A look at alan clarke s scum and contact, two stories about british institutions that torture anyone that has to deal with them. Most of clarke s output was for television rather than cinema. Dec 31, 20 alan clarke s contribution to screen 2, bbc2s film anthology series that ran from 1985 until 2002, also happens to be the very first episode aired. Alan clarkes brutal television war film, contact 1985. Shot in a documentary style, contact follows a platoon of paras on border patrol in south armagh. He became a member of the privy council of the united kingdom in 1991 he was the author of several books of military history, including. Alan clarkes contact is a starkly stripped back film about british paratroopers on patrol in northern ireland.
Georgine anderson, john atkinson, spencer banks, moray black, pat bowker. In richard kellys book alan clarke 1998 david rudkin likens clarke to robert bresson in his pursuit of a very rigorous language, you would say a style. Dissent 1969 1977 6dvd box set alan clarke at the bbc, volume 1. View the profiles of professionals named alan clarke on linkedin. Elephant is a 1989 british short film directed by alan clarke and produced by danny boyle. Clarke is an atlanta, entertainment attorney and litigator and leads the firms entertainment, sports and media department. Documentary alan clarke s films exposed a real, raw world as no other films have. The film avoids debate regarding the political or social issues, instead. His film work became more sparse, culminating in contact 1985 on the british military presence in northern ireland, billy the kid and the green. Advertising, sport, music, editorial, portrait and fashion photographer, view portfolio images, and contact information.
Contact 1985 alan clarke, sean chapman, steve sweeney. In between stopandsearch duties and exchanges of fire with seemingly invisible assailants, the tension is ratcheted up through long periods. July 24, 1990, london, england filmography select bibliography web resources fifteen years ago the death of alan clarke was followed by belated career recognition in the form of bbc rebroadcasts and a retrospective at the national film theatre. Directed by alan clarke with little in the way of plot, the film successfully captures the fear, confusion and bravery of uniformed soldiers fighting against an unseen enemy shot in a documentary style, contact follows a platoon of paras on border patrol in south armagh. The bbc tv film contact was written by author afn clarke based upon his best selling book contact about his two tours of duty in. Contact 1985 alan clarke, sean chapman, steve sweeney, gary hailes october 28, 2018 drama about a platoon of british paratroopers on patrol in northern ireland. Alan clarkes favourite films alan clarke repository. However, interpreting the film in this way should not involve neglecting afn clarkes contribution although clarkes paringdown of scripts. Winstone as the marquee inmate at a prison for juvenile offenders. Bloody sunday and the bourne supremacy are evidence enough of that. Most of clarkes output was for television rather than cinema. A former assistant district attorney, he is a cum laude graduate of duke university and holds a law degree from emory university.
Alan clarkes favourite films alan clarke repository medium. Apr 04, 2014 i dont know whether he would ever have said it was his favourite film of all time but it was one he had on tape and he had very few films on tape. Upgrade to a letterboxd pro account to add your favorite services to this listincluding any service and country pair listed on justwatchand to enable oneclick filtering by all your favorites. Upgrade to a letterboxd pro account to add your favorite services to this listincluding any service and country pair listed on justwatchand to enable oneclick filtering by. Death in the streets, homes, parks and factories of belfast.
Alan clarkes work to be presented in its entirety by the. Finelyjudged performances from sean chapman scum, made in britain and the rest of the cast combine with fluid handheld camerawork. Contact is afn clarke s best selling autobiography of his two tours in northern ireland with britains elite parachute regiment during the troubles of the bloodsoaked 1970s. As well as earning its place in history as the very first screen two drama the sister of screen one and contemporary child of play for today as well as the rival to film 4 contact is also notable as being the first of clarke s one word title 80s films which would see him essentially distill his technique and. Jim, are you after the book or the bbc play for today or similar series version, directed by alan clarke no relation to afn clarke. New expanded kindle edition published by clarke books 2012 new expanded paperback edition published by clarke books 2014 bbc tv film 1985 winner locarno film festival for best tv film bluray dvd released by the bfi 2017 and on sale at. Two films reflecting on the 1980s in northern ireland. With sean chapman, steve sweeney, gary hailes, graham fletchercook. Alan clarke, director of scum and the firm, is a director of men.
Directed by alan clarke with little in the way of plot, the film successfully captures the fear, confusion and bravery of uniformed soldiers fighting against an. Director alan clarke s 1985 documentarystyle drama based on the memoirs of afn clarke, an exparatrooper who served in northern ireland. Directed by alan clarke scum, the firm, and adapted by afn clarke from his own autobiographical book, contact is a powerful, unsensational drama about a platoon of british paratroopers on border patrol in south armagh. Alan kenneth mackenzie clark april 1928 5 september 1999 was a british conservative member of parliament mp, author and diarist.
Alan clarke s contribution to screen 2, bbc2s film anthology series that ran from 1985 until 2002, also happens to be the very first episode aired. Bbc2 06011985 70mins contact is one of a number of films which has been criticised for avoiding the difficult question of why british soldiers were in northern ireland in the first place, or offering an opinion on their presence. He relentlessly screamed at us to empathetically understand the impact of human conflict in his final few films by forcing a neutral pov to restrict any mental bias. Why alan clarke is the key british film maker whose maverick spirit lives on the director of scum, made in britain and the firm made films that were brilliant, disconcerting and radical and.
The book can still be found, but the last time this question was asked on here about the film, i think the conclusion was that the bbc had failed to release it, either on vhs or dvd. The film avoids debate regarding the political or social issues, instead exploring the fear and confusion of the largely anonymous soldiers. However, contact is a very different film from who dares wins, and in the context of my reading of the film within alan clarkes northern ireland pieces as a whole, the finished version might be placed within the terms of the alternative perspective perhaps even the oppositional, if we take some of the discussions in psywarriors as a cue to. I dont know whether he would ever have said it was his favourite film of all time but it was one he had on tape and he had very few films on tape. Contact deals with a group of soldiers patrolling a border in south armagh during the troubles conflict, and clarke, the committed realist, films the perilous duties without ever shying away from the haphazard violence and evades any sentimentality. Alan clarke s contact is a starkly stripped back film about british paratroopers on patrol in northern ireland. It opens with one of the directors most provocative, bitter scenes. Filmed between 6 and 29 august 1984, contact was directed by alan clarke. The film was deemed too authentic in its depiction of. Why alan clarke is the key british filmmaker whose maverick. Other clarke retrospectives include edinburgh in 1998 and londons riverside in 2005. Alan john clarke 28 october 1935 24 july 1990 was an english television and film director.
Dec 01, 2016 by the time of contact, christine and elephant clarke had pared his films down to the bare essentials and the aesthetic had become ascetic. One of the fruits of this initiative was the visceral, antiestablishment filmmaking of alan clarke 19351990, who arrived at the corporation when he was 33 and directed 29 dramas there. Liverpool native alan clarke got his start in the film business in canada, where he studied acting and directing. Along with ken loach poor cow and mike leigh high hopes, alan clarke was one of britains leading television and film producerdirectors in the 1970s and 80s, specializing in works of social realism, i.
Despite having come out of the remarkably fertile mid60s moment when british television fostered a generation of socially conscious, singularly prickly subversives ken loach, mike leigh, peter watkins, clarkes reputation rests primarily on three lateperiod tv dramas designed to test viewers. Jun 08, 2015 why alan clarke is the key british filmmaker whose maverick spirit lives on the director of scum, made in britain and the firm made films that were brilliant, disconcerting and radical and. Alan clarke was born in birkenhead, cheshire, on 28 october 1935, the son of an insurance salesman. Sean chapman, steve sweeney, gary hailes, graham fletchercook, john blundell, ozzie stevens.
Contact 1985 is a later teleplay, about a platoon of british paratroopers caught up in a senselessly divided northern ireland. Alan john clarke 28 october 1935 24 july 1990 was an english television and film director, producer and writer. Contact northern irelandbased on a true story youtube. He served as a junior minister in margaret thatchers governments at the departments of employment, trade and defence. Alan clarke s drama without character or narrative and shot in documentary style is a shockingly frank depiction of the futility of sectarian murder. The book can still be found, but the last time this question was asked on here about the film, i think the conclusion. The first tour with 3para took place in belfasts loyalist shankill road area in 1973 and the second, also with 3para, during 1976 in the ira stronghold of crossmaglen. Winner of the golden leopards eye for best tv film at the 1985 locarno film festival, contact is released here with the critically acclaimed 1981 alan clarke. Alan clarke great director profile senses of cinema.
Contact deals with a group of soldiers patrolling a border in south armagh during the troubles conflict, and clarke, the committed realist, films the perilous duties without ever shying away. The bbc tv film contact was written by author afn clarke based upon his best selling book contact about his two tours of duty in northern ireland in 1973 and 1976. Elephant is without question alan clarke s bleakest film. This longoverdue collection finally brings together all twentythree of the surviving standalone bbc tv dramas that alan clarke directed between 1969 and 1989, including such neglected classics as to encourage the others, horace, pendas fen, diane, contact, christine and elephant, and also includes scum and the first ever presentation of. It was television, yes, but its reasonable to speak of this output as clarke s cinemafor his angry egalitarianism and manipulations of film. However, contact is a very different film from who dares wins, and in the context of my reading of the film within alan clarke s northern ireland pieces as a whole, the finished version might be placed within the terms of the alternative perspective perhaps even the oppositional, if we take some of the discussions in psywarriors as a cue to. Works such as scum, made in britain, the firm, rita, sue and bob too and elephant inspired a generation of british actors, writers and directors that changed cinema forever.
The complete alan clarke bfi southbank season 28 march 30 april 2016. Why alan clarke is the key british filmmaker whose. Upon returning to england he got a job at itv, then moved over to the bbc in 1969. Clarke is an entertainment attorney and litigator representing recording artists, writers, performers, athletes, record labels, producers, managers, authors and others in the entertainment industry. A look at alan clarkes scum and contact, two stories about british institutions that torture. Contact is based on the memoirs of afn clarke, an exparatrooper who served extensively in northern ireland. Photographer and director alan clarke specializes in portraiture and video. Dec 10, 2018 a look at alan clarke s scum and contact, two stories about british institutions that torture anyone that has to deal with them. It is pared to the very bone, where dialogue has been jettisoned, action appears without context and the cinematic grammar is one of long takes, steadicams and opaque ambiguity, rather than realism. Where to begin with alan clarke movies inspire a lot of passion, but the back catalogue of film history can be daunting. Where not to start with a title evoking westerns and horror films, clarkes billy the kid and the green baize vampire 1985 is a more oblique and, as a musical, more bemusing take on the prevailing moods of thatchers britain.
Whilst he is alone a group of civilians attempt to take his rifle from him. His powerful images have defined campaign identities for brands like nike, belstaff, samsung and more. He worked mostly in television, but he made a couple of feature films that got attention for their portrayal of the gritty and occasionally violent life. Directed by alan clarke with little in the way of plot, the film successfully captures the fear, confusion and bravery of uniformed soldiers fighting against an unseen enemy. The film is set in northern ireland during the troubles and its title comes from bernard maclavertys description of the conflict as the elephant in our living room a reference to the collective denial of the underlying social problems of northern ireland. The film is set in northern ireland during the troubles and its title comes from bernard maclavertys description of the conflict as the elephant in our living room a reference to the collective denial of the underlying social problems of northern ireland produced by bbc northern ireland, it first. Another retrospective at the 1998 edinburgh international film. Clarke s most controversial film was the 1977 scum, starring mr. This week, greengrasss united 93, about the september 11, 2001, flight now commemorated in a pennsylvania field, opens the tribeca film festival and then moves into theaters. Drama about a platoon of british paratroopers on patrol in northern ireland.
Again, he uses heavy repetition of violence and mundanity to brutal effect. For every fan whos obsessed with an actor, director or subgenre, theres another struggling to know where to start. Alan clarke although best remembered for three controversial and groundbreaking dramas made in britain, the firm and the notorious scum the breadth of clarkes radical, politically incisive and innovative work deserves fuller recognition. Alan clarke active 1972 1989 born oct 28, 1935 died jan 1, 1990 genres drama overview v. Finelyjudged performances from sean chapman scum, made in britain and the rest of the cast combine with fluid handheld camerawork and. The inyourface films of alan clarke the new york times.
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