Good and Bad at Games

here in Germany it was only shown on TV one time. today, as everything becomes mainstream, it's absolute impossible, to watch a film like this again on the screen. maybe it's the same in USA, or especially GB. The Message is a brutal truth : Find friends to make your ideas come a bit closer to reality, or you become a loser, if not an asshole instead.

The whole film is not particularly as simple, as it may seem here. Every little scene, every sentence, every behavior of the characters show a sharp look at what could happen, when one person is not accepted in a sadistic crowd, which calls itself normal.

Very well played by all this is a must seen. Who is the main character? John (not Cox, folks, remember ;-) ore Niles (who still is Bimbo) Decide and you will get the plot as it is intended.

A bitter look at what society becomes in a repressive system. Kind of Salingers Catcher in the rye and Goldings Lord of the flies thought to the very end.

The Final maybe change your own mind. Word

I remember seeing this film when I was fairly young & being quite disturbed by it. I found the storyline very distressing and can still remember the various bullying techniques used. One in particular was when the other school children spat in his soup before he could even taste a spoonful. They also bound him and shaved his private parts. This was all because he was unpopular. Why was he unpopular? Because he was bad at games. I have a feeling though that even if he was good at games he would have been bullied because it's hard to decide what makes someone popular. To me, he is the type of person who would always be picked on because that's how children operate. Popular children are popular because they are in some way 'cool'. Popularity is a hard thing to define. So, even at the end when he is successful in his career it makes no difference & he is still left feeling tormented. I found the ending quite distressing as there was no resolution.

I saw this as a teenager in the early 80s on VHS. It stuck in memory. I then came across this on Youtube many years later. I went to boarding school in England the 80s. It was only on re-watching that I appreciated that this film characterises every type of boy that went (or goes?) to these schools. There are two protagonists - one is a loser who knows it (and knows who to blames), the other is a loser who doesn't know it and only realises this at the end. Both lose in the end. The most pathetic figure is the thick Niles. Really believing he is one of the gang, either too stupid (or in denial) to realise that it is only his sporting proneness that leads to him being included in the gang. The film brilliantly captures the loneliness and fear of the bullied Cox. At the beginning there are tragic scenes where Cox is forced to and then tries to ingratiate himself with the schools sportsmen. Anton Lesser is fantastic. He switches between cowered victim to futile obsessed avenger. Martyn Stanbridge is brilliant as the hapless Niles. The bullies are clever, witty (Colenso) but one dimensional. They inflict humiliation on Cox without even thinking about it - it is just something they do when the situation arises. I thought the dramatisation of the the bystanders- grinning as more humiliation is inflicted in Cox and then inflicting it themselves - was wholly accurate. It is the constant grinding humiliation of Cox that sticks in the mind as well as indifference the bullies show to their victims (including Niles) - treating them as objects and 'other' from them.

So watch this on Youtube. There are no satisfying denouements (as in real life): the arrogant and privileged win and losers lose. The picture quality is lousy, but this will stick in your mind especially if you went to one of these schools. However, my brother, who went to regular secondary school saw it once and loved it. Channel 4 -repeat this now. The main soundtrack - just one song by Cream - is inspired.

I am presently reading "BAMBOO" by William Boyd & immediately ran to IMDb to see if there was any information on his disturbing filmed insights to bullying at school. Regrettably, as has been noted by many respondents, "Good and Bad at Games" has been consigned to the mothballs by Channel Four, which is strange, seeing that they have made Film Four free to air & show some good retrospective films. When compared with the crap that is shown recently - "Big Brother" - and similar pap, it would be salutary for a new generation to see some of the really good productions of the 1980s. I think of "Among Barbarians"; "The Happy Valley"; "Another Time, Another Place"; The "Country Matters" series of HE Bates short stories such as "The Little Farm" and think they still have the power to move and thrill. These were all gems, and never date. Boyd is probably the best chronicler of school days (Try "Dutch Girls") & makes "Tom Brown" look tame. In particular, he is spot on when he traces some of his schoolmates' careers after the monastic confinement of 10 years at a public school. He remarks that the only way to survive is to get out before the end. I did & know what he means, especially when I hear so many of my old school friends reminiscing, almost in tears, about the glory days when they scored "50 not out". All of the popular ones are comparative failures, many joining the army or navy and forever talking about the thrashings they got. No wonder so many are incapable of a human relationship with a woman & go to whores to recapture the joys of enemas; floggings & Castor oil!

I lament that this film has not enjoyed greater exposure. In character,it is a thoroughly English film. Indeed,a tale set against the backdrop of a public school,military presence in Ulster AND a cricket game could come only from England ! The story is terrific , but the acting is no better than average - with one exception. The exception is the performance of Anton Lesser as the bullied,vengeful Cox.Why we have not seen more of this man in big-budget, better-known films is both a mystery and a disappointment. The other actors seem to be content to play the stereotypical roles of outsider(Stanbridge),bullying snob (Jephcott) and bored neglected spouse(Davenport). Paradoxically,I STILL enjoyed ALL the performances , especially that of Stanbridge. Possibly that is due in part to the strength of the writing and direction.And the music by Cream!

Mr.Lesser, however,seemed to "live and breathe" his character. He gave one of the most memorable and convincing performances I have ever seen,by any actor.