The Entertainer (film)
While acting as master of ceremonies at a Miss Great Britain beauty contest, he charms Tina Lapford, the young woman who finished in second place.Acting out of what he believes are his son's best interests, and not knowing of the money for the next show, Billy goes to the girl's parents and tells them that Archie is already married and bankrupt.[10] The play was produced in 1957, and the first performance was given on 10 April 1957 at the Royal Court Theatre with Laurence Olivier in the leading role of Archie Rice.[10] Osborne's 1956 play Look Back in Anger was adapted into a film in 1959, directed by Tony Richardson, and starred Richard Burton in the leading role.[19] TCM's Felicia Feaster observes: "Tony Richardson (and fellow traveler, playwright John Osborne) typified this cinematic movement's trend for realism with an insistence on shooting on-location with natural sound and light.[21] In November 1959, The New York Times' Stephen Watts filed a substantial story from Stratford-upon-Avon in England, where Olivier was appearing in Shakespeare's Coriolanus and commuting to Morecambe, where The Entertainer was being filmed on location.Watts' story revealed that Olivier had two teeth filed to create Archie's distinctive gap, that late-season visitors who saw the display outside the Alhambra Theatre frequently asked to buy tickets and that many locals appeared in the film.[23] Years later, Richardson said in The Long-Distance Runner: An Autobiography: "I couldn't have articulated it, having never been introspective (but) "The Entertainer was a key moment in my development, because all the ideas and convictions I was to work with afterward were crystallized in its making.[9] The New York Times' Bosley Crowther suggested that viewers see the film "[a]s an antidote to all the bromides about show people being lovely folk, amusing, courageous, soft-hearted and dedicated to spreading sunshine in the world.... 'The Entertainer' is a devastating picture of a hollow, hypocritical heel and of the pitiful people around him who are drowned in his grubby vanity....Mr. Olivier is nothing short of brilliant.... Director Tony Richardson has imaged the cheapness of a seaside music hall, of grubby 'digs' and the midway surroundings in such a way as to have them all but smell...."[25] Rotten Tomatoes lists the film with a 79% "fresh rating" based on 14 reviews.