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{{about|the film|the British expression|w:I'm alright, Jack}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}}
{{Infobox film
{{Infobox film
| name          = I'm All Right Jack
| image          = I'm All Right Jack UK poster.jpg
| image          = I'm All Right Jack UK poster.jpg
| image_size    =
| image_size    =
| border        = yes
| border        = yes
| caption        = Original British film poster
| caption        = Original British film poster
| director      = [[w:John and Roy Boulting|John Boulting]]
| director      = [[John and Roy Boulting|John Boulting]]
| producer      = Roy Boulting
| producer      = Roy Boulting
| based_on      = {{Based on|''Private Life''|[[w:Alan Hackney|Alan Hackney]]}}
| based_on      = {{Based on|''Private Life''|[[Alan Hackney|Alan Hackney]]}}
| screenplay    = [[w:Frank Harvey (English screenwriter)|Frank Harvey]]<br />John Boulting<br />Alan Hackney
| screenplay    = [[Frank Harvey (English screenwriter)|Frank Harvey]]<br />John Boulting<br />Alan Hackney
| starring      = [[Ian Carmichael]]<br />[[Peter Sellers]]<br />[[Richard Attenborough]]<br />[[Margaret Rutherford|Dame Margaret Rutherford]]<br />[[Terry-Thomas]]
| starring      = [[Ian Carmichael]]<br />[[Peter Sellers]]<br />[[Richard Attenborough]]<br />[[Margaret Rutherford|Dame Margaret Rutherford]]<br />[[Terry-Thomas]]
| music          = Ken Hare<br />[[w:Ron Goodwin]]
| music          = Ken Hare<br />[[Ron Goodwin]]
| cinematography = [[w:Mutz Greenbaum|Mutz Greenbaum]]
| cinematography = [[Mutz Greenbaum|Mutz Greenbaum]]
| editing        = [[w:Anthony Harvey|Anthony Harvey]]
| editing        = [[Anthony Harvey|Anthony Harvey]]
| studio        = <!-- Redirects to Boulting brothers article -->Charter Film Productions
| studio        = <!-- Redirects to Boulting brothers article -->Charter Film Productions
| distributor    = [[w:British Lion Films|British Lion Films]] (UK)
| distributor    = [[British Lion Films|British Lion Films]] (UK)
| released      = {{Film date|df=y|1959|08|13|UK}}
| released      = {{Film date|df=y|1959|08|13|UK}}
| runtime        = 101 minutes
| runtime        = 101 minutes
Line 24: Line 21:
}}
}}


'''''I'm All Right Jack''''' is a 1959 British [[w:comedy film|comedy film]] directed and produced by [[w:John and Roy Boulting|John and Roy Boulting]] from a script by [[w:Frank Harvey (English screenwriter)|Frank Harvey]], John Boulting and [[w:Alan Hackney|Alan Hackney]] based on the 1958 novel ''Private Life'' by [[w:Alan Hackney|Alan Hackney]].<ref name=bfi>{{cite web |url=http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6acf2bb5 |title=I'm All Right Jack (1959) |website=British Film Institute|access-date= 30 August 2016}}</ref>
'''''I'm All Right Jack''''' is a 1959 British [[comedy film|comedy film]] directed and produced by [[John and Roy Boulting|John and Roy Boulting]] from a script by [[Frank Harvey (English screenwriter)|Frank Harvey]], John Boulting and [[Alan Hackney|Alan Hackney]] based on the 1958 novel ''Private Life'' by [[Alan Hackney|Alan Hackney]].<ref name=bfi>{{cite web |url=http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6acf2bb5 |title=I'm All Right Jack (1959) |website=British Film Institute|access-date= 30 August 2016}}</ref>


The film is a sequel to the Boultings' 1956 film ''[[w:Private's Progress|Private's Progress]]'' and [[Ian Carmichael]], [[Dennis Price]], [[Richard Attenborough]], [[Terry-Thomas]] and [[Miles Malleson]] reprise their characters. [[Peter Sellers]] played one of his best remembered roles as the trades union [[w:shop steward|shop steward]] Fred Kite, and won a [[w:BAFTA Award for Best Actor|BAFTA Best Actor Award]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://awards.bafta.org/award/1960/film/british-actor|title=1960 Film British Actor|work=bafta.org}}</ref> The rest of the cast included many well-known British comedy actors of the time.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aveleyman.com/FilmCredit.aspx?FilmID=9214|title=I'm All Right Jack|work=aveleyman.com}}</ref>
The film is a sequel to the Boultings' 1956 film ''[[Private's Progress|Private's Progress]]'' and [[Ian Carmichael]], [[Dennis Price]], [[Richard Attenborough]], [[Terry-Thomas]] and [[Miles Malleson]] reprise their characters. [[Peter Sellers]] played one of his best remembered roles as the trades union [[shop steward|shop steward]] Fred Kite, and won a [[BAFTA Award for Best Actor|BAFTA Best Actor Award]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://awards.bafta.org/award/1960/film/british-actor|title=1960 Film British Actor|work=bafta.org}}</ref> The rest of the cast included many well-known British comedy actors of the time.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aveleyman.com/FilmCredit.aspx?FilmID=9214|title=I'm All Right Jack|work=aveleyman.com}}</ref>


The film is a [[w:satire|satire]] on British industrial life in the 1950s. The trade unions, workers and bosses are all seen to be incompetent or corrupt. The film is one of the satires made by the Boulting Brothers between 1956 and 1963.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/441166/|title=BFI Screenonline: I'm All Right Jack (1959)|work=screenonline.org.uk}}</ref>
The film is a [[satire|satire]] on British industrial life in the 1950s. The trade unions, workers and bosses are all seen to be incompetent or corrupt. The film is one of the satires made by the Boulting Brothers between 1956 and 1963.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/441166/|title=BFI Screenonline: I'm All Right Jack (1959)|work=screenonline.org.uk}}</ref>


The title is a [[w:Alright Jack|well-known English expression]] indicating smug and complacent selfishness.<ref>[http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/im-all-right-jack Collins English Dictionary, ''I'm all right, Jack'']</ref> The film encapsulates the concept of the "lazy British worker" which pervaded much of the union-dominated climate of the 1960s and '70s.
The title is a [[Alright Jack|well-known English expression]] indicating smug and complacent selfishness.<ref>[http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/im-all-right-jack Collins English Dictionary, ''I'm all right, Jack'']</ref> The film encapsulates the concept of the "lazy British worker" which pervaded much of the union-dominated climate of the 1960s and '70s.


==Plot==
==Plot==
Line 36: Line 33:
Windrush chats with his father at the Sunnyglades Nudist Camp, and is persuaded to seek a job as a business executive: he interviews at the "Detto" company making washing detergent and making a very unfavourable impression fails to get the job. He then interviews at "Num-Yum" a factory making processed cakes. Although it tastes good the process for making the cakes is very disturbing. An excess of samples causes him to be sick into a large mixing bowl of the product. Again he fails to get the job. The recruitment agent tells Windrush by letter that after getting 11 interviews in 10 days and making a singularly unimpressive impression that industry isn't for him.
Windrush chats with his father at the Sunnyglades Nudist Camp, and is persuaded to seek a job as a business executive: he interviews at the "Detto" company making washing detergent and making a very unfavourable impression fails to get the job. He then interviews at "Num-Yum" a factory making processed cakes. Although it tastes good the process for making the cakes is very disturbing. An excess of samples causes him to be sick into a large mixing bowl of the product. Again he fails to get the job. The recruitment agent tells Windrush by letter that after getting 11 interviews in 10 days and making a singularly unimpressive impression that industry isn't for him.


His uncle, Bertram Tracepurcel and his old army comrade, Sidney DeVere Cox, persuade Windrush to take an unskilled blue-collar job at Tracepurcel's missile factory, Missiles Ltd. At first suspicious of Windrush as an over-eager newcomer, communist shop steward Fred Kite asks that Stanley be sacked for not having a union card. However, after a period of [[work-to-rule]], he takes Stanley under his wing and even offers to take him in as a lodger. When Kite's daughter Cynthia drops by, Stanley readily accepts.
His uncle, Bertram Tracepurcel and his old army comrade, Sidney DeVere Cox, persuade Windrush to take an unskilled blue-collar job at Tracepurcel's missile factory, Missiles Ltd. At first suspicious of Windrush as an over-eager newcomer, communist shop steward Fred Kite asks that Stanley be sacked for not having a union card. However, after a period of [[work-to-rule|work-to-rule]], he takes Stanley under his wing and even offers to take him in as a lodger. When Kite's daughter Cynthia drops by, Stanley readily accepts.


Meanwhile, personnel manager Major Hitchcock is assigned a [[time and motion study]] expert, Waters, to measure how efficient the employees are. The workers refuse to cooperate but Waters tricks Windrush into showing him how much more quickly he can do his job with his [[forklift]] truck than other more experienced employees. When Kite is informed of the results, he calls a strike to protect the rates his union workers are being paid. This is what Cox and Tracepurcel want: Cox owns a company that can take over a large new contract with a [[Middle East]]ern country at an inflated cost. He, Tracepurcel and a Mr Mohammed, the country's representative, would each pocket a third of the £100,000 difference (£{{Inflation|UK|0.1|1959|r=1|fmt=c}} million today). The excuse to the foreign government is that a faster contract costs more.
Meanwhile, personnel manager Major Hitchcock is assigned a [[time and motion study|time and motion study]] expert, Waters, to measure how efficient the employees are. The workers refuse to cooperate but Waters tricks Windrush into showing him how much more quickly he can do his job with his [[forklift|forklift]] truck than other more experienced employees. When Kite is informed of the results, he calls a strike to protect the rates his union workers are being paid. This is what Cox and Tracepurcel want: Cox owns a company that can take over a large new contract with a [[Middle East|Middle East]]ern country at an inflated cost. He, Tracepurcel and a Mr Mohammed, the country's representative, would each pocket a third of the £100,000 difference (£{{Inflation|UK|0.1|1959|r=1|fmt=c}} million today). The excuse to the foreign government is that a faster contract costs more.


The union meet and decide to punish Windrush by "[[Send to Coventry|sending him to Coventry]]" and he is informed of this in writing. Stanley's rich aunt visits the Kite household where she is met by Mrs Kite with some sympathy.
The union meet and decide to punish Windrush by "[[Send to Coventry|sending him to Coventry]]" and he is informed of this in writing. Stanley's rich aunt visits the Kite household where she is met by Mrs Kite with some sympathy.
Line 46: Line 43:
Faced with these new developments, Tracepurcel has no choice but to send Hitchcock to negotiate with Kite. They reach an agreement but Windrush has made both sides look bad and has to go.
Faced with these new developments, Tracepurcel has no choice but to send Hitchcock to negotiate with Kite. They reach an agreement but Windrush has made both sides look bad and has to go.


Cox tries to bribe Windrush with a bagful of money to resign but Windrush turns him down. On a televised discussion programme ("Argument") hosted by [[Malcolm Muggeridge]], Windrush reveals to the nation the underhanded motivations of all concerned. When he throws Cox's bribe money into the air, the studio audience riots.
Cox tries to bribe Windrush with a bagful of money to resign but Windrush turns him down. On a televised discussion programme ("Argument") hosted by [[Malcolm Muggeridge|Malcolm Muggeridge]], Windrush reveals to the nation the underhanded motivations of all concerned. When he throws Cox's bribe money into the air, the studio audience riots.


In the end, Windrush is accused of causing a disturbance and [[bound over]] to keep the peace for 12 months. He is last seen with his father relaxing at a [[nudist community|nudist colony]], only to have to flee from the female residents' attentions. Unlike in the opening scene, this time he is naked.
In the end, Windrush is accused of causing a disturbance and [[bound over|bound over]] to keep the peace for 12 months. He is last seen with his father relaxing at a [[Naturist resort|nudist colony]], only to have to flee from the female residents' attentions. Unlike in the opening scene, this time he is naked.


==Cast==
==Cast==
Line 63: Line 60:
* [[Marne Maitland]] as Mr Mohammed
* [[Marne Maitland]] as Mr Mohammed
* [[John Le Mesurier]] as Waters
* [[John Le Mesurier]] as Waters
* [[w:Raymond Huntley]] as Magistrate
* [[Raymond Huntley]] as Magistrate
* [[Victor Maddern]] as Knowles
* [[Victor Maddern]] as Knowles
* [[w:Kenneth Griffith|Kenneth Griffith]] as Dai
* [[Kenneth Griffith|Kenneth Griffith]] as Dai
* [[w:Fred Griffiths (actor)|Fred Griffiths]] as Charlie
* [[Fred Griffiths (actor)|Fred Griffiths]] as Charlie
* [[w:John Comer]|] as Shop Steward
* [[John Comer|]|] as Shop Steward
* [[Sam Kydd]] as Shop Steward
* [[Sam Kydd]] as Shop Steward
* [[Cardew Robinson]] as Shop Steward
* [[Cardew Robinson]] as Shop Steward
* [[Ronnie Stevens (actor)|Ronnie Stevens]] as Hooper
* [[Ronnie Stevens (actor)|Ronnie Stevens]] as Hooper
* [[w:Martin Boddey|Martin Boddey]] as Num Yum's Executive
* [[Martin Boddey|Martin Boddey]] as Num Yum's Executive
* [[w:Brian Oulton|Brian Oulton]] as Appointments Board Examiner
* [[Brian Oulton|Brian Oulton]] as Appointments Board Examiner
* [[w:John Glyn-Jones|John Glyn-Jones]] as Detto Executive
* [[John Glyn-Jones|John Glyn-Jones]] as Detto Executive
* [[Terry Scott]] as Crawley
* [[Terry Scott]] as Crawley
* [[w:Alun Owen|Alun Owen]] as Film Producer
* [[Alun Owen|Alun Owen]] as Film Producer
* [[w:Eynon Evans|Eynon Evans]] as Truscott
* [[Eynon Evans|Eynon Evans]] as Truscott
* [[w:John Van Eyssen|John Van Eyssen]] as Reporter
* [[John Van Eyssen|John Van Eyssen]] as Reporter
* [[David Lodge (actor)|David Lodge]] as Card Player
* [[David Lodge (actor)|David Lodge]] as Card Player
* [[Keith Smith (actor)|Keith Smith]] as Card Player
* [[Keith Smith (actor)|Keith Smith]] as Card Player
Line 83: Line 80:
* Clifford Keedy as Card Player
* Clifford Keedy as Card Player
* Tony Comer as Shop Steward
* Tony Comer as Shop Steward
* [[w:Wally Patch|Wally Patch]] as Worker
* [[Wally Patch|Wally Patch]] as Worker
* [[Esma Cannon]] as Spencer
* [[Esma Cannon]] as Spencer
* [[w:E. V. H. Emmett|E. V. H. Emmett]] as Narrator
* [[E. V. H. Emmett|E. V. H. Emmett]] as Narrator
* [[w:Stringer Davis|Stringer Davis]] as Journalist  
* [[Stringer Davis|Stringer Davis]] as Journalist  
* [[Peter Sellers]] as Sir John Kennaway
* [[Peter Sellers]] as Sir John Kennaway
{{div col end}}
{{div col end}}
;Cast notes
;Cast notes
* [[Malcolm Muggeridge]], B.B.C. announcer Frank Phillips and [[television]] announcer [[Muriel Young]] appear as themselves.
* [[Malcolm Muggeridge|Malcolm Muggeridge]], BBC announcer Frank Phillips and [[television|television]] announcer [[Muriel Young|Muriel Young]] appear as themselves.


==Release and reception==
==Release and reception==
''I’m All Right Jack'' opened at the [[Leicester Square Theatre]] in London on 13 August 1959.<ref>{{cite news |last=Walker |first=Alex |author-link=Alexander Walker (critic) |title=Jack and Company |work=Birmingham Daily Post |date=14 August 1959 |page=4}}</ref>
''I’m All Right Jack'' opened at the [[Leicester Square Theatre|Leicester Square Theatre]] in London on 13 August 1959.<ref>{{cite news |last=Walker |first=Alex |author-link=Alexander Walker (critic) |title=Jack and Company |work=Birmingham Daily Post |date=14 August 1959 |page=4}}</ref>


The film was a big hit, being the most popular film in Britain for the year ended 31 October 1959.<ref>{{cite news|title=Four British Films in 'Top 6': Boulting Comedy Heads Box Office List|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|date=11 December 1959|page=4}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://archive.org/details/Screen_Volume_32_Issue_3/page/n17|magazine=Screen|page=259|volume=32|issue=3|title=The popular cash and culture in the postwar British cinema industry|first=Janet|last=Thumim}}</ref> It was reportedly the second most profitable British movie that year after ''[[Carry On Nurse]]''<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://archive.org/details/motionpictureexh63jaye/page/n314/mode/1up?q=%22josh+billings%22+|magazine=Motion Picture Exhibitor|page=25|title=London Observations|last=MacGregor|first=Jock|via=[[Archive.org]]|date=6 January 1960}}</ref> and helped  British Lion enter profitability for the year after two years of losses.<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|title='Jack' The Reaper|date=10 August 1960|page=3|url=https://archive.org/stream/variety219-1960-08#page/n66/mode/1up|access-date=November 8, 2020|via=[[Archive.org]]}}</ref> As well as Sellers' [[BAFTA]], it also won the [[BAFTA Award for Best British Screenplay]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://awards.bafta.org/award/1960/film?|title=Film in 1960 - BAFTA Awards|website=awards.bafta.org}}</ref>
The film was a big hit, being the most popular film in Britain for the year ended 31 October 1959.<ref>{{cite news|title=Four British Films in 'Top 6': Boulting Comedy Heads Box Office List|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|date=11 December 1959|page=4}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://archive.org/details/Screen_Volume_32_Issue_3/page/n17|magazine=Screen|page=259|volume=32|issue=3|title=The popular cash and culture in the postwar British cinema industry|first=Janet|last=Thumim}}</ref> It was reportedly the second most profitable British movie that year after ''[[Carry On Nurse]]''<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://archive.org/details/motionpictureexh63jaye/page/n314/mode/1up?q=%22josh+billings%22+|magazine=Motion Picture Exhibitor|page=25|title=London Observations|last=MacGregor|first=Jock|via=[[Archive.org]]|date=6 January 1960}}</ref> and helped  British Lion enter profitability for the year after two years of losses.<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|title='Jack' The Reaper|date=10 August 1960|page=3|url=https://archive.org/stream/variety219-1960-08#page/n66/mode/1up|access-date=November 8, 2020|via=[[Archive.org]]}}</ref> As well as Sellers' [[BAFTA|BAFTA]], it also won the [[BAFTA Award for Best British Screenplay|BAFTA Award for Best British Screenplay]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://awards.bafta.org/award/1960/film?|title=Film in 1960 - BAFTA Awards|website=awards.bafta.org}}</ref>


[[Bosley Crowther]] in ''[[The New York Times]]'' called it "the brightest, liveliest comedy seen this year."<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1960/04/26/archives/screen-british-satirepeter-sellers-stars-in-i-m-all-right-jack.html|title=British Satire: Peter Sellers Stars in 'I'm All Right, Jack'|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201008054407/https://www.nytimes.com/1960/04/26/archives/screen-british-satirepeter-sellers-stars-in-i-m-all-right-jack.html|date=26 April 1960|archive-date=8 October 2020|url-status=live|last=Crowther|first=Bosley|author-link=Bosley Crowther|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref>
[[Bosley Crowther|Bosley Crowther]] in ''[[The New York Times|The New York Times]]'' called it "the brightest, liveliest comedy seen this year."<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1960/04/26/archives/screen-british-satirepeter-sellers-stars-in-i-m-all-right-jack.html|title=British Satire: Peter Sellers Stars in 'I'm All Right, Jack'|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201008054407/https://www.nytimes.com/1960/04/26/archives/screen-british-satirepeter-sellers-stars-in-i-m-all-right-jack.html|date=26 April 1960|archive-date=8 October 2020|url-status=live|last=Crowther|first=Bosley|author-link=Bosley Crowther|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref>


On [[Rotten Tomatoes]] the film has an approval rating of 88% based on reviews from 8 critics.<ref>{{cite web |title= I'm All Right Jack (1960) |url= https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/im_all_right_jack |website= [[Rotten Tomatoes]] }}</ref>
On [[Rotten Tomatoes|Rotten Tomatoes]] the film has an approval rating of 88% based on reviews from 8 critics.<ref>{{cite web |title= I'm All Right Jack (1960) |url= https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/im_all_right_jack |website= [[Rotten Tomatoes]] }}</ref>
 
==See also==
* [[English-language accents in film#Cockney|English-language accents in film – Cockney]]
* Larsen, Darl. ''A Book about the Film'' Monty Python's Life of Brian. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2018. {{ISBN|978-1538103654}}. The PFJ/Peoples' Front for Judea is modelled on Shop Steward Kite's committee.
* [[BFI Top 100 British films]]


==References==
==References==
Line 116: Line 108:
* {{tcmdb title|79013}}
* {{tcmdb title|79013}}
* {{Internet Archive film | ImAllRightJack1960 }}
* {{Internet Archive film | ImAllRightJack1960 }}
{{Boulting brothers}}
{{Boulting brothers}}


{{Use British English|date=May 2013}}


[[Category:1959 films]]
[[Category:1959 films]]

Latest revision as of 21:30, 28 March 2023

I'm All Right Jack
I'm All Right Jack UK poster.jpg
Original British film poster
Directed byJohn Boulting
Screenplay byFrank Harvey
John Boulting
Alan Hackney
Based onPrivate Life
by Alan Hackney
Produced byRoy Boulting
StarringIan Carmichael
Peter Sellers
Richard Attenborough
Dame Margaret Rutherford
Terry-Thomas
CinematographyMutz Greenbaum
Edited byAnthony Harvey
Music byKen Hare
Ron Goodwin
Production
company
Charter Film Productions
Distributed byBritish Lion Films (UK)
Release date
  • 13 August 1959 (1959-08-13) (UK)
Running time
101 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

I'm All Right Jack is a 1959 British comedy film directed and produced by John and Roy Boulting from a script by Frank Harvey, John Boulting and Alan Hackney based on the 1958 novel Private Life by Alan Hackney.[1]

The film is a sequel to the Boultings' 1956 film Private's Progress and Ian Carmichael, Dennis Price, Richard Attenborough, Terry-Thomas and Miles Malleson reprise their characters. Peter Sellers played one of his best remembered roles as the trades union shop steward Fred Kite, and won a BAFTA Best Actor Award.[2] The rest of the cast included many well-known British comedy actors of the time.[3]

The film is a satire on British industrial life in the 1950s. The trade unions, workers and bosses are all seen to be incompetent or corrupt. The film is one of the satires made by the Boulting Brothers between 1956 and 1963.[4]

The title is a well-known English expression indicating smug and complacent selfishness.[5] The film encapsulates the concept of the "lazy British worker" which pervaded much of the union-dominated climate of the 1960s and '70s.

Plot

Windrush chats with his father at the Sunnyglades Nudist Camp, and is persuaded to seek a job as a business executive: he interviews at the "Detto" company making washing detergent and making a very unfavourable impression fails to get the job. He then interviews at "Num-Yum" a factory making processed cakes. Although it tastes good the process for making the cakes is very disturbing. An excess of samples causes him to be sick into a large mixing bowl of the product. Again he fails to get the job. The recruitment agent tells Windrush by letter that after getting 11 interviews in 10 days and making a singularly unimpressive impression that industry isn't for him.

His uncle, Bertram Tracepurcel and his old army comrade, Sidney DeVere Cox, persuade Windrush to take an unskilled blue-collar job at Tracepurcel's missile factory, Missiles Ltd. At first suspicious of Windrush as an over-eager newcomer, communist shop steward Fred Kite asks that Stanley be sacked for not having a union card. However, after a period of work-to-rule, he takes Stanley under his wing and even offers to take him in as a lodger. When Kite's daughter Cynthia drops by, Stanley readily accepts.

Meanwhile, personnel manager Major Hitchcock is assigned a time and motion study expert, Waters, to measure how efficient the employees are. The workers refuse to cooperate but Waters tricks Windrush into showing him how much more quickly he can do his job with his forklift truck than other more experienced employees. When Kite is informed of the results, he calls a strike to protect the rates his union workers are being paid. This is what Cox and Tracepurcel want: Cox owns a company that can take over a large new contract with a Middle Eastern country at an inflated cost. He, Tracepurcel and a Mr Mohammed, the country's representative, would each pocket a third of the £100,000 difference (£2.9 million today). The excuse to the foreign government is that a faster contract costs more.

The union meet and decide to punish Windrush by "sending him to Coventry" and he is informed of this in writing. Stanley's rich aunt visits the Kite household where she is met by Mrs Kite with some sympathy.

Things don't work out for either side. Cox arrives at his factory, Union Jack Foundries, to find that his workers are walking out in a sympathy strike. The press reports that Kite is punishing Windrush for working hard. When Windrush decides to cross the picket line and go back to work (and reveals his connection with the company's owner), Kite asks him to leave his house. This provokes the adoring Cynthia and her mother to go on strike. More strikes spring up, bringing the country to a standstill.

Faced with these new developments, Tracepurcel has no choice but to send Hitchcock to negotiate with Kite. They reach an agreement but Windrush has made both sides look bad and has to go.

Cox tries to bribe Windrush with a bagful of money to resign but Windrush turns him down. On a televised discussion programme ("Argument") hosted by Malcolm Muggeridge, Windrush reveals to the nation the underhanded motivations of all concerned. When he throws Cox's bribe money into the air, the studio audience riots.

In the end, Windrush is accused of causing a disturbance and bound over to keep the peace for 12 months. He is last seen with his father relaxing at a nudist colony, only to have to flee from the female residents' attentions. Unlike in the opening scene, this time he is naked.

Cast

Cast notes

Release and reception

I’m All Right Jack opened at the Leicester Square Theatre in London on 13 August 1959.[6]

The film was a big hit, being the most popular film in Britain for the year ended 31 October 1959.[7][8] It was reportedly the second most profitable British movie that year after Carry On Nurse[9] and helped British Lion enter profitability for the year after two years of losses.[10] As well as Sellers' BAFTA, it also won the BAFTA Award for Best British Screenplay.[11]

Bosley Crowther in The New York Times called it "the brightest, liveliest comedy seen this year."[12]

On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 88% based on reviews from 8 critics.[13]

References

  1. ^ "I'm All Right Jack (1959)". British Film Institute. Retrieved 30 August 2016.
  2. ^ "1960 Film British Actor". bafta.org.
  3. ^ "I'm All Right Jack". aveleyman.com.
  4. ^ "BFI Screenonline: I'm All Right Jack (1959)". screenonline.org.uk.
  5. ^ Collins English Dictionary, I'm all right, Jack
  6. ^ Walker, Alex (14 August 1959). "Jack and Company". Birmingham Daily Post. p. 4.
  7. ^ "Four British Films in 'Top 6': Boulting Comedy Heads Box Office List". The Guardian. 11 December 1959. p. 4.
  8. ^ Thumim, Janet. "The popular cash and culture in the postwar British cinema industry". Screen. Vol. 32, no. 3. p. 259.
  9. ^ MacGregor, Jock (6 January 1960). "London Observations". Motion Picture Exhibitor. p. 25 – via Archive.org.
  10. ^ "'Jack' The Reaper". Variety. 10 August 1960. p. 3. Retrieved November 8, 2020 – via Archive.org.
  11. ^ "Film in 1960 - BAFTA Awards". awards.bafta.org.
  12. ^ Crowther, Bosley (26 April 1960). "British Satire: Peter Sellers Stars in 'I'm All Right, Jack'". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 8 October 2020.
  13. ^ "I'm All Right Jack (1960)". Rotten Tomatoes.

External links

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