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The Entertainer
Tony Richardson's brilliantly caustic portrait of an ageing music-hall veteran, played by Laurence Olivier.
Director: Tony Richardson
Overview
Like Look Back in Anger, the second Woodfall production was adapted from a stage play written by John Osborne. The result, under Richardson’s taut direction, is a brilliantly caustic portrait of ageing music-hall veteran Archie Rice, played by Olivier in one of his finest screen performances, coming undone in a peeling seaside resort (although never named, the location was Morecambe).
Archie Rice was a significant role for Olivier (both on film and on stage where the part originated), as it represented the great actor's concession to the emerging new theatre of the 'Angry Young Men'. It was a much grittier role than those he'd traditionally played, but Olivier professed that it made him "feel like a modern actor again".
Contains mild language and sex references
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