This Sporting Life The Entertainer

"Damn you, England. You're rotting now, and quite soon you'll disappear."--John Osborne

These brave films, which took a good hard look at England's working class, garnered Oscar nominations for leads Richard Harris and Laurence Olivier.

Often called the highpoint of British social realist filmmaking, Lindsay Anderson's This Sporting Life stars Richard Harris as an aggressive rugby player in the north of England whose anger off the playing field infects his romantic relationships. (1963; 129 mins.)

In Tony Richardson's The Entertainer, Laurence Olivier plays a third-rate seaside music hall song-and-dance man whose desperation and doubt mirror the changing face of British society. Based on a play by John Osborne. (1960; 97 mins.)