Word: machine
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...Frank Machin, protagonist of "This Sporting Life," approaches life as he approaches his rugby matches--brutally and without understanding. While exploring this not-too-subtle theme, the film presents several subtle and dramatic characters...
...movie's most effective episodes, two people struggle to communicate. In one scene, a pathetic rugby scout clings to Machin; as he rises, Machin progressively rejects the puzzled old man. Also, Machin and his landlady, Mrs. Hammond, destroy each other. Neither can understand other people--but he approaches them aggressively while she withdraws from them completely. Their affair reflects this difference: he is brutal when they first make love, and she must be forced into this act as into all contacts. Their problems seem especially acute compared with another rugby player's happy romance; in fact, Machin and Mrs. Hammond...
Without exception, the actors are equal to their complex parts. Richard Harris vividly portrays Machin's brutality; he also emphasizes Machin's attempt at kindness and his wry humor ("Let me call you sweetheart," he implores Mrs. Hammond as she rants at him.) Rachel Roberts' expressive, bony face clearly reveals Mrs. Hammond's changes of mood...
Though this characterization succeeds, Lindsay Anderson's directing fails in other areas. He considers his viewer a rugby opponent who must be hit over the head to make a point. As Mrs. Hammond dies, Machin tries to crush a spider. A dramatic drumbeat heralds every dramatic moment. And Anderson overemphasizes obvious lines like Machin's "You see something...
Charles de Gaulle, who contemptuously refers to the U.N. as "ce machin" (thingumbob), was making it clear to its Secretary-General that he should keep his nose out of what France considers its own affairs. After all, Paris pointed out, the Tunisians fired the first shot. When Hammarskjold tried to see Admiral Maurice Amman, the French commander in Bizerte, he was curtly told that no interview was possible. Hammarskjold sent a message to De Gaulle proposing a private meeting in Paris. A Quai d'Orsay spokesman replied with a piece of calculated insolence such as only the French...