After Colin Welland won his best screenplay Oscar for Chariots of Fire in 1982. He found Hollywood came calling. His Play for Today, Kisses at Fifty was remade in America.
It was called Twice in a Lifetime and starred Gene Hackman and Ellen Burstyn.
Set in a working class town in West Yorkshire. Harry Cook (Bill Maynard) a furnace stoker in a factory, who celebrates his 50th birthday by giving the new barmaid in the local pub a prolonged kiss. In turn that leads to an affair with Audrey (Marjorie Yates) who is also middle aged and who is stuck in a loveless marriage.
For Harry it reignites his own passions. He realises that there is nothing left in his marriage with Rene (Rosemarie Dunham.) They hardly spend much time together, by the time he finishes his nightshift, Rene gets up to go to work while Harry comes to bed.
As Harry and Rene's marriage breaks down, his 17 year old daughter Helen is planning to get married.
When Harry moves out, he finds himself homeless in Leeds. He has to sleep at the train station, shave in the gents lavatory and is shocked at the cost of renting a room in a big city.
Eventually he and Audrey do move into a crummy flat, but he has little money left to support his family.
Welland wrote a thoughtful film at a time when divorce rates and marital separation rocketed. He really did catch a changing era in family life. Back then getting married at 17 years of age and having kids soon after was normal.
Director Michael Apted goes for social realism, especially in the scenes of communal get togethers. In the pub Harry is warned off for getting too serious with Audrey. Later there is a showdown when Rene and her fiery daughter Sandra confront Audrey at the pub she is working.
Some months later just before their daughter's wedding. One of the friends tells Rene is trying to get her own social life together, moving on from Harry. It culminates in the poses for family wedding album. Which consists of awkward silences and unfinished business. Only Harry's son Chris who has travelled up from London, realises that the family unit of old is breaking down.
It was called Twice in a Lifetime and starred Gene Hackman and Ellen Burstyn.
Set in a working class town in West Yorkshire. Harry Cook (Bill Maynard) a furnace stoker in a factory, who celebrates his 50th birthday by giving the new barmaid in the local pub a prolonged kiss. In turn that leads to an affair with Audrey (Marjorie Yates) who is also middle aged and who is stuck in a loveless marriage.
For Harry it reignites his own passions. He realises that there is nothing left in his marriage with Rene (Rosemarie Dunham.) They hardly spend much time together, by the time he finishes his nightshift, Rene gets up to go to work while Harry comes to bed.
As Harry and Rene's marriage breaks down, his 17 year old daughter Helen is planning to get married.
When Harry moves out, he finds himself homeless in Leeds. He has to sleep at the train station, shave in the gents lavatory and is shocked at the cost of renting a room in a big city.
Eventually he and Audrey do move into a crummy flat, but he has little money left to support his family.
Welland wrote a thoughtful film at a time when divorce rates and marital separation rocketed. He really did catch a changing era in family life. Back then getting married at 17 years of age and having kids soon after was normal.
Director Michael Apted goes for social realism, especially in the scenes of communal get togethers. In the pub Harry is warned off for getting too serious with Audrey. Later there is a showdown when Rene and her fiery daughter Sandra confront Audrey at the pub she is working.
Some months later just before their daughter's wedding. One of the friends tells Rene is trying to get her own social life together, moving on from Harry. It culminates in the poses for family wedding album. Which consists of awkward silences and unfinished business. Only Harry's son Chris who has travelled up from London, realises that the family unit of old is breaking down.