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Violent Playground is a British film of genre Drama directed by Basil Dearden with Stanley Baker
Violent Playground (1958)
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Add to a movie listViolent Playground is a 1958 British film directed by Basil Dearden starring Stanley Baker, Peter Cushing and David McCallum. The film, which deals with the genre of juvenile delinquent, has an explicit social agenda. It owes much to U.S. films of a similar genre.
McCallum's character, in particular, references roles played by James Dean, Marlon Brando, and especially Vic Morrow in Blackboard Jungle. Rock 'n' Roll is presented as a negative influence. In a memorable scene, music appears to put the youths into a trance-like state, culminating in McCallum leading a menacing advance on Baker's character.
Many of the poor working class subjects of the film are from Liverpool's sizable Irish-descended community. Notably, there are several mixed race and black characters, and two important characters are Chinese.
"Despite its Liverpool setting not a single character speaks with a Merseyside (Liverpool) accent in the entire film".
The tough inner-city estates are represented as a breeding ground for youth crime. The success rate of Liverpool's juvenile liaison officers is lauded in the prologue.
^ IMDB
Synopsis
The film focuses on a Liverpool street gang led by Johnny Murphy (McCallum). When local Juvenile Liaison Officer Sergeant Truman (Baker) visits the Murphy household he becomes romantically involved with Johnny's sister (Anne Heywood). He also finds considerable points of similarity between his previous investigations into the activities of an arsonist known as the 'Firefly' and his investigation of Johnny Murphy. Cushing plays a local priest attempting to heal the social problems of the locality. In a final sequence prescient of more recent shooting, Murphy holds a classroom full of children hostage with a machine-gun, apparently shooting one dead. The makers appear to have backed down from a murderous death-toll, as both the priest and the shot child revive at the end. The Chinese boy knocked down by Johnny in an act of 'manslaughter', but not shot, does not survive.Actors
Stanley Baker
(Detective Sergeant Jack Truman)
Anne Heywood
(Cathie Murphy)
David McCallum
(Johnnie Murphy)
Peter Cushing
(Father Laidlaw)
John Slater
(Sgt. Walker)
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Suggestions of similar film to Violent Playground
There are 201 films with the same actors, 40 films with the same director, 66985 with the same cinematographic genres (including 8670 with exactly the same 2 genres than Violent Playground), to have finally 70 suggestions of similar films.If you liked Violent Playground, you will probably like those similar films :
The Blue Lamp (1950)
, 1h24Directed by Basil Dearden, Alexander Mackendrick
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Drama, Thriller, Comedy, Action, Noir, Crime, Romance
Actors Jack Warner, Jimmy Hanley, Dirk Bogarde, Robert Flemyng, Jack Warner, Bernard Lee
Rating67%
The action mostly takes place in the Paddington area of London, and is set in July 1949, a few years after the end of the Second World War. PC George Dixon (Warner) a long-serving traditional "copper" who is due to retire shortly, takes a new recruit, Andy Mitchell (Hanley), under his aegis, introducing him to the easy-going night beat. Dixon is a classic Ealing "ordinary" hero, but also anachronistic, unprepared and unable to answer the violence of Tom Riley (Bogarde). Called to the scene of a robbery at a local cinema, Dixon finds himself face-to-face with Riley, a desperate youth armed with a revolver. Dixon initially tries to talk Riley into surrendering the weapon, but Riley panics and fires. Dixon is taken to hospital, but dies some hours later. The ending is another Ealing quirk, with ordinary, decent society banding together with professional criminals and dog-track identities to track down and catch the murderer, who tries to hide in the crowd at White City greyhound track in West London. To Andy Mitchell falls the honour of arresting Riley.
The Gentle Gunman (1952)
, 1h26Directed by Basil Dearden
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Drama, Thriller, Crime
Themes Films about terrorism, Théâtre, Political films, Films based on plays
Actors John Mills, Dirk Bogarde, Robert Beatty, Elizabeth Sellars, Barbara Mullen, Jack MacGowran
Rating63%
John Mills and Dirk Bogarde, bizarrely, were the actors chosen to play two IRA men under cover in London during World War II. The lads are captured after (Terry) starts questioning the worth of war, a line of thinking never popular with armies. They are sprung from captivity by Connolly (Liam Redmond) and his IRA men. Nice cameo by Jack McGowran.
Pool of London (1951)
, 1h25Directed by Basil Dearden
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Drama, Thriller, Crime
Actors Bonar Colleano, Earl Cameron, Susan Shaw, Renée Asherson, Moira Lister, Max Adrian
Rating70%
The story centres on the crew of the merchant ship Dunbar, which docks in the Pool of London. The crew members are given shore leave, and soon become involved in smuggling and petty crime in post-war London. The film is mainly known for portraying the first interracial relationship in a British film.
Nowhere to Go (1958)
, 1h29Directed by Basil Dearden
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Drama, Thriller, Crime
Actors George Nader, Maggie Smith, Bernard Lee, Geoffrey Keen, Bessie Love, Harry H. Corbett
Rating67%
Paul Gregory (Nader), a Canadian confidence trickster operating in London targets a wealthy Canadian woman in Britain to sell her collection of valuable coins. After meeting her at an ice hockey match, he sets about winning her confidence until she is prepared to give him legal control over the sale. He then completes the deal without her knowledge, puts the money from the sale in a safe deposit box, and then deliberately waits to be caught by the police. Gregory plans on getting a five-year sentence, with time off for good behaviour, and then collecting his loot when he is released.
The League of Gentlemen (1960)
, 1h56Directed by Basil Dearden
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Drama, Thriller, Comedy, Action, Adventure, Crime
Themes Heist films
Actors Jack Hawkins, Nigel Patrick, Roger Livesey, Bryan Forbes, Richard Attenborough, Kieron Moore
Rating71%
A manhole opens at night in an empty street and out climbs Lieutenant-Colonel Norman Hyde (Jack Hawkins) in a dinner suit. He gets into a Rolls-Royce and drives home. There, he prepares seven envelopes, each containing an American crime paperback called The Golden Fleece, ten £5-notes cut in half (i.e. £50 in total with the other halves) and an unsigned invitation from “Co-operative Removals Limited” to lunch at the Cafe Royal.
The Ship That Died of Shame (1955)
, 1h35Directed by Basil Dearden, Michael Leighton George Relph
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Drama, War, Thriller, Crime
Themes Seafaring films, Transport films
Actors George Baker, Richard Attenborough, Bill Owen, Virginia McKenna, Roland Culver, Bernard Lee
Rating66%
The 1087 is a British Royal Navy motor gun boat that faithfully sees its crew through the worst that World War II can throw at them. After the end of the war, George Hoskins (Richard Attenborough) convinces former skipper Bill Randall (George Baker) and Birdie (Bill Owen) to buy their beloved boat and use it for some harmless, minor smuggling of black market items like wine. But they find themselves transporting ever more sinister cargoes; counterfeit currency and weapons. Though their craft had been utterly reliable and never let them down in wartime, it begins to break down frequently, as if ashamed of its current use. The crew revolt when they are used in the escape of a child murderer and (probable) paedophile.
Woman of Straw (1964)
, 2h2Directed by Basil Dearden
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Drama, Thriller, Comedy-drama, Crime, Romance
Actors Gina Lollobrigida, Sean Connery, Ralph Richardson, Alexander Knox, Noel Howlett, Peter Madden
Rating67%
Connery's character Anthony Richmond schemes to get the fortune of his tyrannical, wheelchair-using tycoon uncle Charles Richmond (Richardson) by persuading Maria, a nurse he employs (Lollobrigida), to marry him. After his uncle's demise Anthony becomes a murder suspect. Lollobrigida's character is the Woman of Straw of the title.
Masquerade (1965)
, 1h42Directed by Basil Dearden
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Drama, Thriller, Comedy, Action, Adventure, Crime
Actors Cliff Robertson, Jack Hawkins, Marisa Mell, Michel Piccoli, Bill Fraser, Charles Gray
Rating55%
An Arab heir plots his own kidnapping in a desperate bid for peace in the Middle East.
A Place to Go (1963)
, 1h26Directed by Basil Dearden
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Drama, Crime
Actors Bernard Lee, Rita Tushingham, Mike Sarne, Doris Hare, Barbara Ferris, John Slater
Rating64%
Londres, dans le quartier de Bethnal Green alors en pleine reconstruction. Matt Flint a perdu son travail et est devenu un bateleur de rue. Son fils Ricky voudrait partir ailleurs mais a besoin d'argent, il accepte alors de participer à un cambriolage organisé par un ancien ami de Matt. Jim, le beau-frère de Ricky, accepte de prêter son camion pour ce vol. Au cynodrome, Ricky rencontre Cat, une amie de Charlie, un de membres du gang. Ricky et Cat se rencontrent dans un ancien abri anti-aérien. Le cambriolage échoue car Ricky n'arrive pas à matraquer un policier. Charlie se venge en mettant le feu au camion de Jim. Ricky est brûlé en tentant d'éteindre de feu et se retrouve à l'hôpital, Cat lui rend visite mais continue à voir Charlie.
The Man Who Haunted Himself (1970)
, 1h29Directed by Basil Dearden
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Drama, Science fiction, Thriller, Fantasy, Crime
Actors Roger Moore, Freddie Jones, Hildegarde Neil, Anton Rodgers, Olga Georges-Picot, Thorley Walters
Rating63%
Whilst driving his Rover P5B, uptight City worker Harold Pelham appears to become possessed and has a serious high-speed accident. On the operating table, he briefly suffers clinical death, after which there appear to be two heartbeats on the monitor. When he awakes, Pelham finds his life has been turned upside-down; in his job as a director of a marine technology company he learns that he now supports a merger that he once opposed, and that he apparently is having an affair. Friends, colleagues and acquaintances claim to have seen him in places where he has never been, and Pelham starts being followed by a mysterious silver car (a Lamborghini Islero). Does Pelham have a doppelgänger or is he actually going insane?