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| Up The Junction [1968] | ![Up The Junction [1968]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51S4wkSn7XL._SL160_.jpg)
 enlarge | Director: Peter Collinson
Actors: Dennis Waterman, Maureen Lipman, Suzy Kendall
Studio: Paramount Home Entertainment
Category: DVD
List Price: £9.99
Buy New: £4.47
You Save: £5.52 (55%)
Buy New from £4.47
Avg. Customer Rating:  (7 reviews)
Sales Rank: 425
Format: Pal
Rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
Media: DVD
Running Time: 114 minutes
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
EAN: 5014437957535
ASIN: B001AHKGYM
Release Date: August 18, 2008
Theatrical Release Date: 1968
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews: Read 2 more reviews...
'And So it's My Assumption, I'm Really.....' January 1, 2009
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
It's a surprise to everyone (including yours truly) when beautiful socialite Polly Dean gives up a life of luxury in opulent West London to go and live in a grotty flat in ruthless Battersea and work at a chilly chocolate factory with a bunch of raucous, moral-less, bee-hived slappers.br /Such is the plot of 'Up The Junction', (the title refers to Clapham Junction Railway Station around which much of the film is set) a gritty but reassuring drama in the vague style of 'Cathy Come Home'. Although Polly's reasons for abandoning her pampered lifestyle are a bit obtuse - she alludes that it makes her sick, ('yeuchh' is how she describes it) she appears genuinely happy in her new environment of sling-backs, pop culture, abortion and random drunken violence. br /Polly gets involved with Sylvie and Rube, two dayglo sisters straight from the 'Knees Up Muvva Brahn' school of tarts-with-a-heart-of-gold and their mother, a twitching screeching harpy. She also finds herself a boyfriend - Peter, a gold-digging charmer with ideas well above his furniture-removal-boy station. br /'UTJ's main bone of controversy was a long, heart-breaking abortion sequence. Terminations were illegal in the UK at the time the film came out with the law just on the cusp of change, and while it does appear slightly preachy, it's vitally handled sympathetically. br /From the disgusting junk-shop hiding an appalling sideline upstairs, to the screaming culmination at Rube's home, the whole section is sickeningly believable. Nothing explicit, just unpleasant sweaty close-ups of panic-stricken, mascara-lined faces, mouths howling, (between curses) to the Heavens in emotional pleas for respite.br /All this is offset by with a dream-like stroll by Polly along Wimbledon Common, where she seems to glide through all the stages of life. Babies wail, couples grope, oldies stroll hand-in-hand with everything in-between and particularly poignant is the sight of a tiny black toddler feeding a swan three times the size she is. With Manfred Mann's smashing soundtrack at full volume it all seems a little clumsy and crass, but it works. Director Peter Collinson ('Fright', 'the Italian Job', 'Straight on Til Morning') has a nose for realism, and utilises it to the absolute maximum - hitting hard when he has to, but still finding beauty and humour in even the most bleak and difficult of situations.br /'UTJ' looks like a forceful history lesson, but unlike 'Quadrophenia' or 'the Knack' its no meaningless nostalgia trip or tourist film for the modern viewer. It has brilliant locations, (showing London as it exists no longer) the starkly beautiful Battersea Power Station, a marvel of 1930's modernism, seems to be observing every scene - dominating the industrial sky-line like a gothic Hammer castle, only relinquishing it's surveillance at the end credits.br /The cast is great too. 70's scream queen Suzy Kendall plays Polly, the impossibly handsome Dennis Waterman is Peter, notable theatre actress Maureen Lipman is Sylvie and the unfortunate Rube is played quirkily by disappeared-without-trace Adrienne Posta.br /No frills on this one. Rude, garish and brutal - but compelling, funny and human at the same time. br /The dvd transfer is excellent, intimately revealing the exquisite nature of the simple personal stories hidden away in the vast 'Scope framing.
London in a time capsule December 1, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
One of the most insightful, thought provoking, astute and artistic British movies ever made. And for lovers of London on film, this movie is a must to own, as it portrays Battersea with a real passion, and has some very artistic camera work. It is a very spirited piece of work and you sense that everyone in it believes in it, and isn't just in it for the fame or the money. It is very much a film of its era, and it may be hard for young 20somethings now to relate to, because who talks about the class system and how it affects people's lives now? This was a very 1960s subject, with a lot of radically minded young graduates having had their lives changed by discovering the works of Marx and Gramsci at Univerity and their idealism was one of the main catalysts for the whole swinging 60s scene.br /br /Julie Christie lookalike Suzy Kendall plays the posh young idealist who follows her dream of leaving her stuffy and over privileged life in Chelsea to slum it among the 'more real', 'more alive' people of downmarket Battersea. Her resulting journey looks both nostalgic and other worldly to us now, and perhaps it was laid on a bit thick with the class divide thing and the experiencing real life stuff, but this WAS a different era to today. So it romanticises the lives of down at heel but good hearted Londoners somewhat, and maybe even overstates the effects of the class divide a little but it does make for a moving film experience. Has some fantastically arty scenes, such as the courting scene in the half demolished house where they look out through the rubble at London with an orange sunset. It is both very astute and faintly naive, and really bigs up the idealism of Suzy Kendall's character, who is overall a very believable 1960s character. The town of Chelsea is refered to as though it's almost a mythical Camelot that's hidden Kendall away from the real life she longs for, and it builds on this fairytale image by pointing the camera across the Thames towards Chelsea, but rightly doesn't go there.br /br /With an evocative 60s score, career making performances from several now very familiar actors including a breathtakingly good Maureen Lipman, some great dialogue, some classic shots of London and some social issues given the social realism treatment-1960s style, Up the Junction is one of the most memorable and unique British films out there on DVD.
Vibrant and important 60s English film October 21, 2008
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
Contains plot spoilers.br /br /A fascinating late 60s English film chronicling the exploits of a privileged Chelsea girl who, having grown tired of the Sloane Square set, seeks adventure just over the other side of the river in (what was then) down-at-heel Battersea. How times change!br /br /The reason for the five stars is, for me, the way it captures quite a pivotal point in London history, heading as it was towards the peak of its late 60s swinging fabulousness, and for the fact that it was one of the few movies of the period to deal quite matter-of-factly with issues like teenage pregnancy, abortion, sex out of marriage, domestic violence and all the other things which these days are de rigueur. Also, it wasn't that long ago, but my god HOW long ago it was - everyone drink drives, everyone smokes (even Rube when she finds out she's pregnant!), guys on bikes don't wear crash helmets, and yet the world still turns. Happy days!br /br /What lets this film down is that not one of the characters is developed beyond the two-dimensional, superficial level of pantomime. Take the characters out of this film and they could easily be in Carry on Camping. All the girls (except Polly) are sluts, all the lads are randy wideboys. The only exception is Rube, for whom you can at least develop some pathos as she goes through the gruelling backstreet abortion aftermath. Otherwise they're all pretty grotesque, but likeable all the same.br /br /Also the characters, editing and writing are wildly inconsistent. Rube, once her abortion (by Terry) is over, is, in the next scene, engaged to him! And then in the NEXT scene he's mown down by a truck and killed. And then she doesn't really appear in the film any more. And why would Polly want to go out with Peter anyway? He's moody and immature. And his response to Terry's death? "Cheer up! Forget about it. I know we'll have a nice weekend away!"br /br /The film raises a few interesting ideas about grass-is-always-greener - Polly is desperate to escape the wealth that Peter dreams of - but even though this is the main thrust of the film, it's laid on with a trowel rather than explored. Even though I love this film, it could have been a lot more.br /br /One other downside is the really dodgy sound editing: almost all of the dialogue was subsequently redubbed and quite a hatchet job was made of it. And yet it doesn't detract from a celluloid slice of history. Some cracking location views of London as it was, groovy soundtrack courtesy of Manfred Mann, and a fantastic cast consisting of Suzy Kendall as Polly, Maureen Lipman and Adrienne Posta as sisters Sylvie and Rube and a strikingly handsome and fresh-faced Dennis Waterman as Peter combine to make it a film definitely worth having, and now that it's out on official release, there really is no excuse for not owning it.
Finally, the movie to match the Soundtrack... September 29, 2008
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
...and what a revelation! This is one of those films that we all should know but has until now remained elusive, only really being somewhat familiar through Manfred Mann's excellent soundrack (or an old beat up paperback of the novel perhaps). As good as the music has always been the film bursts with beauty, marrying the visuals with the sound so much better that expected. Suzy Kendall is mesmerizing. The photography is brilliantly detailed, almost unbelievably colorful for such potentially dour content and the closeups are amongst the best I have ever seen. In addition the film allows Adrienne Posta to actually have more of a role than I had seen her in previously, Liz Frazer doesn't play the bimbo (entirely), we get Ringo's aunt from Magical Mystery Tour Jessie Robins and a brief but scintillating cameo from a very young Susan George. The rest of the cast are very good and it is fun to see the very likable Dennis Waterman in his first role. Suzy Kendall is so good in this, I can't believe I seemed to have missed her in To Sir with Love even though I've seen it several times. Now that we also have the fantastic Privilege on dvd, if we can get Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush and Work is a Four Letter Word released we can really celebrate! Jean Shrimpton, Judy Geeson and Angela Scoular - the UK in the 60's had an embarrassment of riches.
Truely Classic 1960's Production September 11, 2008
14 out of 16 found this review helpful
A priviledged Chelsea girl, Suzy Kendall, crosses the river to Wandsworth to mix in with the local working-class people in order that she can escape what she believes is her drab and stuffy life. She has the family chauffeur drop her off on the far side of Battersea Bridge and she sets off to land herself a job on the production line of a local sweet factory. Soon, she is accepted by her colleagues and finds herself a room to lodge in. Buying furniture for her place, she meets a local boy (Dennis Waterman). She has a rude awakening when she comes to experience the seemy side of British working class life from which her boyfriend is so desparate to escape and leave behind.br /br /I think that this adaption from the Nell Dunn story is a true classic of sixties British cinema. There are crisp, vibrant colours and a fantastic sound-track from Manfred Mann that is very reminiscent of the sound of Crosby, Stills Nash that was still to come. There are also some fine character performances from the likes of Maureen Lipman and Adrienne Posta. The subject matter is very contemporary as abortion was only just being de-criminalised at the timebr /br /I've just bought this film on DVD, having previously being conned into buying a pirated copy on E-bay (out of desparation at its non-availability). The picture is a revalation (full wide-screen) and the sound is very good. Unfortunately, there are no extras. I would have thought Dennis Waterman, with all his exposure on tv in recent years, could have at least been given the opportunity of providing an audio commentary, but I'm not complaining.
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