is he effectively saying let it unfold as it will there's what my favorite scene
17:01in in the film is where he he he has a conversation with god and he says to god look i'm your servant
17:08i'm your servant but if whatever you decide to do you know okay i'll i'll go along with that but you
17:15know give me peace i i need peace i need something from you i need a sign from you i need something
17:23and so you know and there's a few of those types of scenes in the film um but yeah that that's uh
17:30that's what stands out for me more than anything else the fact that you know he's uh he's he's willing
17:38to continue on that path and continue to do he could have quite easily have gone off the path and
17:44gone and done something something else but he didn't well it is time now to move on to your final
17:49chosen film and oh spike lee do the right thing absolutely absolutely spike lee um uh within the black
17:59community we we jumped for joy when spike uh announced uh his uh his first film uh which was um she has to
18:11have it um but uh his filmmaking developed over the years and became he became so skillful in telling
18:20the african-american and and and uh you know caribbean story around around the world that this particular
18:28film stood out for me uh spite lee did the right thing which had um absolutely everyone that is
18:36anyone you talk about ozzie davis uh ruby d uh samuel jackson the list goes uh list goes on um you had
18:46the the the rap group a public enemy uh do the soundtrack uh uh fight the power and it just had
18:54everything and spite lee took took his time to showcase a typical brooklyn neighborhood and sadly
19:02it was based on a true story um of uh what happened in howard beach michael griffith uh who died due to a
19:12racist incident uh but what what spike did was around that around that particular story showed us and took
19:21us for a glimpse inside the everyday life in um in that book in brooklyn that's what i find so
19:28appealing about spite lee because he goes under the characters there's a sense that it's the texture
19:32it's the mood you see even in a summer of sound which was quite atypical on one level yes but also
19:37black clansman which yes so should have won the oscar a few years ago absolutely absolutely there's and
19:42there's so much so much more i mean there are there you know school days and jungle fever and you know um
19:48mo better blues i mean they're all they're all all classics and sadly the powers that be haven't
19:56awarded spike what what he deserves but the love that he has from from from us and from the community
20:03you know it will his name will be uh forever you know in our in amongst uh in the generations to come
20:10definitely definitely so when i saw do the right thing i remember it's almost like feeling the
20:18the heat because it's a very hot summer this is my recollection of watching it and you feel i
20:23almost felt the perspiring i always sort of felt that i was with them this sort of hot and you know
20:27that something's going to happen yeah you don't necessarily quite know what and he's also very
20:31good at not meandering but he sort of takes his time he has his own way of getting to the destination
20:36absolutely absolutely you're hooked well it's it's again again so many great names and actors who
20:45were who took part in this i mean you know you'd see uh he he'd walk past a brownstone and a young
20:52martin lawrence there along with others you know uh who who would be shouting out to him i i believe
21:00his character was called mookie so they would be like hey mookie and then and he would shout back
21:04down get a job you know that kind of thing and you know he'd pass some of the elders sitting on the
21:09corner outside the liquor shop having a drink and the great great great comedian robin williams
21:15uh before he passed away uh really made a made a name for himself uh on the comedy circuit in america
21:23and to see him in that film uh oh yeah robin was sitting there and he was like fanning himself so
21:30you could see the heat uh the brooklyn heat uh through robin's uh reaction it was just it was just
21:36colorful and just i mean uh his his uh his job his connection at the pizza pizzeria you know with
21:45the italians uh uh was just hilarious but what he does as well it's very much um a great sort of
21:53diversity what his films do characters from a range of backgrounds i know i think robert de niro at one
21:59point was because i think the role that went to danny ilio but but he's very good at sort of bringing
22:03together people from different communities absolutely and and seeing what happens yeah when
22:07they mix when they merge when they come into contact yes which can be sometimes quite caustic
22:14yes it's very skillful it's it really is it's um it takes great skill to do that and you know this
22:21is where you see the genius of of of of spike spike's uh work and and and you know we all saw that
22:29we were really really are blown away by it all uh but we're so happy that we had a representation if
22:36you like of our generation uh at that time in the 1990s with films like these and is it from that you
22:43can uh in a way i know the answer to this but you can and have returned to uh over the years how you
22:49know how does this compare to his later work um the later work is a lot more serious but then again you
22:57you know we're talking about age now you talk you know he was much younger as a director we were much
23:02younger so he he's he's making films now for everyone but you know with a more serious message
23:09for for us and um so we're happy but of course films like uh do the right thing has its place in in me
23:17in you know music culture and film culture at a time when we were all young and we were all much
23:23younger and we were all ready for the world if you like well i'm afraid that's all the time
23:27we have for today but before we go if you live in kent and want the chance to share four films of
23:32your choice reach out to us at kmtv and you might be invited in to be my next guest but for now many
23:38thanks to david lawrence for joining us and being such a brilliant guest and many thanks to you all
23:44for tuning in until then that's all from us goodbye
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