One of those cutting edge English ones that are often forgotten, thankfully right here on RUclips where they deserve to be kept alive and relived. Fantastic film.
You will never get a sense of realism like this in a film made today. I'm 55 and grew up in South East London. The sense of claustrophobia and despair came right back to me from my youth watching.this film. So sad to watch. This film is raw and and harsh as life truly is. We are so cushioned from the realities of power hungry people now.
Some movies with a gritty/raw vibe that come to my mind are the pusher trilogy and brat (brother), even Climax if we talk about more modern productions. I love that kind of hyper realistic / in the moment movies, another one is called "naked" by Mike Leigh, different, not action orientated but with the same feeling of walking behind someone and filming his life for what it is, without sugar coating the cinematic experience.
Exactly. You have these crazy people claiming we're in end times and life is worse now than ever. Those people are so clueless of our history. We live in safer times more now than ever before in recorded history. Even the average lifespan has increased. People just fold under pressure too easily these days because the media and social media are fear mongering the public and people buy into it.
@@johnLennon255 Yeah never understood that part? I remember catching that years ago and thinking “hang on what have you got to feel angry about? You just took turns bumming him?!”
Watched some of this filmed on set. It was shot in Shenley Hospital, Radlett (much of it in Villa 21). I was a student nurse from 76 to 80. Had a fair few bevvies with these lads at our social club and a few meals in the hospital canteen. Lovely bunch of guys! Happy days!
That’s really interesting since I live in shenley by the old water tower ( now housing development ). I’m not sure where villa 21 would be or if it’s still standing.
@@bowjana8128 not too sure specifically but a lot of the buildings are the same as the ones used in the hospital just renovated into housing. there’s a scene in this where you can see the big tower which is still standing and are now apartments.
An absolute classic, re-watching it now after 40 odd years. Still one of the most powerful films I’ve ever seen. Brutal, disturbing and deeply poignant. I was a young teenage girl when I first watched this , bit of a rebel like we all seemed to be in early eighties Britain. I’m pushing 60 now but still don’t like to be pushed around. Thanks so much for posting this.
I felt the same at the time...but after the same amount of time... well its still shocking. Powerful and funny...4737 Carlin Sir ....and I'm the fuckin daddy now....!!!!!!!!!
Origamipig@ same here. Yes it is a powerfull film! I first saw it in 1983 i think and that was 39 years ago. Hard to believe its 39 years ago. How are boys who are men really at age 18 not meant to hit the screws back when there just bullying them all the time. Especialy boys that are 6ft and bigger. Back then in 1979 6ft was seen as really big then at age 18, and still is big today. As most of the screws wernt 6ft then! But a think they had to be at least 5ft9" but there was one or two that didnt even look 5ft9 in the film. I thought it was just as powerfull or maybe more powerfull than "a sense of freedom" about jimmy boyle and that was a great film. Why did they stop borstal? Seemingly it had a good success rate as 50% of boys didnt go back to jail again as it was that bad. Now its more like supported accomadation and alot of guys admit that its easier inside than it is to live outside now becouse the system as a whole is failing them. There is very little help if any at all once they step out that door, the welfare system makes it near impossible to help them get money to live on? They have to go into a hostel with lots of addicts and with no money to live on? They cant get to see any one? Its like coming out of jail and going into an open one really! So no wonder they start drinking again, what are they meant to do? Its like there not meant to go forward.
I watched this at the movies when I was 15 in Christchurch NZ. It was R18 I was so shocked. I am 58 now and the movie is a masterpiece that has lost nothing.
Hey a Kiwi cool .we had our borstal in the middle of nowhere north island in Waikeria .which along with state care and borstal basically produced harden men which went on to start all the gangs we got today
I have/had a special bond with my dad because of this movie. I was born in England and when I was a baby my Mum and Dad immigratted to America. They divorced when I was just 7. I didn't see him much growing up. But I can remember one time my brother and I were traveling cross country and stayed with Dad for a few days on our way to California. He lived in Tennessee with wife #5!! Yikes, I know right 😮. Anyway, we went to rent a movie, remember those days. And he chose Scum, he had seen it when it was first released in the 70' s. We had a great time bonding over it. I really miss him.
The last scene with the riot is very powerful. A show of solidarity against the injustices in an institution where no justice is served. A very powerful message indeed and a great movie overall, even today
@@tinman3952 I saw everything apart from the rape in my time in a YOI in '91. Constant attacks by inmates on other inmates along with 3 suicide attempts, 2 of them successful. One of them was a Vicars son. He wrote his boyfriends name in blood on the wall of his pad, I was only in for 3 months. Been on the straight and narrow for 30 years.
As I remember, Alan Clarke faced a lot of criticism and hate from prison guards who claimed that this wasn't the normal way things went in reform insitutions such as borstals. However, I think there was far more truth to this than they like to admit, and it is an inconvenient truth they wanted kept quiet. Brilliant writing, direction and acting. Cold, brutal and utterly chilling. America have never managed this level or realism and grit in their films.
@JustSomeBloke Doesn't surprise me. They can't match the quality and brutality of the original, and Hollywood ruins every remake of a film foreign to them anyway - cases in point: Let The Right One In, The Ring, Death Note.
Maybe take a look at the TV special 'Scared Strait', from 1978, or the movie, 'Short Eyes' from 1977. They were both filmed in ACTUAL correctional institutions, and they're both on RUclips for free
In 1945 thousands of men came back from the war suffering from shell shock. (PTSD) They brutalized the next generation who went onto try do the same to our generation (The lads in the film.) The guards in this film are exactly like those born after the war. This is the first time I have seen the film and I am 58. I went all the way back to the seventies, it was exactly like that.
Yeah I remember school teachers that had actually been in WW2. Their children were definitely worse or as bad. From the 70’s to the 80’s I remember the brutal teachers, most men but some women as well. I also recall the weirdo’s that would hang around the school gate and public toilets, luckily I never had a problem but my friend was nearly abducted walking home one day and we would never go to the toilets at the bus station. Now im older I recon these weirdo’s were war kids, maybe evacuees who were probably abused back in those dark times
@@bobbiescrisps9208 Yes the schools i went to in the 70s early 80s the teachers were brutal,always remember a girl answering a female teacher back she jumped up and grabbed her hair , dragged her along the floor screaming by the hair, that was tame compared to some of the treatment us lads got.
My Dad was in a detention centre in Nottingham in the 60's - said this film was just like it was. ....it was this film in fact that caused the nationwide sweeping reform.
The scene between Archer and the screw was the heart of the film in my opinion. Two people ground down by a system that removes all humanity, both right and both wrong. Both actors should be more recognised for this.
Archer: I was very drawn to Davis’s tullip Sir... Very drawn indeed.. Govner: TULLIP ARCHER?! Archer: Yes Sir.. Govner: Archer you will see the Chaplin tomorrow and there will be no more talk about Davis’s sweet, Devine, moist, TULLIP! Again do you understand? Archer: Yes Sir. Govner: Soo Good...
I worked with a lad who spent 2 years in these hell holes for accidentally hitting a ball of a car which caused it to crash into a shop in his early teens. The stories of the abuse he told us about were horrific. He said this film was tame in comparison to the mental physical and sexual abuse some lads went through.
I'm 62 now and I often re watch films from this era. I've never managed to watch this one more than once. It was an absolutely brilliant film but I hate the brutality and that scene in the greenhouse is so vile. The prison guard's face....
I recall a great (true)story from this period: Two months after Scum had been on release in the Cinemas, Ray Winstone went into London`s West End for an old schoolfriends birthday drinks. He managed to drag himself away to catch the last Tube home. Three stops from Ray`s destination; Ray Winstone said : " The biggest black guy you ever saw got on, sat down opposite me, and just sat there, starin` at me. I thought to me self : Just before my stop, if he tries anything, I`ll whack `im as `ard as I can, run for the escalator an` be on me toes. The Train pulls in to Mile End, I stand up to get off,.....the black guy looks at me, and says : Are you the guy from Scum ?..I said ; ..Yeah, ...the black guy says.... ...........good film man."
Oh Ray Winstone played "Carlin" who turned out to be the focal character. Was "Scum" a TV movie 1st? Cuz under Ray Winstone's Wikipedia - Filmography it has this movie "Scum" 1979, then under Television it has 1977 "Scum" - "Carlin" - TV movie. So wondering??? I think I've seen him before in one or a few things when he got older. Info says he was in the movie "The Departed" (2006) which was filmed here in Boston. It loosely took in about Boston's Irish mob boss, James "Whitey" Bulger, head of the "Winter Hill Gang" (based on Winter Hill in Somerville, Massachusetts. I little north and over to the West from Boston proper). But he was also in nearby Charlestown section of Boston, and South Boston, and all over. He was on the lamb for 16+ years. The Feds finally found him in ...... Santa Monica, California (I think it was). He was tried and convicted, sent to Fed Prison. He was old and had health issues. Ended up in a wheelchair in prison. He was murdered in prison by two other inmates. Clearly a "hit".
@@aspenrebel There was the BBC TV play that got banned for obvious reasons and went unviewed until mid to late naughties on DVD. And there is the cinema version (This) that you would be most familiar with.
That one, and "where's your tool?" taught me a few things many years ago. Mostly that I didn't want to pay the price of becoming a top dog. And also that you "always" have a way out - at least in the moment. But in the end, as Jordan Peterson says, noone ever gets away with anything.. There's always a price, you just can't always predict it.
One of the most powerful dramas involving young actors I have ever seen, it is as haunting today as it was when it was first released. Well done to every member of the cast and crew, not forgetting the writers👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
@@jameswinter9954 Oh, can you tell me some of the differences pls? This upscaled version looks really impressive to me because I've not seen it for about 10 years and that was when it was last on tv and that tv was a CRT !
When I was a very young boy, my mother used to punish me by making me sit on a tall stool in the kitchen and I wasn’t allowed to get off it until she said, it was very boring a bore-stool. A few times she squashed my big toes under the stool’s legs and bruised them badly, once my toe nails fell off and she burned my face with the kettle. And she constantly psychologically tortured me by telling me I was an accident and other ways. That’s why I never went to prison when I got older and probably explains why I turned out the way I am now. I learned fast at home being the youngest of 3 boys as well, my home was worse than borstal. I also had an older girl cousin and aunties who “helped” when my family took time off and there were plenty of bullies and scummers at school and on the estate to help out as well.
I watched this film in 1984 with my parents and that scene in the greenhouse still makes feel sick nearly forty years later. God bless all the poor souls who sufferd in the hands of these so called places of correction 🙏
I was in Borstal in 1970. It was Very much like this. 😮Being in wormwood scrubs. Was Frightening. Was glad to get to Borstal. Once settled in was OK. If they thought you was a wimp you would get picked on . I was fortunate enough to get on with the house daddy. Spent 11 months there. 6 months- 2 years.. It was hard back then. Not like today ..
Odd, I did a good while in the Scrubs as an adult on A wing, then B then finally D wing. A few weeks after my release that documentary came out about the screws. It began during the prison officers. They solved by bringing in loads of governors to staff us. They kept asking us about the screws behaviour. We didn't talk at first but a prisoner was not allowed to talk to his little girl who was dying. They kept beating him as well. He was only on mistaken identity anyway so eventually he talked as did other prisoners in sympathy. The gang of screws doing all the bullying were shown in the documentary including one bastard who made my time there very difficult. I didn't know it was a Borstal too. Nasty Victorian hole, a lot like Mordor. Hated it but the cons were mostly great guys.
British movies just seem so grounded in reality, from the myriad of characters to the intelligent nature of their emotions and humor. No superhero crap here, just real people. (Great comment section here, watch the flick!)
Not everything requires a soundtrack or each scene music, it's effective because it's exactly what you'd expect if you were there. There's no hero's or happy ending, just a bleak reality of being in the system.
I experienced this in Sweden in the late 90's. I spent all my adult life with PTSD and utter hatred towards the pig of men that bullied me. But it was more verbal and psychological then physical.
Ray Winstone just has star quality written all over him. The way he walks away from the "where's your tool" fight, and does that James Cagney shoulder lift, like he's resetting his muscles, its so stylish, just a perfect moment. I wish there was a TV show that showcased perfect moments
Fiona, you're on RUclips, perhaps research and put together a short compilation of your favourite "Perfect Moments In Movies". If you give it a go, send me the link, I'll watch, like and share. You never know -it could very well be your calling to entertain a RUclips following 👍
This film brings back memories for me, memories I had tried to forget about. I wasn't put in places similar to these for doing anything wrong, I was ten years old and removed from the family home because my parents could not get along. I was placed in institutions for delinquent boys for 3 years and for those 3 years I was reminded every day that I was no good! My mother left my father and I was allowed home on weekends to stay at my mother's. Little did the authorities know my mother had a boyfriend who lived with us who, to cut a long painful story short he would get violent with my mother and beat the crap out of me, funny that! that is something I never saw my father do! I try not to dwell on it.
Love the gritty realism of this film,...it's raw and hard hitting,...and pulls no punches,....and a young Ray Winstone was born to play this role,....love the film
10 mins in and I'm hooked...great British TV series production The character of Archer is just brilliant. Highly intelligent most dont get him because they aren't on his level of thinking. The actor who played him did an excellent, excellent performance.
@@joethomas8031 yes it is dumbass, the series was banned by the BBC because it was too disturbing/realistic. Then they turned it into a theatrical picture.
My brother was sent to borstal in 78, and was transferred to a youth custodial centre when the borstal's were abolished. The story's I heard and things I remember seeing at visitations weren't all that different from this film. Some of the "screws" were more hell bent tho, handing out floggings for minor things. This film for me is almost like watching a memory of a story I was told when I was young.
can you tell more please? after I watched this film I looked at the suicide stats and was shocked, I really want to find more information on all of this.
Hasn’t lost any of its visceral punch over the years. One would like to think the institutions depicted have massively changed but I find myself doubting. Thanks very much for posting.
Remember renting this movie on video In the early 1980's - a hard hitting movie it was one of the first movies everyone rented back then, been reading some of the comments so sorry to hear it brings back bad memories to some people with their own real life experiences, not surprising the Borstal system was abolished In 1982.
That poor lad at the end . He had no other choice . The pleading to that guy should have been met with kindness , compassion and understanding instead of cold hearted indifference . I have no doubt there were countless young lads who took the same way out in real life both before and since the film was made (1979) . A superbly poignant performance.
@@andrewswift9039 Mr Greaves was just trying to read his paper in peace. Perhaps if that toerag Davis hadn't stolen Eckersley's radio, he'd not have been the recipient of a weapons grade bumming for his transgression leading to his night time theatrics, and Mr Greaves could have ogled his page 3 strumpet in serene surroundings.
As someone who survived a suicide attempt that left in a coma, that was caused due to life long abuse, and has spent time institutionalized in a psych ward...more than once...for awhile...this movie is a tough watch but one of my favourite movies.
Not a single second of screen time is wasted in this film. An absolute masterclass in taut, efficient direction. Great script too. “Why am I so far from home? Cos you killed that kid” lol
This is my favourite film and i think that's my favourite line in the whole thing. In the book version which the writer wrote after the films, it's different. It's said "with disgust" but I feel it's better this way. 😂
This is a good description of what the authorities were like in those days is it any wonder that many of those who went through these places came out worse than they were and ioln
This film displays quite clearly the disdain the establishment has for it's people here in the UK, unless of course their is a war, then these very same young men are the heroes we shan't forget, that is if they die, if they come back alive then their are plenty of park benches.
Oh come on, they get a poppy, sometimes an entire wreath!... ironic that the British are in Afghanistan helping the opium to flourish .... if you're not in the forces then you're likely smacked out on a park-bench somewhere.... The chosen-race appoint paedos to be our politicians and we fight in their banker-wars.
Im only 20 minutes in and here because people said Dogpound was a remake of this. Loving it so far. Can't believe I haven't heard of this film till now.
I saw this film for the first time about 20 years ago after coming back from the pub, it was on around midnight. I sobered up very quickly. Very disturbing.
I remember it on that night too, it was 1994. Prince Naz won a boxing match earlier that night, can't remember who he was fighting but it had me in a great mood. Then I watched this..
Poor Davis. The scene sickened me when I was a kid. Probably the most harrowing rape scene in film history. Poor lad. The bit where he says 'He fell' is truly heartbreaking. Life destroyed in minutes and no way back from it either. God love any lads that had to endure that cruelty and trauma. And any system that stands by and allows it deserves to be dropped into the dustbin of history.
Fabulous film, very well acted indeed and something like this could never be made now. Probably more true to life than we would wish but an absolute classic. Thanks for this.
Let me save you some time and take you straight to the majestic greenhouse scene.. 1:16:26 After a hard days graft the boys ask the gardener for a break. "Just a quick burn" which sets up the scene for Davis's sacrificial buggering. 1:16:52 Davis is potting his plant setting the tone of the glorious love making that he is about to endure… 1:17:06 After a quick smoke, the boys make there way over to Davis who rudely asks them, 'whatchoo want?' This is followed by a swift punch to Davis's stomach from Chambers. 1:17:10 As Davis coils in pain Chambers in his heavy breath tells Smith to 'turn Davis ova.' The request is quickly obliged in excitement and anticipation as James can no longer wait, taking off his overalls ready to insert his already pulsating hard cock in to Davis's soft, sweet, moist virgin tulip. 1:17:33 As Davis hopelessly flays around pathetically crying 'no, please no,' Smith and Chamber's already have Davis's overall's and panties down and around his ankles exposing both his sweet, peachy, un touched, bald bottom and his delicate mid drift as James, (no longer able to contain his excitement), quickly rushes to get his clothes off to begin the sacrifice. 1:17:35 Davis feels the tip of James's fat, purple bell end slowly touching pushing in to his taint as he helplessly pleads and tries to escape one final time but to no avail. One hard push and James feels his fat meaty, erect cock enter the warm, tight, juicy cack hole of Davis as he gives an uncomfortable yelp from the sheer size of his lover's delicious meat sausage as it begins to expands and push further inside Davis's marmite hole of warmth. 1:17:41 A quick punch by James to Davis's little mid drift easily loosens up his sphinx and he is now fully inside his boyfriend's colon of warmth. Davis cries in both pain and excitement as Smith and Chambers hold him down even biting his arm turned on by this new experience he is enjoying. 1:17:47 Davis cries on pleasure as James begins to get faster and deeper in to his boyfriend's tullip as his you hear his testicles slapping Davis's bald bottom cheeks which begin to turn red from the sheer force of James's love making. Chambers begins to take his overall's off in preparation as James reaches his climax. 1:17:57 James gets faster and faster as Davis tries his hardest to pretend to escape but he is held down by Chambers and Smith and Davis flats his head with continual please of 'no, please no' mean 'yes, please yes' as Davis bites his arm in pleasure so much he begins to leave marks. 1:18:02 James and Davis finally become one with each other when James climaxes his juicy loins inside Davis's spoiled honey pot of warmth. James gives Davis a loving embrace from behind in appreciation for his brave sacrifice. However, Davis's short respite after his love making is only temporary as he feels James's tired, semi erect cock painfully pull out of his dripping, ruined man hole ready for Chamber's to have a quick go as the lovely Mr Sands looks on smiling with pleasure as he feels a little tingle in his trousers before they are disturbed by the annoying gardener to break up the festivities. Soo smooth, soo young, soo bald, good..
Let me save you some time and take you straight to the majestic greenhouse scene.. 1:16:26 After a hard days graft the boys ask the gardener for a break. "Just a quick burn" which sets up the scene for Davis's sacrificial buggering. 1:16:52 Davis is potting his plant setting the tone of the glorious love making that he is about to endure… 1:17:06 After a quick smoke, the boys make there way over to Davis who rudely asks them, 'whatchoo want?' This is followed by a swift punch to Davis's stomach from Chambers. 1:17:10 As Davis coils in pain Chambers in his heavy breath tells Smith to 'turn Davis ova.' The request is quickly obliged in excitement and anticipation as James can no longer wait, taking off his overalls ready to insert his already pulsating hard cock in to Davis's soft, sweet, moist virgin tulip. 1:17:33 As Davis hopelessly flays around pathetically crying 'no, please no,' Smith and Chamber's already have Davis's overall's and panties down and around his ankles exposing both his sweet, peachy, un touched, bald bottom and his delicate mid drift as James, (no longer able to contain his excitement), quickly rushes to get his clothes off to begin the sacrifice. 1:17:35 Davis feels the tip of James's fat, purple bell end slowly touching pushing in to his taint as he helplessly pleads and tries to escape one final time but to no avail. One hard push and James feels his fat meaty, erect cock enter the warm, tight, juicy cack hole of Davis as he gives an uncomfortable yelp from the sheer size of his lover's delicious meat sausage as it begins to expands and push further inside Davis's marmite hole of warmth. 1:17:41 A quick punch by James to Davis's little mid drift easily loosens up his sphinx and he is now fully inside his boyfriend's colon of warmth. Davis cries in both pain and excitement as Smith and Chambers hold him down even biting his arm turned on by this new experience he is enjoying. 1:17:47 Davis cries on pleasure as James begins to get faster and deeper in to his boyfriend's tullip as his you hear his testicles slapping Davis's bald bottom cheeks which begin to turn red from the sheer force of James's love making. Chambers begins to take his overall's off in preparation as James reaches his climax. 1:17:57 James gets faster and faster as Davis tries his hardest to pretend to escape but he is held down by Chambers and Smith and Davis flats his head with continual please of 'no, please no' mean 'yes, please yes' as Davis bites his arm in pleasure so much he begins to leave marks. 1:18:02 James and Davis finally become one with each other when James climaxes his juicy loins inside Davis's spoiled honey pot of warmth. James gives Davis a loving embrace from behind in appreciation for his brave sacrifice. However, Davis's short respite after his love making is only temporary as he feels James's tired, semi erect cock painfully pull out of his dripping, ruined man hole ready for Chamber's to have a quick go as the lovely Mr Sands looks on smiling with pleasure as he feels a little tingle in his trousers before they are disturbed by the annoying gardener to break up the festivities. Soo smooth, soo young, soo bald, good..
Let me save you some time and take you straight to the majestic greenhouse scene.. 1:16:26 After a hard days graft the boys ask the gardener for a break. "Just a quick burn" which sets up the scene for Davis's sacrificial buggering. 1:16:52 Davis is potting his plant setting the tone of the glorious love making that he is about to endure… 1:17:06 After a quick smoke, the boys make there way over to Davis who rudely asks them, 'whatchoo want?' This is followed by a swift punch to Davis's stomach from Chambers. 1:17:10 As Davis coils in pain Chambers in his heavy breath tells Smith to 'turn Davis ova.' The request is quickly obliged in excitement and anticipation as James can no longer wait, taking off his overalls ready to insert his already pulsating hard cock in to Davis's soft, sweet, moist virgin tulip. 1:17:33 As Davis hopelessly flays around pathetically crying 'no, please no,' Smith and Chamber's already have Davis's overall's and panties down and around his ankles exposing both his sweet, peachy, un touched, bald bottom and his delicate mid drift as James, (no longer able to contain his excitement), quickly rushes to get his clothes off to begin the sacrifice. 1:17:35 Davis feels the tip of James's fat, purple bell end slowly touching pushing in to his taint as he helplessly pleads and tries to escape one final time but to no avail. One hard push and James feels his fat meaty, erect cock enter the warm, tight, juicy cack hole of Davis as he gives an uncomfortable yelp from the sheer size of his lover's delicious meat sausage as it begins to expands and push further inside Davis's marmite hole of warmth. 1:17:41 A quick punch by James to Davis's little mid drift easily loosens up his sphinx and he is now fully inside his boyfriend's colon of warmth. Davis cries in both pain and excitement as Smith and Chambers hold him down even biting his arm turned on by this new experience he is enjoying. 1:17:47 Davis cries on pleasure as James begins to get faster and deeper in to his boyfriend's tullip as his you hear his testicles slapping Davis's bald bottom cheeks which begin to turn red from the sheer force of James's love making. Chambers begins to take his overall's off in preparation as James reaches his climax. 1:17:57 James gets faster and faster as Davis tries his hardest to pretend to escape but he is held down by Chambers and Smith and Davis flats his head with continual please of 'no, please no' mean 'yes, please yes' as Davis bites his arm in pleasure so much he begins to leave marks. 1:18:02 James and Davis finally become one with each other when James climaxes his juicy loins inside Davis's spoiled honey pot of warmth. James gives Davis a loving embrace from behind in appreciation for his brave sacrifice. However, Davis's short respite after his love making is only temporary as he feels James's tired, semi erect cock painfully pull out of his dripping, ruined man hole ready for Chamber's to have a quick go as the lovely Mr Sands looks on smiling with pleasure as he feels a little tingle in his trousers before they are disturbed by the annoying gardener to break up the festivities. Soo smooth, soo young, soo bald, good..
Yeah I felt bad for Davis, he needed someone to look out for him but it's probably difficult putting your neck on the line for someone else in a place like that.
The rape scene in the greenhouse is brutal, but what is even more brutal is when the teacher sees what is happening and does nothing to intervene, instead the sadistic bastard just watches with utter glee.
How wonderful if the generous Me Sands to allow the young men to downs some time together in the greenhouse and make hot passionate love to his boyfriend. He even stayed and watched. I bet he gave himself a cheeky rub as he smiled with pleasure as James arrived inside Davis’s warm, innocent, tight little tullip. Soo good…
Only a third of a way in but enough to comment. I'll watch the rest later. Takes me back sixty years. One month after my 16th birthday - escaped from a place like the one Carlin is in. Got caught and was committed to a maximum security adult psychiatric unit. Did eighteen months in solitary-no bed, tin piss-pot- concrete walls, concrete floor. Once out of solitary it was fight after fight after fight. Wouldn't kowtow to the gangs or their bosses. Many staff were just as bad. Some though were most humane and very genuine. Was released eleven years later after saving a screw from being killed during a riot. Held the gang off with a broken seat slat with him behind me against a wall. Got married, had children and grandchildren. Made a success of my life by most peoples standards. Sometimes though I shed a quiet tear - just wondering what I may have been, what I may have achieved, how far would I have gone if the childhood, teens and twenties had been different or normal. Well - there it is - I'll watch the rest of the movie now. For me though it was no movie and the players were not actors.
@jasonvoorhees5640 I guess the lmao is because you don't believe it - well - everyone is entitled to think and/or believe what they will - but just for the record that story of mine is a hundred percent true and just one of many similar stories from that era of our history.
Before i met my wife and settled down i spent the majority of the 90s and early 00s running backwards and forwards to YOI's and later, various prisons and Richards (Phil Daniels) has to be the most realistic prisoner in a prison film that I've ever seen. Every single jail i was ever in had a 'Richards' who acted the gangster because he was mates with or even just from the same area as someone who genuinely is well known and respected/feared but the majority of them end up getting found out at some time or other. Phil Daniels plays the part brilliantly
@@modernista6056 It sure was. He was in a good TV mini series in the 90's called Holding On where he played a restaurant critic with an eating disorder.
“You know, when I was out, I always reminded myself you can take something good from every experience. Well, the only thing I'll take from Borstal is evil” 1:01:07 Archer, sir…
I've been in prison when men died of heart attacks and strokes while screws ignored their pleas fo help.there were never any repercussions or enquiries same when people hung themselves
The Davis character is heartbreaking man. Just to think kids for real are/went through this kind of torture. I welled up when I first saw this 22 years ago.
i was in borstal came out in 77 the screws were sadistic cunts back then it was a psych borstal as well with a hospital wing bad bad memories when they used a liquid cosh (injection Largactil)
Every time another inmate approaches Davis he goes 'Whatchoowant?' in a rude and sneering tone. C of E are we? Answer the Guv/Nor!!! he's even rude to the staff. People like Davis make me sick....
@An Armchair D is for Davis, also for Devil. J is for James also for Jesus. Can it be that the greenhouse was the scene of an epic battle between the AntiChrist and the Chosen One, as foretold in Revelations????
A real sad experience for these young men to have to endure,brings tears to my eyes,the authorities should be held accountable for their immoral actions...
Not for me. I’m grateful to the screws. Later on after my delicious love making in the greenhouse I learned my place in the pecking order and I became a barrister and I convicted these three c()£s who called themselves “The musical youth” for smoking weed. For some reason they walked out of court without one officer stopping them singing “Pass the Dutchie on the left hand side”... Weird... Soo Good...
I hope every single one of those sadists who carried out such abuses in real life in those brutal institutions will be brought to justice! I hope the victims come forward and speak out.
Most end up in prison as adults, often for long terms or life, or dead. That is the reality of it. Most have fathers, or parents, who aren't any better, or went thru the same as teens.
Alan Clarke made several masterpieces. I’d say this is his most powerful film. Ray Winstone and all the other young actors are brilliant. Archer is the best character, how he’s so far ahead of everyone else intellectually, love how he constantly causes issues for the screws
this version ( theatrical ) deffo has the best archer, in the original release although the dialogue is muchly the same, the actor doesnt portray archer as well as this one. ( ive got both versions )
Kudos to you not many people realise there two verision the original BBC version banned for obvious 1977 reasons then re filmed for a theatre realise in1979 with one change as far as I rember which you named rays finest work were your tool ❤️🇬🇧🙃 andy
@@PorkysGaming I think you're right. As much as I love David Threlfall, I think Mick Ford nails 'Archer'. Seen both actors in the theatre, long ago, and they were superb. Btw, Ford also played a character called 'Archer' in the excellent 90s series, 'Harry'.
@@chef-mumbles1970 in the origional Carling ( ray ) had a missus inside, and it was hinting more towards homosexuality, obviously in the theatrical release this was cut. Also a couple of the screws play different screws in the theatrical release. Another diffenrence is the uniform, and colours of the borstal, in the origional it was a greenish uniform and walls, and in the remake they was weaing blue. In the theatrical carling swings the pool balls in a sock once, in the original he hits with them multiple times. there are a few differences many are not noticed
@@chef-mumbles1970 If you search some of the more prolific torrent sites, you can find both versions, albeit the banned release is in very poor quality as a rule - ripped from a VHS tape and in dire need of a clean up. The Internet Archive used to have a good copy of the banned version, which I managed to grab years ago and I cleaned it up myself. However, with my ISP, I can't share things over torrent and I'm sure RUclips would take it down if I posted it here. I've dropped it on a few FTP sites over the years though! And I have a copy and a backup. So it's safe! The world won't lose it! XD
Don’t cry for me. I loved every minute of it. Those tears were tears of joy in that scene when my boyfriends broke me in for the first time... Soo good..
I remember video taping if off late night TV around 2004. (even then it included all the brutal parts like the gay rape scene). Later I downloaded it off the internet (around 2009 I think) ... it'll be with us forever, however far the leftist media want to remove films like this from the public.
I was there in 86. Everyone was into the "new " children's home system. They just assumed that the assholes disappeared. They didn't. 14 went in and there are 2 of us now. 😢 A real and true 3 seconds out of your day to remember us and do better by us please.
No matter what kind of system you set up; Borstals, Reformatories, "Wellness Adjustment Action Centres", theres always going to be a shortage of competent trustworthy people willing to work in them. It'll mostly be wannabe cops and guys who can't make as much in a competitive trade. But you can't just allow people to go around committing crimes.
I've been searching for this film for years and of all places to find it? RUclips? Lol whatever I enjoyed every heart wrenching minute of it! Thanks for the upload!
I can’t believe I’ve never watched this movie before, I’m 40 years old for god sake lol . But WOW it was worth the wait , what an awesome, hard-hitting , gritty film the acting was A1,thanks for uploading this on your channel 😀👍
Not a strange comment considering this is a very famous movie and all my friends have seen it and encouraged me to watch it a few times over the years , and the fact is I love movies, I don’t know why you would think it’s strange 🤷♀️🤷♀️
The grim reality of the "short, sharp shock". This is a brilliant piece of film-making to this day. In John LeCarre's Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy there's a great quote related to the nonsense that this approach to disciplining or punishing adolescents could somehow ever work. Ricky Tarr says something like his father tried to beat the bad out of him, but he only managed to beat it further in.
Borstal was NO SHORT SHARP SHOCK! You're confusing it with Detention Centres which established to cater for shorter 'sharp-shock' custodial sentences, of six months or less. I served 19 months in Feltham Borstal back in 79-81. the original borstal, not the mamby-pamby rebuilt Young offenders unit for teen thugs!
@@Zodliness CORRECT . I was a 6 monther in Whatton D C in 1973 then went n to do 2 Borstals . DC was the short sharp shock which this film is more like . 👍🏴
@@Zodliness Deerbolt 78 -79 served 11 and a half months of the 6 months to two years Borstal training certainly not the D C short sharp shock , can still quote my F***ing number to this day in my mid sixties this is how it was back then brutal regime
Stunning film. Many thanks for posting. I remember seeing it in the 80s. Alan Clark is from my hometown, on the Wirral. Legend! Great Steadycam work! The film is gritty, ugly, and yet darkly humorous at times. The inmate Archer is a great character. An eloquent and clever guy: an atheist and 'vegetarian', he won't wear leather shoes, requests Dostoevsky novels for the library, and spends his time trying to piss off all the screws and admin, especially the religious, sanctimonious governor! And Archer is smart enough to pull it off ... usually!
Just watched SCUM, a compelling portrayal of the way Institutions were and maybe still are run by the authorities of the day. A disturbing, but brilliant film.
@@sugarsean5866 I did st pats in the early 80s,went over to Tullamore visiting family, from Manchester, and it was a shit hole, making concrete manhole covers during the day, can remember talking to the women, I think they were over the wall in Mountjoy, if my memory is right, got a bit of shit at first cos of my English accent, then got chatting with lads from Tullamore so screws and other yp's was OK then, I got 12 months, done 4 months, went to a appeal court in kilkenny and got let out straight away with a one way ticket back to England, not to return to Ireland for 2 years or would have to finish sentence.
You`re right ,my man,I went to see this at my local ABC in 1980,made me think;I don`t ever wanna go in there !!!By the way ,There is a lovely (true) story about this film; About two months after this film was released in the cinemas, Ray Winstone went to an old schoolfriends birthday drinks in the west end.He had a good old skinfull,and caught the last tube train home to the east end where he lived.Two stops before his destination he said that the biggest black guy you ever saw got on the train ,sat opposite him and stared straight at him (ray)Ray thought to himself "If he tries anything,I`ll whack `im as hard as I can,be through the doors,up the escalator,`an on me toes."The tube train finally reached Ray`s stop,The black guy is still staring at Ray, Ray stand`s up,waiting to get off,the black guy ask`s "Are you the guy from SCUM ?" Ray says " Yeah !"...…..The black guy says..."Good film,man".
Archer is brilliant aside from constantly attempting to wind up the screws he is also very kind as evident when he reads woods letter to him and stands up for him
One of those cutting edge English ones that are often forgotten, thankfully right here on RUclips where they deserve to be kept alive and relived. Fantastic film.
Who bummed Davis in the greenhouse and why did they do it
it was an awful film that liked when kids cos a bit of scrapping in it.
@@AANDYist what?
@@josiewallace7968 he wasn't 'bummed'. He was brutally and viciously raped. Grow the FFFF up. Jesus.
@@AANDYist You missed what was going on mate...
You will never get a sense of realism like this in a film made today. I'm 55 and grew up in South East London. The sense of claustrophobia and despair came right back to me from my youth watching.this film. So sad to watch. This film is raw and and harsh as life truly is. We are so cushioned from the realities of power hungry people now.
Whatton D.C....... Terrible memories, it brings back.
Won't wish the place likely until my earnings
Some movies with a gritty/raw vibe that come to my mind are the pusher trilogy and brat (brother), even Climax if we talk about more modern productions. I love that kind of hyper realistic / in the moment movies, another one is called "naked" by Mike Leigh, different, not action orientated but with the same feeling of walking behind someone and filming his life for what it is, without sugar coating the cinematic experience.
@@gabrielegagliardi3956thank you for the recommendations, I've not heard of them before.
Exactly. You have these crazy people claiming we're in end times and life is worse now than ever. Those people are so clueless of our history. We live in safer times more now than ever before in recorded history. Even the average lifespan has increased. People just fold under pressure too easily these days because the media and social media are fear mongering the public and people buy into it.
Pepys Estate . Deptford
The davis scene in bed always sticks with me, and the fact they stick together after and refuse to eat is amazing, this film is so gritty, love it
Even the ass holes that raped davis joined in like if it wasnt their faults
I never watch that bit.
@Jamie Coulson your poor wife.
@@johnLennon255 Yeah never understood that part? I remember catching that years ago and thinking “hang on what have you got to feel angry about? You just took turns bumming him?!”
@@jayddt4183🐐 comment
Watched some of this filmed on set. It was shot in Shenley Hospital, Radlett (much of it in Villa 21). I was a student nurse from 76 to 80. Had a fair few bevvies with these lads at our social club and a few meals in the hospital canteen. Lovely bunch of guys! Happy days!
That’s really interesting since I live in shenley by the old water tower ( now housing development ). I’m not sure where villa 21 would be or if it’s still standing.
Is it still there
@@bowjana8128 not too sure specifically but a lot of the buildings are the same as the ones used in the hospital just renovated into housing. there’s a scene in this where you can see the big tower which is still standing and are now apartments.
Male nurse? You didn't go into the greenhouse did you? 😅
@@roadgent7921LMAO 🤣
An absolute classic, re-watching it now after 40 odd years. Still one of the most powerful films I’ve ever seen. Brutal, disturbing and deeply poignant. I was a young teenage girl when I first watched this , bit of a rebel like we all seemed to be in early eighties Britain. I’m pushing 60 now but still don’t like to be pushed around. Thanks so much for posting this.
We are a great generation.. Old school..
I felt the same at the time...but after the same amount of time... well its still shocking. Powerful and funny...4737 Carlin Sir ....and I'm
the fuckin daddy now....!!!!!!!!!
Origamipig@ same here. Yes it is a powerfull film! I first saw it in 1983 i think and that was 39 years ago. Hard to believe its 39 years ago. How are boys who are men really at age 18 not meant to hit the screws back when there just bullying them all the time. Especialy boys that are 6ft and bigger. Back then in 1979 6ft was seen as really big then at age 18, and still is big today. As most of the screws wernt 6ft then! But a think they had to be at least 5ft9" but there was one or two that didnt even look 5ft9 in the film. I thought it was just as powerfull or maybe more powerfull than "a sense of freedom" about jimmy boyle and that was a great film. Why did they stop borstal? Seemingly it had a good success rate as 50% of boys didnt go back to jail again as it was that bad. Now its more like supported accomadation and alot of guys admit that its easier inside than it is to live outside now becouse the system as a whole is failing them. There is very little help if any at all once they step out that door, the welfare system makes it near impossible to help them get money to live on? They have to go into a hostel with lots of addicts and with no money to live on? They cant get to see any one? Its like coming out of jail and going into an open one really! So no wonder they start drinking again, what are they meant to do? Its like there not meant to go forward.
What Tool!?
Fancy a pint? xx
I watched this at the movies when I was 15 in Christchurch NZ. It was R18 I was so shocked. I am 58 now and the movie is a masterpiece that has lost nothing.
Hey a Kiwi cool .we had our borstal in the middle of nowhere north island in Waikeria .which along with state care and borstal basically produced harden men which went on to start all the gangs we got today
No one can make gritty and realistic movies like the Brits.
Great movie.
Thanks for the upload.
You have never seen Australian films...
@@DANINREDDY Picnic At Hanging Rock was no picnic!
@@DANINREDDY romper stomper.
@@DANINREDDY with horrible dialect.No thanks!
@@TomRivieremusic 🖕
I have/had a special bond with my dad because of this movie. I was born in England and when I was a baby my Mum and Dad immigratted to America. They divorced when I was just 7. I didn't see him much growing up. But I can remember one time my brother and I were traveling cross country and stayed with Dad for a few days on our way to California. He lived in Tennessee with wife #5!! Yikes, I know right 😮. Anyway, we went to rent a movie, remember those days. And he chose Scum, he had seen it when it was first released in the 70' s. We had a great time bonding over it. I really miss him.
Fucking God tell your therapist
The last scene with the riot is very powerful. A show of solidarity against the injustices in an institution where no justice is served. A very powerful message indeed and a great movie overall, even today
A very powerful scene, but in the end they chose 3 ringleaders and trashed them.
Do you know what they were chanting before it kicked off! Been wondering that for decades!
@@zekeedwards9708 they were chanting dead, dead, dead, dead, in regards to Davis who was bummed in the potting shed,
@@garypart393 ahh cheers,
"Justice",ends up just beating the shite out of them.
An interesting fact about this film is that there is no musical score , even during the credits, which only adds to the realism.
@Dennis Menace I didn't either until I watched the commentary on the DVD.
Same with 'Porridge' (from what I remember)
@@zibbezabba2491 porridge the film had the song free inside by Joe Brown for the closing credits
Well done Nicky..
Interesting or plain fucking obvious?
This Film was the main reason I changed my criminal ways when I was a teenager.. it literally knocked some sense into me and scared me shitless.
You should of carried on being a criminal. This doesn't happen in jail.
@@tinman3952 well I went from a being a bit of a scrapper to growing Weed for 12 years so that lifestyle chilled me right out. 👍
@@tinman3952 I saw everything apart from the rape in my time in a YOI in '91. Constant attacks by inmates on other inmates along with 3 suicide attempts, 2 of them successful. One of them was a Vicars son. He wrote his boyfriends name in blood on the wall of his pad, I was only in for 3 months. Been on the straight and narrow for 30 years.
I figure since you have to be a piece of shit to survive, you leave a piece of shit, can you really get back from it?
@@tinman3952 what do you know about borstal in the 70's
To all, "absent and departed friends" murdered by the system, Bless you all. RIP
Our thoughts and prayers are with you.
WELL SAID. THANKYOU FOR SAYING THIS. 😢
As I remember, Alan Clarke faced a lot of criticism and hate from prison guards who claimed that this wasn't the normal way things went in reform insitutions such as borstals. However, I think there was far more truth to this than they like to admit, and it is an inconvenient truth they wanted kept quiet.
Brilliant writing, direction and acting. Cold, brutal and utterly chilling. America have never managed this level or realism and grit in their films.
@JustSomeBloke Doesn't surprise me. They can't match the quality and brutality of the original, and Hollywood ruins every remake of a film foreign to them anyway - cases in point: Let The Right One In, The Ring, Death Note.
Anywhere that people have that kind of control over people will lead to abuse.
That shit did happen and I'm afraid still does
Makes you think too of how much was covered up in real borstals by the government
Maybe take a look at the TV special 'Scared Strait', from 1978, or the movie, 'Short Eyes' from 1977. They were both filmed in ACTUAL correctional institutions, and they're both on RUclips for free
In 1945 thousands of men came back from the war suffering from shell shock. (PTSD) They brutalized the next generation who went onto try do the same to our generation (The lads in the film.) The guards in this film are exactly like those born after the war.
This is the first time I have seen the film and I am 58. I went all the way back to the seventies, it was exactly like that.
Yeah I remember school teachers that had actually been in WW2. Their children were definitely worse or as bad. From the 70’s to the 80’s I remember the brutal teachers, most men but some women as well. I also recall the weirdo’s that would hang around the school gate and public toilets, luckily I never had a problem but my friend was nearly abducted walking home one day and we would never go to the toilets at the bus station. Now im older I recon these weirdo’s were war kids, maybe evacuees who were probably abused back in those dark times
Ccuon fort beat us
@@bobbiescrisps9208 Yes the schools i went to in the 70s early 80s the teachers were brutal,always remember a girl answering a female teacher back she jumped up and grabbed her hair , dragged her along the floor screaming by the hair, that was tame compared to some of the treatment us lads got.
@kennymacdonald5313 I can see you are very articulate with words Kenny so why don't you elaborate and tell us all why it is garbage.
I'm finding myself drawn to Mecca 😅
My Dad was in a detention centre in Nottingham in the 60's - said this film was just like it was. ....it was this film in fact that caused the nationwide sweeping reform.
I agree . I did Whatton D C in 1973 and this is what is was like . The 2 Borstals I attended were much easier . All the best . 👍🏴
my mate from Sutton in Ashfield was in borstal quiet a few times in the mid 60s
Dover was a shit hole 😂
@@debro1873mate sutton was a hard place full stop!!
no damned thing has changed since the dawn and i imagine it so after the dusk
When you watch it you see lots of stars from tomorrow Ray Winston now a super star. Well done that man.
The scene between Archer and the screw was the heart of the film in my opinion. Two people ground down by a system that removes all humanity, both right and both wrong. Both actors should be more recognised for this.
Archer: I was very drawn to Davis’s tullip Sir... Very drawn indeed..
Govner: TULLIP ARCHER?!
Archer: Yes Sir..
Govner: Archer you will see the Chaplin tomorrow and there will be no more talk about Davis’s sweet, Devine, moist, TULLIP! Again do you understand?
Archer: Yes Sir.
Govner: Soo Good...
Only one was ground down.
I think that too. I showed this scene on my review of it.
Mr Duke is a liar and a thug like Banks
@@annescholey6546 they’re all thugs - the screws and the system is the scum.
I worked with a lad who spent 2 years in these hell holes for accidentally hitting a ball of a car which caused it to crash into a shop in his early teens. The stories of the abuse he told us about were horrific. He said this film was tame in comparison to the mental physical and sexual abuse some lads went through.
Elliot Marsh Town be quiet when the intelligent people are speaking. Cretin.
@Elliot Marsh town weirdo
Same here in Australia 😢😾
He goes crashing White man’s motor cars and he gets white man’s stick
Jesus that sounds bad
Ray Winstone actually got his breakthrough part for this movie not from his acting but by the style of the way he walked!
Thanks Thought it was a young Ray Winstone..!Such a great Actor no doubt..!(The Departed M.Scorsese.!)
Walked?. Do a lot of Westerns did Ray?.
Yeah that’s right apparently I read his part was going to go to a bloke from Glasgow or based on a Glaswegian until ray walked in 🏴👍🏻
Also Phil Daniels got his break here another great UK actor
I'm 62 now and I often re watch films from this era. I've never managed to watch this one more than once. It was an absolutely brilliant film but I hate the brutality and that scene in the greenhouse is so vile. The prison guard's face....
Mr Sands was slyly pleasuring himself while watching the romantic union
I'm 52 and watching this for the first time. I forgot just how brutal the 70's could be.
Yes 100 % agreed, and why is the greenhouse scene the most replayed by far on here?? Dafuq!
Its 70s porn thats why!@@pierrecibandit3877
@@gregoreisenhorn5093he wasn't the only one!
I recall a great (true)story from this period:
Two months after Scum had been on release in the Cinemas, Ray Winstone went into London`s West End for
an old schoolfriends birthday drinks. He managed to drag himself away to catch the last Tube home. Three
stops from Ray`s destination; Ray Winstone said : " The biggest black guy you ever saw got on, sat down
opposite me, and just sat there, starin` at me. I thought to me self : Just before my stop, if he tries anything,
I`ll whack `im as `ard as I can, run for the escalator an` be on me toes. The Train pulls in to Mile End, I stand
up to get off,.....the black guy looks at me, and says : Are you the guy from Scum ?..I said ; ..Yeah, ...the black guy says....
...........good film man."
I would have said to myself "I'm going to die!!"
Oh Ray Winstone played "Carlin" who turned out to be the focal character. Was "Scum" a TV movie 1st? Cuz under Ray Winstone's Wikipedia - Filmography it has this movie "Scum" 1979, then under Television it has 1977 "Scum" - "Carlin" - TV movie. So wondering??? I think I've seen him before in one or a few things when he got older. Info says he was in the movie "The Departed" (2006) which was filmed here in Boston. It loosely took in about Boston's Irish mob boss, James "Whitey" Bulger, head of the "Winter Hill Gang" (based on Winter Hill in Somerville, Massachusetts. I little north and over to the West from Boston proper). But he was also in nearby Charlestown section of Boston, and South Boston, and all over. He was on the lamb for 16+ years. The Feds finally found him in ...... Santa Monica, California (I think it was). He was tried and convicted, sent to Fed Prison. He was old and had health issues. Ended up in a wheelchair in prison. He was murdered in prison by two other inmates. Clearly a "hit".
@@aspenrebel There was the BBC TV play that got banned for obvious reasons and went unviewed until mid to late naughties on DVD. And there is the cinema version (This) that you would be most familiar with.
@@johntrevy1 ok
Winstone was a hard bastard in real life and could handle himself...he boxed for England in his younger days 😉
The snooker ball , sock scene and the close camera follow of Ray is incredibly in its simplicity but so damn effective.
Yes. So quick and unexpected. I was left aghast.
Poetic justice
That one, and "where's your tool?" taught me a few things many years ago. Mostly that I didn't want to pay the price of becoming a top dog. And also that you "always" have a way out - at least in the moment. But in the end, as Jordan Peterson says, noone ever gets away with anything.. There's always a price, you just can't always predict it.
Still as hard hitting today as it was over forty years ago a brilliant piece of British cinematography.
Blake Davis certainly ain't no watered down play...
Absolutely, As iconic and cult as Quadrophenia which was also released the same year, 1979.
I watch this at least once a year. Just an absolute classic.
@@blakedavis1852 why did you ask then dude?
Damn, your Statement is Gospel.
Archer is my hero! A superb character and a funny yet satirical bit of comic relief in an otherwise bleak but brilliant masterpiece! X
One of the most powerful dramas involving young actors I have ever seen, it is as haunting today as it was when it was first released. Well done to every member of the cast and crew, not forgetting the writers👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
@Russell Collier tv version
@Russell Collier I have that and the 40th blu ray indicator anniversary release
@Russell Collier first watched this as a kid 12-13 yrs old and it scared me
@@jameswinter9954
Oh, can you tell me some of the differences pls?
This upscaled version looks really impressive to me because I've not seen it for about 10 years and that was when it was last on tv and that tv was a CRT !
When I was a very young boy, my mother used to punish me by making me sit on a tall stool in the kitchen and I wasn’t allowed to get off it until she said, it was very boring a bore-stool. A few times she squashed my big toes under the stool’s legs and bruised them badly, once my toe nails fell off and she burned my face with the kettle. And she constantly psychologically tortured me by telling me I was an accident and other ways.
That’s why I never went to prison when I got older and probably explains why I turned out the way I am now.
I learned fast at home being the youngest of 3 boys as well, my home was worse than borstal. I also had an older girl cousin and aunties who “helped” when my family took time off and there were plenty of bullies and scummers at school and on the estate to help out as well.
I watched this film in 1984 with my parents and that scene in the greenhouse still makes feel sick nearly forty years later.
God bless all the poor souls who sufferd in the hands of these so called places of correction 🙏
It's not based on a real story
Of course… this film is purely fictional and nothing portrayed in this film never ever really happened in British Borstals….
Don't forget, they were all volunteers
@@fretboardmaster70 Then why were the borstals shut?
@@fretboardmaster70you are wrong.. theres docus about them with real clips . Awful places.
I fainted in the cinema watching this as a young girl of 16 in 1979. After a career of 43 years nursing I can cope with it now !
thanks for your service
bot.
The way Carlin did Richards and Banks over in short order was poetic.
Loved that revenge part...
I was in Borstal in 1970. It was Very much like this. 😮Being in wormwood scrubs. Was Frightening. Was glad to get to Borstal. Once settled in was OK. If they thought you was a wimp you would get picked on . I was fortunate enough to get on with the house daddy. Spent 11 months there. 6 months- 2 years.. It was hard back then. Not like today ..
@@peterlovage3167 What was the Scrubs back then? In this, they make it sound like it wasn't an adult prison.
Odd, I did a good while in the Scrubs as an adult on A wing, then B then finally D wing. A few weeks after my release that documentary came out about the screws.
It began during the prison officers. They solved by bringing in loads of governors to staff us. They kept asking us about the screws behaviour.
We didn't talk at first but a prisoner was not allowed to talk to his little girl who was dying. They kept beating him as well. He was only on mistaken identity anyway so
eventually he talked as did other prisoners in sympathy. The gang of screws doing all the bullying were shown in the documentary including one bastard who
made my time there very difficult.
I didn't know it was a Borstal too. Nasty Victorian hole, a lot like Mordor. Hated it but the cons were mostly great guys.
The foley is satisfying.
One of the most important films ever made. It does not shy away.
British movies just seem so grounded in reality, from the myriad of characters to the intelligent nature of their emotions and humor. No superhero crap here, just real people. (Great comment section here, watch the flick!)
Not everything requires a soundtrack or each scene music, it's effective because it's exactly what you'd expect if you were there. There's no hero's or happy ending, just a bleak reality of being in the system.
this is one of the best british films ive ever watched! what a master piece! not a single minute wasted!
I experienced this in Sweden in the late 90's.
I spent all my adult life with PTSD and utter hatred towards the pig of men that bullied me. But it was more verbal and psychological then physical.
Brutal...uncompromising and absolutely brilliant...this is one of the all time great British films.
Ray Winstone just has star quality written all over him. The way he walks away from the "where's your tool" fight, and does that James Cagney shoulder lift, like he's resetting his muscles, its so stylish, just a perfect moment.
I wish there was a TV show that showcased perfect moments
The black guy thought it would be just fisticuffs...but realised that's not how whitey plays the game.
And now he's trying to get people to gamble on some seedy website
Fiona, you're on RUclips, perhaps research and put together a short compilation of your favourite "Perfect Moments In Movies". If you give it a go, send me the link, I'll watch, like and share. You never know -it could very well be your calling to entertain a RUclips following 👍
@@jamesjameson4566And has played the same character in everything he does.
His was noticed and given the part specifically because of his walk alan saw him and thought it was perfect for the part he plays.
This film brings back memories for me, memories I had tried to forget about. I wasn't put in places similar to these for doing anything wrong, I was ten years old and removed from the family home because my parents could not get along. I was placed in institutions for delinquent boys for 3 years and for those 3 years I was reminded every day that I was no good! My mother left my father and I was allowed home on weekends to stay at my mother's. Little did the authorities know my mother had a boyfriend who lived with us who, to cut a long painful story short he would get violent with my mother and beat the crap out of me, funny that! that is something I never saw my father do! I try not to dwell on it.
Hope you find peace Mark.
Hope you have healed ,children are listened to these days thankfully
I had the same shit mate...but I beat the crap out of all the fucking bully's in my life, every dog has its day...
dammit Mark.. I hope things worked out for you...greetings from South Africa
@@deborahkelly1948 and suffer the same abuse
I knew a foreign girl who watched this film without knowing what a borstal was. She thought Scum depicted life in a normal British school lol
Lmao!
Is in sum schools...
Not far wrong,some schools in south London at the time was a bit like that.
I bet she thought different when she saw the rape scene
It pretty much is in some places
Love the gritty realism of this film,...it's raw and hard hitting,...and pulls no punches,....and a young Ray Winstone was born to play this role,....love the film
He was in a couple of Sweeney episodes well before, though.
You're love is cruel
10 mins in and I'm hooked...great British TV series production
The character of Archer is just brilliant. Highly intelligent most dont get him because they aren't on his level of thinking. The actor who played him did an excellent, excellent performance.
Wilhelm Hesse it’s a film not tv series
Joe Thomas it’s a movie based off a TV Series
TTIG no it’s not
@@joethomas8031 yes it is dumbass, the series was banned by the BBC because it was too disturbing/realistic. Then they turned it into a theatrical picture.
Now you need to watch Made in Britain :)) Tim Roth's debut, brilliant.
My brother was sent to borstal in 78, and was transferred to a youth custodial centre when the borstal's were abolished. The story's I heard and things I remember seeing at visitations weren't all that different from this film. Some of the "screws" were more hell bent tho, handing out floggings for minor things. This film for me is almost like watching a memory of a story I was told when I was young.
can you tell more please? after I watched this film I looked at the suicide stats and was shocked, I really want to find more information on all of this.
Hasn’t lost any of its visceral punch over the years. One would like to think the institutions depicted have massively changed but I find myself doubting. Thanks very much for posting.
“The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons.”
-Fyodor Dostoyevsky
*"Soap is the yardstick of civilization"*
*_Tyler Durden_*
Mark Twain says more or less the same shit
It could be a social anthropological experiment.
Then exiting them!!
Lee Marvin at Real Porridge Podcast
Probably one of the best films ever made,in my opinion
Remember renting this movie on video In the early 1980's - a hard hitting movie it was one of the first movies everyone rented back then, been reading some of the comments so sorry to hear it brings back bad memories to some people with their own real life experiences, not surprising the Borstal system was abolished In 1982.
That poor lad at the end . He had no other choice . The pleading to that guy should have been met with kindness , compassion and understanding instead of cold hearted indifference . I have no doubt there were countless young lads who took the same way out in real life both before and since the film was made (1979) . A superbly poignant performance.
That's right, Mr Greaves had all the compassion of a Nazi camp commandant.
@@andrewswift9039 Mr Greaves was just trying to read his paper in peace. Perhaps if that toerag Davis hadn't stolen Eckersley's radio, he'd not have been the recipient of a weapons grade bumming for his transgression leading to his night time theatrics, and Mr Greaves could have ogled his page 3 strumpet in serene surroundings.
@@gregoreisenhorn5093😂😂
@@gregoreisenhorn5093 Shut up, you turd, it's not funny.
@@andrewswift9039 true get ur sub normal head down lol
As someone who survived a suicide attempt that left in a coma, that was caused due to life long abuse, and has spent time institutionalized in a psych ward...more than once...for awhile...this movie is a tough watch but one of my favourite movies.
God bless you and I hope you are doing better now.
❤️
lol
I can relate,, creator bless you, your not alone.
God Bless You Aaron Amen xxxxxxx And God Bless Your Earthly Life Time And Earthly Family Amen xxxxxxx
Not a single second of screen time is wasted in this film. An absolute masterclass in taut, efficient direction.
Great script too. “Why am I so far from home? Cos you killed that kid” lol
Ha ha and the way he chuckled like he robbed a sweet shop or summit
But I don’t smoke
Ya fucking do now poufta there’s no dolly mixtures in here ! Classic 👍🏻🇬🇧
This is my favourite film and i think that's my favourite line in the whole thing. In the book version which the writer wrote after the films, it's different. It's said "with disgust" but I feel it's better this way. 😂
Yeah kind of reminds me of Trainspotting, only 90 minutes long but every scene just as poignant as the one before and after it.
This is a good description of what the authorities were like in those days is it any wonder that many of those who went through these places came out worse than they were and ioln
This film displays quite clearly the disdain the establishment has for it's people here in the UK, unless of course their is a war, then these very same young men are the heroes we shan't forget, that is if they die, if they come back alive then their are plenty of park benches.
Oh come on, they get a poppy, sometimes an entire wreath!... ironic that the British are in Afghanistan helping the opium to flourish .... if you're not in the forces then you're likely smacked out on a park-bench somewhere.... The chosen-race appoint paedos to be our politicians and we fight in their banker-wars.
You’re spot on 👍
you nailed it in 3 sentences,the corperations of the world need these young men to murder people in a foreign land ,and secure the goodies
And nothing has changed. They still have distain for the native scum that we are.
Scum 1979 when I was 15 . I am watching this movie tonight decades later .. Time flies by 😊
In the top 5 British films without a doubt. The cast, script and direction are flawless.
Like get Carter and all I wonder too.
They honestly don't make films like this anymore. Proper classic, some amazing scenes and great acting.
Im only 20 minutes in and here because people said Dogpound was a remake of this. Loving it so far. Can't believe I haven't heard of this film till now.
I saw this film for the first time about 20 years ago after coming back from the pub, it was on around midnight. I sobered up very quickly. Very disturbing.
Nah! DRAMA
Bullshit
I remember it on that night too, it was 1994. Prince Naz won a boxing match earlier that night, can't remember who he was fighting but it had me in a great mood. Then I watched this..
Channel 4 in 1999/2000 i watched in for the first time then, unforgettable
@@deluxedjsireland224 the Prince!
Poor Davis. The scene sickened me when I was a kid. Probably the most harrowing rape scene in film history. Poor lad. The bit where he says 'He fell' is truly heartbreaking. Life destroyed in minutes and no way back from it either. God love any lads that had to endure that cruelty and trauma. And any system that stands by and allows it deserves to be dropped into the dustbin of history.
Hilarity Ensues yeah it’s evil af
Harrowing? I thought it was hilarious. Still do
@@Buz-Lunch-Punx You should see the original scene from the BBC version, the casting for the two rapists was bizarre.
I hate what they did to him
@@CaptainCharismaY2J Yeah that long haired wild thing bumming Davis lol.
Made in 1979 and portraying that time and the years before. Still a great film to watch.
One of the best movies ever made.
The snooker balls in a sock scene is beyond iconic
That was good. Richards knew to keep his mouth shut after he got hit
Back, grass!!!
@@DonHomersdonut that told him good and proper
It’s pool balls
@@David-vg8lx they're snooker balls , Google it
Fabulous film, very well acted indeed and something like this could never be made now.
Probably more true to life than we would wish but an absolute classic. Thanks for this.
The movie "Dog Pound" is a remake of this movie...granted it was made in 2010.
@@beer3029 Thanks for the heads up, ordered.
THERES A FILM CALLED ‘BORSTAL’ FROM THE PAST 5 YEARS (UK FILM) WHICH I CANT BE FUCKED WITH AFTER SEEING THIS ORIGINAL CLASSIC….
Ray whinston never fails to deliver. I have never been disappointed with ant roll he plays. 1 of Britains finest. 👍👌
Best you don't watch him in The Black Widow then. 🤣
Yup. Still playing the one character after all these years. 😆
@@Debagio Not seen Black Widow then eh? 🤦🏻♂️
@@chemeister Admittedly, no. Any good?
@@Debagio No. Ray is the Russian baddie. He's not great at accents. 😂
One of the most brutal and powerful films ever made
The importance of this film was evident on 1st view all those years ago, just knew it would be a classic and be appreciated for what it is, its impact
Poor Davis. And the screw ignoring the bell.
It was cos he was told he was on garden duty the next day (Julian Firth). Good actor.
Why u ring that bell Don’t u know it’s an offence
Let me save you some time and take you straight to the majestic greenhouse scene..
1:16:26 After a hard days graft the boys ask the gardener for a break. "Just a quick burn" which sets up the scene for Davis's sacrificial buggering.
1:16:52 Davis is potting his plant setting the tone of the glorious love making that he is about to endure…
1:17:06 After a quick smoke, the boys make there way over to Davis who rudely asks them, 'whatchoo want?' This is followed by a swift punch to Davis's stomach from Chambers.
1:17:10 As Davis coils in pain Chambers in his heavy breath tells Smith to 'turn Davis ova.' The request is quickly obliged in excitement and anticipation as James can no longer wait, taking off his overalls ready to insert his already pulsating hard cock in to Davis's soft, sweet, moist virgin tulip.
1:17:33 As Davis hopelessly flays around pathetically crying 'no, please no,' Smith and Chamber's already have Davis's overall's and panties down and around his ankles exposing both his sweet, peachy, un touched, bald bottom and his delicate mid drift as James, (no longer able to contain his excitement), quickly rushes to get his clothes off to begin the sacrifice.
1:17:35 Davis feels the tip of James's fat, purple bell end slowly touching pushing in to his taint as he helplessly pleads and tries to escape one final time but to no avail. One hard push and James feels his fat meaty, erect cock enter the warm, tight, juicy cack hole of Davis as he gives an uncomfortable yelp from the sheer size of his lover's delicious meat sausage as it begins to expands and push further inside Davis's marmite hole of warmth.
1:17:41 A quick punch by James to Davis's little mid drift easily loosens up his sphinx and he is now fully inside his boyfriend's colon of warmth. Davis cries in both pain and excitement as Smith and Chambers hold him down even biting his arm turned on by this new experience he is enjoying.
1:17:47 Davis cries on pleasure as James begins to get faster and deeper in to his boyfriend's tullip as his you hear his testicles slapping Davis's bald bottom cheeks which begin to turn red from the sheer force of James's love making. Chambers begins to take his overall's off in preparation as James reaches his climax.
1:17:57 James gets faster and faster as Davis tries his hardest to pretend to escape but he is held down by Chambers and Smith and Davis flats his head with continual please of 'no, please no' mean 'yes, please yes' as Davis bites his arm in pleasure so much he begins to leave marks.
1:18:02 James and Davis finally become one with each other when James climaxes his juicy loins inside Davis's spoiled honey pot of warmth. James gives Davis a loving embrace from behind in appreciation for his brave sacrifice. However, Davis's short respite after his love making is only temporary as he feels James's tired, semi erect cock painfully pull out of his dripping, ruined man hole ready for Chamber's to have a quick go as the lovely Mr Sands looks on smiling with pleasure as he feels a little tingle in his trousers before they are disturbed by the annoying gardener to break up the festivities.
Soo smooth, soo young, soo bald, good..
Let me save you some time and take you straight to the majestic greenhouse scene..
1:16:26 After a hard days graft the boys ask the gardener for a break. "Just a quick burn" which sets up the scene for Davis's sacrificial buggering.
1:16:52 Davis is potting his plant setting the tone of the glorious love making that he is about to endure…
1:17:06 After a quick smoke, the boys make there way over to Davis who rudely asks them, 'whatchoo want?' This is followed by a swift punch to Davis's stomach from Chambers.
1:17:10 As Davis coils in pain Chambers in his heavy breath tells Smith to 'turn Davis ova.' The request is quickly obliged in excitement and anticipation as James can no longer wait, taking off his overalls ready to insert his already pulsating hard cock in to Davis's soft, sweet, moist virgin tulip.
1:17:33 As Davis hopelessly flays around pathetically crying 'no, please no,' Smith and Chamber's already have Davis's overall's and panties down and around his ankles exposing both his sweet, peachy, un touched, bald bottom and his delicate mid drift as James, (no longer able to contain his excitement), quickly rushes to get his clothes off to begin the sacrifice.
1:17:35 Davis feels the tip of James's fat, purple bell end slowly touching pushing in to his taint as he helplessly pleads and tries to escape one final time but to no avail. One hard push and James feels his fat meaty, erect cock enter the warm, tight, juicy cack hole of Davis as he gives an uncomfortable yelp from the sheer size of his lover's delicious meat sausage as it begins to expands and push further inside Davis's marmite hole of warmth.
1:17:41 A quick punch by James to Davis's little mid drift easily loosens up his sphinx and he is now fully inside his boyfriend's colon of warmth. Davis cries in both pain and excitement as Smith and Chambers hold him down even biting his arm turned on by this new experience he is enjoying.
1:17:47 Davis cries on pleasure as James begins to get faster and deeper in to his boyfriend's tullip as his you hear his testicles slapping Davis's bald bottom cheeks which begin to turn red from the sheer force of James's love making. Chambers begins to take his overall's off in preparation as James reaches his climax.
1:17:57 James gets faster and faster as Davis tries his hardest to pretend to escape but he is held down by Chambers and Smith and Davis flats his head with continual please of 'no, please no' mean 'yes, please yes' as Davis bites his arm in pleasure so much he begins to leave marks.
1:18:02 James and Davis finally become one with each other when James climaxes his juicy loins inside Davis's spoiled honey pot of warmth. James gives Davis a loving embrace from behind in appreciation for his brave sacrifice. However, Davis's short respite after his love making is only temporary as he feels James's tired, semi erect cock painfully pull out of his dripping, ruined man hole ready for Chamber's to have a quick go as the lovely Mr Sands looks on smiling with pleasure as he feels a little tingle in his trousers before they are disturbed by the annoying gardener to break up the festivities.
Soo smooth, soo young, soo bald, good..
Let me save you some time and take you straight to the majestic greenhouse scene..
1:16:26 After a hard days graft the boys ask the gardener for a break. "Just a quick burn" which sets up the scene for Davis's sacrificial buggering.
1:16:52 Davis is potting his plant setting the tone of the glorious love making that he is about to endure…
1:17:06 After a quick smoke, the boys make there way over to Davis who rudely asks them, 'whatchoo want?' This is followed by a swift punch to Davis's stomach from Chambers.
1:17:10 As Davis coils in pain Chambers in his heavy breath tells Smith to 'turn Davis ova.' The request is quickly obliged in excitement and anticipation as James can no longer wait, taking off his overalls ready to insert his already pulsating hard cock in to Davis's soft, sweet, moist virgin tulip.
1:17:33 As Davis hopelessly flays around pathetically crying 'no, please no,' Smith and Chamber's already have Davis's overall's and panties down and around his ankles exposing both his sweet, peachy, un touched, bald bottom and his delicate mid drift as James, (no longer able to contain his excitement), quickly rushes to get his clothes off to begin the sacrifice.
1:17:35 Davis feels the tip of James's fat, purple bell end slowly touching pushing in to his taint as he helplessly pleads and tries to escape one final time but to no avail. One hard push and James feels his fat meaty, erect cock enter the warm, tight, juicy cack hole of Davis as he gives an uncomfortable yelp from the sheer size of his lover's delicious meat sausage as it begins to expands and push further inside Davis's marmite hole of warmth.
1:17:41 A quick punch by James to Davis's little mid drift easily loosens up his sphinx and he is now fully inside his boyfriend's colon of warmth. Davis cries in both pain and excitement as Smith and Chambers hold him down even biting his arm turned on by this new experience he is enjoying.
1:17:47 Davis cries on pleasure as James begins to get faster and deeper in to his boyfriend's tullip as his you hear his testicles slapping Davis's bald bottom cheeks which begin to turn red from the sheer force of James's love making. Chambers begins to take his overall's off in preparation as James reaches his climax.
1:17:57 James gets faster and faster as Davis tries his hardest to pretend to escape but he is held down by Chambers and Smith and Davis flats his head with continual please of 'no, please no' mean 'yes, please yes' as Davis bites his arm in pleasure so much he begins to leave marks.
1:18:02 James and Davis finally become one with each other when James climaxes his juicy loins inside Davis's spoiled honey pot of warmth. James gives Davis a loving embrace from behind in appreciation for his brave sacrifice. However, Davis's short respite after his love making is only temporary as he feels James's tired, semi erect cock painfully pull out of his dripping, ruined man hole ready for Chamber's to have a quick go as the lovely Mr Sands looks on smiling with pleasure as he feels a little tingle in his trousers before they are disturbed by the annoying gardener to break up the festivities.
Soo smooth, soo young, soo bald, good..
Yeah I felt bad for Davis, he needed someone to look out for him but it's probably difficult putting your neck on the line for someone else in a place like that.
"Made in Britain." Another classic.
yes a very good film too
Excellent, Tim Roth is outstanding..
Oiiiiiiiiiiii! I WANT MY LUNCH!!!
Never heard of that film, gonna have to give it a watch
Same director. His film that stood out was Rita, Sue & Bob too.
The rape scene in the greenhouse is brutal, but what is even more brutal is when the teacher sees what is happening and does nothing to intervene, instead the sadistic bastard just watches with utter glee.
Davis was helpless, getting treated like that and nobody caring must have been horrific
@@allthekingshorses7178 Well yes of course, why do you think he committed suicide by cutting his wrists after his ordeal?
How wonderful if the generous Me Sands to allow the young men to downs some time together in the greenhouse and make hot passionate love to his boyfriend.
He even stayed and watched. I bet he gave himself a cheeky rub as he smiled with pleasure as James arrived inside Davis’s warm, innocent, tight little tullip.
Soo good…
@@TonyDwight Are you a poet?
@@craigj.davies1983
I should be. A poet of love…
Sooo good…
. I was in Rochester borstal late 70s..... This film is spot on just like it was..... it's like going back in a timewarp. Short Sharp shock.
Only a third of a way in but enough to comment. I'll watch the rest later. Takes me back sixty years. One month after my 16th birthday - escaped from a place like the one Carlin is in. Got caught and was committed to a maximum security adult psychiatric unit. Did eighteen months in solitary-no bed, tin piss-pot- concrete walls, concrete floor. Once out of solitary it was fight after fight after fight. Wouldn't kowtow to the gangs or their bosses. Many staff were just as bad. Some though were most humane and very genuine. Was released eleven years later after saving a screw from being killed during a riot. Held the gang off with a broken seat slat with him behind me against a wall. Got married, had children and grandchildren. Made a success of my life by most peoples standards. Sometimes though I shed a quiet tear - just wondering what I may have been, what I may have achieved, how far would I have gone if the childhood, teens and twenties had been different or normal. Well - there it is - I'll watch the rest of the movie now. For me though it was no movie and the players were not actors.
You're the daddy! Well done.
Thanks for sharing
@jasonvoorhees5640 I guess the lmao is because you don't believe it - well - everyone is entitled to think and/or believe what they will - but just for the record that story of mine is a hundred percent true and just one of many similar stories from that era of our history.
Before i met my wife and settled down i spent the majority of the 90s and early 00s running backwards and forwards to YOI's and later, various prisons and Richards (Phil Daniels) has to be the most realistic prisoner in a prison film that I've ever seen. Every single jail i was ever in had a 'Richards' who acted the gangster because he was mates with or even just from the same area as someone who genuinely is well known and respected/feared but the majority of them end up getting found out at some time or other. Phil Daniels plays the part brilliantly
I loved him in Breaking Glass too.
He's a evil little sod the Richard's character
Played very well by Phil Daniels
@@David-h4z2s not really just a typical coward who wouldn't of got away with half of what he did if it wasn't for his mates
@@TheVidkid67Quadrophenia was his biggest breakthrough movie though. Absolute Cult classic
@@modernista6056 It sure was. He was in a good TV mini series in the 90's called Holding On where he played a restaurant critic with an eating disorder.
Unbelievable film still. Very powerful. Amazing acting from such young guys.
I remember watching this as part of the Channel 4 banned season in 1991, incredible piece of film making..
I have only just come across this film. Now I have seen it 6 times. Its fantastic and the acting too. So much intensity and realism.
I remember watching this as a kid, still a brilliant film even by today's standards.
It's even better than by today's standards!
@@nicky29031977 I'll have to agree with that statement.
Hello Paul
Yeah same, I'd even say this film helped keep me out of serious trouble.
That Governor- "I will have no violence in this institution. No violence here." Yeah right
As Archer said, "A fully fledged humanitarian with a B.A in hatred"
Kind of like the owner of a brothel claiming “there will be no sex here.”
Lol "Damaging government property are ya, you b bastard"
“You know, when I was out, I always reminded myself you can take something good from every experience. Well, the only thing I'll take from Borstal is evil”
1:01:07 Archer, sir…
Very powerful film. I remember the first time I saw this I was about 15 and I couldn't stop thinking about it for days after
DirtyyChimp same mate
Films like this kept us on the straight and narrow back in the day!
Afraid it done nothing to put me off crime just strengthened my hatred fo authority
I've been in prison when men died of heart attacks and strokes while screws ignored their pleas fo help.there were never any repercussions or enquiries same when people hung themselves
The Davis character is heartbreaking man. Just to think kids for real are/went through this kind of torture. I welled up when I first saw this 22 years ago.
i was in borstal came out in 77 the screws were sadistic cunts back then it was a psych borstal as well with a hospital wing bad bad memories when they used a liquid cosh (injection Largactil)
I bet he had a sore bum after that.
Every time another inmate approaches Davis he goes 'Whatchoowant?' in a rude and sneering tone. C of E are we? Answer the Guv/Nor!!! he's even rude to the staff. People like Davis make me sick....
@An Armchair D is for Davis, also for Devil. J is for James also for Jesus. Can it be that the greenhouse was the scene of an epic battle between the AntiChrist and the Chosen One, as foretold in Revelations????
@An Armchair I always thought Sutcliffe was a Patsy and the real Ripper was actually Davis.
Ray Winstone's been playing the same part ever since, well done Ray.
He doesn't know how to play anything else
He's the best
Nah. He was Arnie in Minder after this. A cheerful mechanic but dumb as fuck.
@@mars7934 and auf weidersen pet
@@terryfahey8191 Yes! The squaddie on the run.
A real sad experience for these young men to have to endure,brings tears to my eyes,the authorities should be held accountable for their immoral actions...
Not for me. I’m grateful to the screws. Later on after my delicious love making in the greenhouse I learned my place in the pecking order and I became a barrister and I convicted these three c()£s who called themselves “The musical youth” for smoking weed.
For some reason they walked out of court without one officer stopping them singing “Pass the Dutchie on the left hand side”...
Weird...
Soo Good...
Pervert
I hope every single one of those sadists who carried out such abuses in real life in those brutal institutions will be brought to justice! I hope the victims come forward and speak out.
@@evertonporter7887 100% mate, i hope they all get punished and let the inmates deal with them
Most end up in prison as adults, often for long terms or life, or dead. That is the reality of it. Most have fathers, or parents, who aren't any better, or went thru the same as teens.
Alan Clarke made several masterpieces. I’d say this is his most powerful film. Ray Winstone and all the other young actors are brilliant. Archer is the best character, how he’s so far ahead of everyone else intellectually, love how he constantly causes issues for the screws
this version ( theatrical ) deffo has the best archer, in the original release although the dialogue is muchly the same, the actor doesnt portray archer as well as this one.
( ive got both versions )
Kudos to you not many people realise there two verision the original BBC version banned for obvious 1977 reasons then re filmed for a theatre realise in1979 with one change as far as I rember which you named rays finest work were your tool ❤️🇬🇧🙃 andy
@@PorkysGaming I think you're right. As much as I love David Threlfall, I think Mick Ford nails 'Archer'. Seen both actors in the theatre, long ago, and they were superb. Btw, Ford also played a character called 'Archer' in the excellent 90s series, 'Harry'.
@@chef-mumbles1970 in the origional Carling ( ray ) had a missus inside, and it was hinting more towards homosexuality, obviously in the theatrical release this was cut.
Also a couple of the screws play different screws in the theatrical release.
Another diffenrence is the uniform, and colours of the borstal, in the origional it was a greenish uniform and walls, and in the remake they was weaing blue.
In the theatrical carling swings the pool balls in a sock once, in the original he hits with them multiple times.
there are a few differences many are not noticed
@@chef-mumbles1970 If you search some of the more prolific torrent sites, you can find both versions, albeit the banned release is in very poor quality as a rule - ripped from a VHS tape and in dire need of a clean up.
The Internet Archive used to have a good copy of the banned version, which I managed to grab years ago and I cleaned it up myself. However, with my ISP, I can't share things over torrent and I'm sure RUclips would take it down if I posted it here. I've dropped it on a few FTP sites over the years though! And I have a copy and a backup. So it's safe! The world won't lose it! XD
Heartbreaking, stark, brutal film. I cry at Davis in the greenhouse. Love Archer.
Raul Sandoval 25 If he knew about it, he probably would have.
Don’t cry for me. I loved every minute of it. Those tears were tears of joy in that scene when my boyfriends broke me in for the first time...
Soo good..
4721 Archer sir
@@DavisSir Sick bastard haha
@@DavisSir you can see where the rapists are in this comment
Unless you have experienced this for real you can't understand the fear it instills and the effects it has.
I love this film. I've watched it dozens over times over the years, it never gets old.
It does get old dear, it is old😂😅😂😅
You're love is sinister and cruel you keep it
Found the DVD while clearing out the roof. Glad you put it up here. Just as good today as it was back when it came out. Thanks!
This will never get shown on television again.
It rarely was anyway. Thank f**k for RUclips eh?
Brad Brassman It used to be on ITV4 late at night but they stopped in 2014
joecee67 4737 Carlin Sir.
It was shown quite a bit in 1990’s though late at night. As you say not now,
I remember video taping if off late night TV around 2004. (even then it included all the brutal parts like the gay rape scene). Later I downloaded it off the internet (around 2009 I think) ... it'll be with us forever, however far the leftist media want to remove films like this from the public.
Proper classic this one 👌 goes deep in this, some brutal scenes and a real British film...Ray Winstone fit the part perfectly
I was there in 86. Everyone was into the "new " children's home system. They just assumed that the assholes disappeared.
They didn't. 14 went in and there are 2 of us now. 😢
A real and true 3 seconds out of your day to remember us and do better by us please.
No matter what kind of system you set up; Borstals, Reformatories, "Wellness Adjustment Action Centres", theres always going to be a shortage of competent trustworthy people willing to work in them. It'll mostly be wannabe cops and guys who can't make as much in a competitive trade.
But you can't just allow people to go around committing crimes.
Fuck me they did not give a fuck about ye
i was in care 84-86, stop being a victim and move on
@jasonvoorhees5640 sort ya head out.... Drinkings not for you
I've been searching for this film for years and of all places to find it? RUclips? Lol whatever I enjoyed every heart wrenching minute of it! Thanks for the upload!
Every time you watch this movie they look younger and younger!
I remember first watching this and all the actors were older than me
Thats 'cos you (and I!) are getting older and older! LOL
Exactly it's like Stallone in the early Rocky movies. You know you're getting older when he starts to look younger than you.
Believe me mate the first time i watched this film was when i was about 15 and now im 42 years old so your not alone mate,,lol..
And you GET OLDER🙈👋😂
I can’t believe I’ve never watched this movie before, I’m 40 years old for god sake lol . But WOW it was worth the wait , what an awesome, hard-hitting , gritty film the acting was A1,thanks for uploading this on your channel 😀👍
69 first timer.
You've never seen a movie released before you were born....and you're shocked??? Strange comment.
Not a strange comment considering this is a very famous movie and all my friends have seen it and encouraged me to watch it a few times over the years , and the fact is I love movies, I don’t know why you would think it’s strange 🤷♀️🤷♀️
The grim reality of the "short, sharp shock". This is a brilliant piece of film-making to this day.
In John LeCarre's Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy there's a great quote related to the nonsense that this approach to disciplining or punishing adolescents could somehow ever work. Ricky Tarr says something like his father tried to beat the bad out of him, but he only managed to beat it further in.
Borstal was NO SHORT SHARP SHOCK! You're confusing it with Detention Centres which established to cater for shorter 'sharp-shock' custodial sentences, of six months or less. I served 19 months in Feltham Borstal back in 79-81. the original borstal, not the mamby-pamby rebuilt Young offenders unit for teen thugs!
@@Zodliness CORRECT . I was a 6 monther in Whatton D C in 1973 then went n to do 2 Borstals . DC was the short sharp shock which this film is more like . 👍🏴
@@Zodliness Deerbolt 78 -79 served 11 and a half months of the 6 months to two years Borstal training certainly not the D C short sharp shock , can still quote my F***ing number to this day in my mid sixties this is how it was back then brutal regime
"47,21,Archer,Sir!" Absolutely dripping with contempt😂
Mr Duke’s face as Archer rips the proverbial out of him 😂
Stunning film. Many thanks for posting. I remember seeing it in the 80s. Alan Clark is from my hometown, on the Wirral. Legend! Great Steadycam work! The film is gritty, ugly, and yet darkly humorous at times. The inmate Archer is a great character. An eloquent and clever guy: an atheist and 'vegetarian', he won't wear leather shoes, requests Dostoevsky novels for the library, and spends his time trying to piss off all the screws and admin, especially the religious, sanctimonious governor! And Archer is smart enough to pull it off ... usually!
Just watched SCUM, a compelling portrayal of the way Institutions were and maybe still are run by the authorities of the day. A disturbing, but brilliant film.
Great film and very powerful. Showed this film in the cinema in the days when I was a cinema projectionist
I love the riot scene at the end where the inmates are chanting 'Dad! Dad! Dad! Dad!' to show the warders that they are looking for a father figure
Are you sure they weren't saying "Dead" with reference to Davies' suicide ?
@@mistofoles he was being sarcastic (i hope)
John smith.😂😅😂😅😂😅class
Lol brilliant😂😂😬
You love really John
Never did borstal, but I knew people who did and this was as real as it got, an absolute classic movie. Thanks for the memories
They called it 'youth custody' when I did it, DC was worse though mate.
Dave I did in St Patrick's institute in Dublin, absolute shit hole and full of little toe rags. The screws were in uniforms not in their civies.
@@sugarsean5866 I did st pats in the early 80s,went over to Tullamore visiting family, from Manchester, and it was a shit hole, making concrete manhole covers during the day, can remember talking to the women, I think they were over the wall in Mountjoy, if my memory is right, got a bit of shit at first cos of my English accent, then got chatting with lads from Tullamore so screws and other yp's was OK then, I got 12 months, done 4 months, went to a appeal court in kilkenny and got let out straight away with a one way ticket back to England, not to return to Ireland for 2 years or would have to finish sentence.
You`re right ,my man,I went to see this at my local ABC in 1980,made me think;I don`t ever wanna go in there !!!By the way ,There is a lovely (true) story about this film; About two months after this film was released in the cinemas, Ray Winstone went to an old schoolfriends birthday drinks in the west end.He had a good old skinfull,and caught the last tube train home to the east end where he lived.Two stops before his destination he said that the biggest black guy you ever saw got on the train ,sat opposite him and stared straight at him (ray)Ray thought to himself "If he tries anything,I`ll whack `im as hard as I can,be through the doors,up the escalator,`an on me toes."The tube train finally reached Ray`s stop,The black guy is still staring at Ray, Ray stand`s up,waiting to get off,the black guy ask`s "Are you the guy from SCUM ?" Ray says " Yeah !"...…..The black guy says..."Good film,man".
Dave I went to school with a girl who it was rumoured went borstal coz she had black ink dots on her knuckles lol. God how young they look
Always laugh when the gym instructor says "no kicking in the goolies" before the "murderball" scene.
The authorities could never understand why kids let these places with a chip on their shoulder and nothing but hatred for authority
_"Aah! You've frozen my goolies!"_
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I did
Dont go in the greenhouse 😅
i forgot how good this film was.ray winstone never fails to impress
Archer is brilliant aside from constantly attempting to wind up the screws he is also very kind as evident when he reads woods letter to him and stands up for him
Archer is great
@@ronandunphy7371 I love thescene where he tells the devout Christian governor that he's feeling drawn towards Mecca.
I wonder who lived there then?
@Conan Except they didn't do this.
@Inspector Javert So true. Somebody has a great big chip.
I can't watch it, traumatised still after all these years.
Hope u find some peace bro, 🙏
I am so sorry to hear that😯.
I hope you will find your inner peace.
This is just horrible, so horrible.
@Jamie Coulson leave it mate ffs 😂