The Rocking Horse (1962)

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A chance love affair between a teddy boy and a painter, set in early 1960's London. This was a student film made with the assistance of a BFI grant and its influences include the British Free Cinema movement, John Cassavetes' Shadows (1959) and, for the love scene, Alain Resnais's Hiroshima Mon Amour (France, 1959). The film's young hero is a cross between James Dean's troubled teenager in Rebel Without a Cause (US, 1955) and Albert Finney's defiant mechanic in Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (d. Karel Reisz, 1960). Initially portrayed as a self-assured, arrogant and immature teenager, his chance meeting with a pretty, sophisticated middle-class artist reveals a more insecure, fragile side. The climactic love-making scene earned Scott the first X certificate given to an amateur filmmaker. This short film is an extra on the BFI Flipside DVD The Pleasure Girls.

Director: James Scott