The Girl-Getters

With the Girl-Getters or The System as it was shown to be when i lived in the UK is a tale of misspent youth on a Southern England coastal town. Like many of these towns the folk lay dormant for most of the year until the summer comes, and with it trade in the form of tourism. This was in a time before the package tour and the Costa-del-slosh that most of the young men have reverted to. This was a time when a virile young male spent his days prowling the promenade in search of his prey. The system was a cunning plan thought up by Tinker played brilliantly by the late Oliver Reed, was to a method of getting as much action of the female variety as possible. I will not ruin the surprise by revealing what the system exactly entails but needless to say it works with measured success. Until that is Tinker falls fowl of his own tricks and has his heart broken by a more fiestly young lady with a nice sports car and a wealthy father. The Soundtrack is particularly commendable as can be gleaned from the opening titles, and continues with a particulary mod beat. I particularly enjoyed the film as I am of the same age as Reed in the film and it is good to see that little has changed in our quest for summer fun except for perhaps the fashion of the time and hairstyles. Or has it.

A neglected but in its unassuming way very well-made little melodrama by a young Michael Winner, shot mainly on location around Torbay right at the start of the Swinging Sixties era. Fairly racy in its day, it never tries to sensationalise its premise that casual sex is as normal as the twist among the holidaying young people.

The cast is exceptional. This was Winner's first collaboration with Oliver Reed, whose charisma and aura of watchful menace here is unmistakable. There was never another star in British cinema quite like him. Jane Merrow is just as excellent as the sympathetic but ultimately unattainable Nicola; she makes the character totally three-dimensional without any histrionics. Barbara Ferris also stands out among a talented young cast, especially in her final stoned lament at the evening beach-party.

Winner is helped immeasurably by a brilliant cinematographer, Nicolas Roeg (here in between lensing such notable Brit-flicks as The Caretaker, Nothing But the Best and Masque of the Red Death). His location work right from the title sequence gives a vivid sense of place of a jaded seaside resort in the last days of summer.

Directorial flair is surprisingly confident, borrowing just enough new-wave technique to languidly establish the film's youth pedigree without ever indulging in obtrusive effect for its own sake.

Winner's previous film, West 11, a lowlife murder suspensor, also made good use of a mainly young cast. After The System he moved on to bigger but not necessarily better things before Hollywood swamped what talent he had. A pity, because this film, never acknowledged as being one of the best British b-films of the time, really is pretty good.

"The System" was both the first time director Michael Winner had ventured away from films featuring pop groups to something more serious and representative of the 60s, and the first time Oliver Reed had a lead role that wasn't in a Hammer horror. The scene where you see him for the first time in the camera range gives you some idea of what kind of screen presence he had before the booze became more important than the image. As Tinker the photographer, the leader of a randy gang in Brighton, Reed is exceptionally good, and also in the cast are John Alderton, David Hemmings, and Andrew Ray, all offering good support. The film gets under the skin of the decade and manages to be interesting to watch as well.

I first saw this film when it was released (in 1964) and it had a profound effect on me then, imagine my surprise when I saw it in the middle of the night on TV a few days ago and it hasn't lost any of it's freshness. Oliver Reed is brilliant, as he always was before he took to the bottle, and the idea of the girl turning the tables on the cock-sure man is executed magnificently. Furthermore the quote that I remember for forty years still rang true (Harry Andrews, a photographer, says "we're here to make memories" and Oliver Reed's reply "I thought we were here to make money"). People may laugh at Michale Winner now but this was god, very good. Even today.

When I saw " The System " for the first time I was about 14 years of age,and had never heard of Oliver Reed or David Hemmings.By today's standards it is hardly very shocking or thrilling;and yet in 1964 it was rather risqué,being about young men who were essentially trying to get young ladies into bed.It is filmed in black and white,and has a young and very handsome Oliver Reed seducing young ladies,but eventually falling in love.It also has a young David Hemmings,who later goes on to make some of the more memorable films of the 60's.It has many quality performances from British character actors, such as Juliette Foster and John Alderton.It also is directed by the very underrated Michael winner,and is worth viewing for its cinematographic interest,but also for its particular take on the 1960's.