This Sporting Life

This Sporting Life.

This Sporting Life is a 1963 film based on David Storey's novel of the same name.

Cast

Singing roles

• Richard Harris - Frank Machin

Non-singing roles

• Rachel Roberts - Margaret Hammond
• Alan Badel - Gerald Weaver
• William Hartnell - 'Dad' Johnson
• Colin Blakely - Maurice Braithwaite

Plot

Set in Wakefield, the film concerns a bitter young Yorkshire coal miner, Frank Machin. Following a nightclub altercation, in which he takes on the captain of the local rugby league club and punches a couple of the others, he is recruited by the team's manager, who sees profit in his aggressive streak.

Although at first somewhat uncoordinated at league, he impresses the team's owner, Gerald Weaver, with the spirit and brutality of his playing style during the trial. He is signed up to the top team as a loose forward (number 13) and impresses all with his aggressive forward play. He often punches or elbows the opposition players throughout the game.

Off the field, Frank is much less successful. His recently widowed landlady, Mrs Margaret Hammond, a mother of two young children, lost her husband in an accident at Weaver's engineering firm but received no financial compensation because the death was ruled a suicide. Frank eventually has sexual relations with Margaret, but in her grief she cannot return any affection. She sometimes insults him, referring to him as "just a great ape," and finds his boorish behavior at a smart restaurant off-putting. He is occasionally violent towards her. He leaves and stays at a homeless men's shelter after a row over her late husband. He has another quarrel with Weaver and his predatory wife, whose advances he rejects, much to her chagrin. Intending a reconciliation with Margaret, he finds that she is in a hospital. She is unconscious, having suffered a brain haemorrhage shortly after their split, and she dies without regaining consciousness. In the end he is seen as "just a great ape on a football field", vulnerable to the ravages of time and injury.

Musical numbers

• "Here In My Heart" - Frank