They beat him. They deprived him. They ridiculed him. They broke his heart. But they couldn’t break his spirit.
Bullied at school and ignored and abused at home by his indifferent mother and older brother, Billy Casper, a 15-year-old working-class Yorkshire boy, tames and trains his pet kestrel falcon whom he names Kes. Helped and encouraged by his English teacher and his fellow students, Billy finally finds a positive purpose to his unhappy existence.
- Harm to children
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Character
Earnest, classical in form, prestige and contemplative.
- earnestironic
- classical in formformally daring
- unpretentiousprestige
- contemplativerelentless
- gravecomic
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Reviews on TMDB
Written by TMDB members; each links to the original. Not part of Tastebuds's numbers.
- CinemaSerfon TMDB · Jun 20267/10
When I think back to my childhood, this is one of the few films that I ever saw that induced some sort of emotional reaction. It was it's last five minutes that achieved that, but building up to this denouement we watch the antics of the amiable working class lad "Billy" (David Bradley). He lives with his mum (Lynne Perrie) and his older, bullying, brother "Jud" (Freddie Fletcher) on a bit of a shoestring and is largely a loner at school. Then one afternoon he espies a young kestrel nesting in a farmer's tree. He convinces the man to allow him to try and rear the bird and so with the help of a second hand book, some meat scraps and some enthusiasm from his supportive teacher "Mr. Farthing" (Colin Welland) we watch the boy finally discover a purpose for his life. Indeed, it might also be the first time he has ever experienced love in his life. He doesn't have a pet, though. Each time he takes his bird for a flight, he fully expects it to take off into the skies and never return - but it doesn't. It returns to his arm when called and this only serves to further cement a relationship that is rapidly becoming all-consuming for "Billy". Bradley is excellent here, no other word for it. H
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Cast
- David BradleyBilly
- Freddie FletcherJud
- Lynne PerrieMrs. Casper
- Colin WellandMr. Farthing
- Brian GloverMr. Sugden
- Bob BowesMr. Gryce
- Bernard AthaYouth Employment Officer
- Laurence Bould
- Joey KayePub Comic
- Ted Carroll
Crew
- Ken LoachDirector
- Ken LoachScreenplay
- Tony GarnettScreenplay
- Barry HinesNovel
- Chris MengesDirector of Photography
- John CameronOriginal Music Composer
- Roy WattsEditor
- Tony GarnettProducer
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