In England, the times are a changing: it's mods and rockers. On the day Nancy gets off the London train, cases in hand, looking for the YWCA, Colin has had enough of missing out on the sexual revolution. He begs his smooth (and misogynistic) pal Tolen to teach him 'the knack' - how to score with women. Serendipitously, Colin and his new lodger Tom meet up with Nancy while Colin's buying a bed larger than Tolen's. The three hit it off, but their simple fun ends when Tolen meets Nancy. Colin is jealous but impotent, and Tolen both attracts and repels her. She swoons, wonders what happened, and cries 'rape.' Impish serendipity rubs against unsettling ambiguity; Tolen bolts. Written by

Plot Synopsis:
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Cool and sophisticated Tolen (Ray Brooks) has a monopoly on womanizing - with a long like of conquests to prove it - while the naive and awkward Colin (Michael Crawford) desperately wants a piece of it. But when Colin falls for an innocent country girl (Rita Tushingham), ots not long before the self-assured Tolen moves in for the kill. Is all fair in love and war, or can Colin get the the knack and beat Tolen at his own game?

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GeoffLeo from Bristol, England
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The Knack emerges as a serious contender as the film which best defines and captures the essence of the sixties. As a product of its age, it convincingly portrays an image of 'swinging London' that so dominated the media at that time. It is an enduring image, which has long since seeped into our collective consciousness.

Today, The Knack appears, at best, to be an attempt at understanding the changing moral landscape that was being radically redrawn during this era. As a piece of contemporary film making, it manages to capture the spirit of that age perfectly. What it doesn't necessarily do is make sense of it all. The 1960s was, after all, a period of rapid social and political change - an age of cold war tension, supersonic invention and lunar landing pretensions, combined with increasing freedom for teenagers, both in terms of sex and spending power.

The quartet of principal actors, Crawford, Tushingham, Brooks & Donnelly all give bravura performances. Richard Lester's direction was exemplary; indeed, he has probably not made a better film since those heady days. The locations, featuring some rather dingy-looking parts of the capital, look all the more so thanks to the decision to film in monochrome. This was particular brave considering the colourful times the film was depicting. The one ingredient which most of all created the sense of playfulness indicative of the film was John Barry's wonderfully mischievous jazz-tinged pop score. One cannot imagine the film without it, which is the highest compliment one can pay to a film soundtrack.

There is no doubt that The Knack was and remains a stylish movie, albeit rooted in its time. No viewer can fail to date its origin correctly ... yet that's precisely what makes this celluloid time-capsule such a fascinating viewing experience. It exists as the archetypal mid-sixties art-house movie, which, like the decade in which it was written, took risks, dared to be different, and, if it didn't always succeed, sure as hell made an impression.



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bobc-5 from Annandale, VA
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A steady stream of very attractive and nearly identical manikins come to life and march starry-eyed around the block and up the stairs to a flat where they briefly meet the object of their desire before dutifully signing his guest book on the way out. The man they came to see is the suave Lothario who will try to mentor the socially awkward teacher living downstairs in the "knack" of seducing women. As so often happens in situations like this, they will eventually end up competing for the affections of the same intriguing ingenue.

This may sound like an overused cliche likely to result in a formulaic romantic comedy, but director Richard Lester gives us something very different as he presents the story through a combination of exaggerated caricatures, fantasy sequences and zany metaphors. The result is that we are not so much interested in the details of the story as we are in the fun we have reaching the inevitable conclusion and the social commentary we encounter along the way.

Created in 1965, Lester makes a hefty contribution to the creation of a frenetic visual style of comedy which will be imitated with great commercial success throughout the rest of the decade (think "Laugh-In"). With its mod styling, rapid-fire editing, non sequiturs and wacky antics, Lester effectively uses this style to provide some wickedly clever parody of early 1960s sexism, conformity and consumerism.

The film is unfortunately not without some serious flaws. The comic style which may have seemed fresh and exciting at the time has not aged well. The good-natured mood of the film robs the social commentary of any punch or staying power, as does the failure to integrate it into a unifying framework. Also, the four main characters may be wonderfully portrayed with excellent comic acting, but only one of them is scripted such that he ever becomes human enough for us to care what happens to him, something which is essential in a story that is entirely about the relationships between the main characters.

One may find this to be a very enjoyable and memorable film in spite of these flaws, but it clearly requires that you recognize how to accept what it attempts to offer rather than criticizing it for what it doesn't deliver. I'd also think that it's a valuable film for anyone interested in the 1960s mass media image of a mostly mythical swinging London and in the trends influencing popular entertainment during that time period.

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bethster2000
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Richard Lester was the one with the knack...the knack for providing snapshots of Swinging London, and for that we should all be grateful. With The Knack...and How To Get It, Lester builds on his triumph of A Hard Day's Night with a winning cast, dynamic cinematography and a hilarious screenplay.

Michael Crawford carries this film. He is, in short, adorable as the sexually frustrated milquetoast Colin. Another actor may have played Colin as pathetic; Crawford seems to have insight as to Colin's predicament and instead plays him as a well-meaning innocent. Ray Brooks is suitably slimy as skirt-chasing Tolen. Rita Tushingham is the very portrait of a British bird circa 1965, and a fine comedienne at that. My favorite character in the film, though, is Donal Donnelly as Tom. He really serves no ostensible purpose other than comic relief, which he amply provides. His timing is wonderful, especially playing off Ray Brooks.

Lines from the screenplay make me laugh as I think about them, and the various plays on words throughout the film are incredibly clever.

"Skirt is meat." Watch this film and see what I mean.

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RanchoTuVu from Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico
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A young and sexually frustrated school teacher rents out a room in his old house to a hip drummer with a motorcycle who is an expert at seduction in the hope of learning how he does it. Crazy editing and a haphazard style make it a challenge for those of us brought up on westerns and film noirs. A youth movie for the 60's with Rita Tushingham who seemed to embody that period of youthful British cinema, with a decidedly British humor and a take on society and sex, all wrapped up in the anarchy of free form movie making. Similar in style to Lester's "Hard Day's Night" but without the Beatles to carry it, this film relies more on the patience of the viewer, as it has a nice little story within the chaos.

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ianlouisiana from United Kingdom
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Let's get one thing straight ; for the vast majority of Londoners the so - called "Swinging Sixties" happened to somebody else,somewhere else.A few streets in the West End were a magnet for the rich children of the Chelsea Set who were determined to outdo the excesses of their parents as a perverted form of noblesse oblige.They were prepared to wear any clothes,no matter how outrageous,take any drug,no matter how dangerous,and embrace any music,no matter how pretentious.The more badly they behaved the more they attracted the attention of the opinion makers in the media,and the opinion makers looked upon their works and decided that they were a "Good Thing".Thus was born the myth of Swinging London;in truth an area of a few hundred square yards near "Liberty" where mummy did her shopping. Anne Jellicoe's play "The Knack" was adapted by Dick Lester,the Boswell of Swinging London.Mr Ray Brooks plays Tolen,a young man who has a way with the ladies.Mr Michael Crawford plays his chum who wishes to emulate him. Miss Rita Tushingham plays a young girl who falls under Tolen's spell. Set in a distinctly unswinging Victorian Terrace "The Knack" is an outstanding example of overblown self-indulgence.Not one of the leading characters is sympathetic,the dialogue is shockingly bad,the gags Goon Show rejects.Everyone involved seems to think they're in a clever witty movie,but I'm afraid they're labouring under a delusion.They are in fact involved in a clever - clever movie. I found the "comic" voice -overs and sub-titles tedious in the extreme. Endless bleached out shots of girls in mini skirts,Mr Brooks in black leather riding an Ariel Arrow (surely the least swinging motor cycle ever built) and Mr Crawford's tight trousers merely induced boredom. Eventually the whole swinging sixties/swinging London thing faded quietly away. Most ordinary Londoners noticed its departure about as much as they had noticed its arrival.Films like "The Knack" and "Georgy Girl","Blow up" and "Darling" that helped fuel the myth now seem like curios,their true value merely historical. If you're not old enough to know what it was really like in the 1960s "A kind of loving" will give you a much more honest picture. If you want to see what mods vs rockers was really about watch "Quadrophenia". If you want to see blokes dressed like Tolen but not inhabiting a fantasy world watch "The Leather Boys". If you want to be irritated beyond measure by a film full of smug self-regard watch "The Knack".

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ShadeGrenade from Ambrosia
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As the '60's progressed, a sea change took place in British film comedy. Norman Wisdom and St.Trinians were suddenly out-of-date ( though they kept on going for a few more years ), and a new wave of Britcoms appeared, among them 'The Knack'.

Richard Lester had just made 'A Hard Days' Night' and brought the same mindset to this picture. Coming a year before Time magazine published its famous 'Swinging London' article, it depicts a Britain on the cusp of a cultural and ( more importantly ) sexual revolution. As Spike Millgan later put it: "Queen Victoria died in 1960!".

It is arty ( shot in glorious black and white ), sexist, often irritating, yet manages in its own way to say something serious about human relationships.

Michael Crawford stars as 'Colin', a shy, repressed schoolteacher brassed off because his boarder, the good-looking 'Tolen' ( Ray Brooks ) has a knack for 'pulling the birds'. Tolen is the Russell Brand of his day; girls are literally queueing outside his room at all times for sex. Tolen offers Colin a masterclass in the art of seduction.

Tolen's attitude to the fairer sex is: "I see, I want and I take", the sort of chauvinistic attitude probably responsible for Women's Lib in the first place. But even his powers are about to be tested to the limit when along comes Nancy ( Rita Tushingham ) a Northern lass newly arrived in London in search of lodgings. Nancy is immune to Tolen's 'Mr.Tight Trousers' persona, and when he tries to get fresh with her she cries 'Rape!'.

A number of reviewers have described the movie as 'dated'. They are absolutely right. But it is fascinating for that reason alone. It is now a quaint museum piece, the sexual attitudes and mores of the era are on view and are fascinating. It may surprise some to learn that the play on which the film is based was written by a woman - Ann Jellicoe.

Lester took the play and opened it out ( with help from screenwriter Charles Wood ), turning it into a visual delight. Surrealism had finally joined the comedy mainstream. The jokes come at you so fast you need to be quick to pick them up. For instance, when Colin wonders whether to let his front room to a monk, we suddenly cut to a bus full of monks. When he gets angry and tries to keep Tolen out of the house by boarding up the front door, the film turns into a mini-lecture on carpentry.

Throughout a Greek chorus of elderly people comment on events. "I know what she's looking for and its not the Y.W.C.A.!". Their remarks are much the same as you would hear nowadays. Being too old for sex themselves, they frown on the younger generation for being able to do it. Its these quirky flourishes that gives the film much of its charm. The famous scene where Colin, Nancy and Tom push a bed through the streets of London employs a style that was later used on 'The Monkees' and 'The Goodies'.

The cast are excellent, in particular Donal Donnelly as an eccentric Irishman with a mad compulsion to paint everything white. Michael Crawford's 'Colin' has all the naivety of his later ( better known ) role of 'Frank Spencer'. Tushingham's innocent waif is appealing. As 'Tolen', all quiff and dark glasses, Ray Brooks is the epitome of '60's cool, a man who has women falling for him like dominoes. Watching this again recently, it occurred to me what a great vehicle for Peter Cook and Dudley Moore this would have made. The humour is broadly in line with what the duo were doing on 'Not Only But Also'. You can easily imagine Cook as 'Tolen' and Moore as 'Colin'. Perhaps these characters inspired the ones they later played in 'Bedazzled'.

The film has its share of longueurs, however. Colin pretending to be a lion is something I think it could have done without. And Nancy's cries of 'Rape!' to passers-by have ensured it a high place on the 'it has not aged well' movie lists.

'Comedy has a new freedom' gushed Newsweek magazine at the time of its release. Absolutely. Rather than being brushed under the carpet, sex was now openly talked about on screen. There was to be no going back. Nudity and bad language would soon enter the equation.

I must mention John Barry's marvellous score. He was on the top of his game here ( having just done 'Goldfinger' and 'Zulu' ) and the music perfectly accompanies the offbeat action. You will be humming that gorgeous title theme for days.

If you want a British movie that has 'Sixties' written all over it, look no further. It also manages to be a life-affirming, witty and accomplished piece of work.

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Joel Benington from New York
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One of my 10 favorite films. An aimless, fantastical collection of site gags and non-sequiturs, punctuated by verbal graffiti in the comments of onlookers. What makes it so great is the charming spirit of youthful innocence throughout and the captivating soundtrack.

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(davebeedon@comcast.net) from Renton, Washington, USA
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WARNING: SPOILER.

I was a college student when I saw this movie in 1967 and again in 1968. Its irreverent and crazy look at male-female relationships was intoxicating. Aside from the general theme about "getting the girl," the only thing I remember is the hilarious opening scene in which hundreds of pretty girls, all dressed alike, are standing in a long line, waiting for the opportunity to interact with the guy who "had the knack (with women)." As the camera follows the long line of beauties around the block, into an apartment building, and up the stairs, the viewer wonders what's going on. Finally the camera reaches the head of the line, and we see what every girl has waited hours for: meeting the cool guy and signing his guest book. Priceless!

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Richard_vmt from California
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The Knack is the pure spontaneity of youth on film. It isn't a laugh riot fed on stand up comedy, but a whimsical journey through life in London during the early 60's as seen by youth. The story revolves around the sexual striving of a staid young male teacher who contrasts his lot with that of a playboy acquaintance from whom he hopes to learn The Knack. Rita Tushingham, a country girl seeking to get a foothold in the city becomes his romantic salvation. The presence of Rita Tushingham on screen is itself a testament to the creative originality of the film-makers of the 60's. What an act of audacity to discover to the camera the unique beauty of this young woman with teeth which would conventionally have ruined her for a screen career! Her eyes are close set and her teeth are crooked but her loveliness is contagious.

The Knack must be understood in historical perspective. You must remember that this movie is set just the other side of The Sexual Revolution. From the 40's into the 50's and 60's, magazines and news features fueled a popular anticipation for a revolution in moral values which was supposed to herald a tremendous improvement in emotional health for everyone. Concern and yet yearning is reflected in the ever-present background commentary of the older generation, which condemns, but also looks on wistfully. The two most often repeated complaints are !"Mods and Rockers!" but also, "I am bound". This was still a period when (in the United States) men gave up their seats to women--by which I mean routinely and universally. This was also the last gasp of an era when older people collectively superintended youth (through to marriage and in difficult cases, to parenthood) and commented on them critically in public. This practice has given way to stunned silence or use of the police as intercessors. It is the peasant earthiness of their idioms, overflowing with innuendo, which gives the film an amusing yet poignant backdrop for the antics of youth. Although the film makes reference to grass, it is innocent of the corruption and mystification of the Hippie Movement which would come shortly. Few films capture a period so effectively as this one. But no one should think watching it is an academic chore. It is a sheer delight.

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(andyetris@yahoo.com) from Philadelphia, PA
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This is a manic Richard Lester comedy very similar to "A Hard Days Night," and if you liked that movie you'll like this one. It's a somewhat rambling froth-of-life tale about an awkward young man (Michael Crawford) who wants to learn how to pick up girls from his popular housemate (Ray Brooks). Brooks' attempt to instruct Crawford in the mysteries of the knack go hilariously awry when the pair encounter the flighty Rita Tushingham.

I'm a little surprised that this won a Palme d'Or, but it IS very funny in a not-too over-the-top way. It's dramatically superior to contemporary early '60's comedy, and the principals turn in wonderful performances. If you like it, be sure to check out Lester's sunny nonsense "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" and the distinctly darker "How I Won the War."

ywca|bed|mods|british new wave|mod|photo booth|identically dressed|naive young woman|young woman|fantasy sequence|punctuation in title|junkyard|shyness|new roommate|roommate|motorcycle|seduction|lost in the city|luggage|apartment house|room for rent|womanizer|london england|drum|rape accusation|staircase conversation|staircase|white paint|paint on glass|physical touch|1960s|swinging london|based on play|independent film|

AKAs Titles:


Certifications:
Argentina:16 / Australia:M / Canada:14A / Finland:K-16 / Hong Kong:IIA / Italy:VM14 / Sweden:15 / UK:X (original rating) / UK:15 (video rating) (2004) / USA:Approved / West Germany:12