Poor Cow

Audience Reviews

View More

Donald D @Don23 Jan 25 Brilliant kitchen sink drama that was elevated to heights at the time with the introduction of the documentary drama that is fiction. Way ahead of its time broaching subjects decades ahead. Made for peanuts, brilliantly written directed produced and Carol White acts everyone off the screen. Ken loach maverick stance of the real uk in the 60s. See more 03/14/2018 Carol White stars as a young working class woman with a new child and married to John Bindon, a callous young thief who shows her little affection or regard. Bindon ends up going to jail and she takes up with Terence Stamp, a friend of Bindon's who's also a thief, but shows her legitimate affection. They are happy for a while, but he's arrested and sentenced to a few decades in jail. She drifts around with several jobs and men until Bindon gets out and she moves back in with him. Ken Loach's first feature film is a fairly rambling and clearly improvised film that paints a pretty grim and remorseless picture of a class of people that seem to have literally no options. It's best known these days for being used in "The Limey" as flashbacks to Stamp's past. See more 05/23/2016 Damning representation of what being poor means in 60's Britain. The constant struggle of the single mum is superbly represented in a pseudo documentary style. See more 04/28/2016 Typical British kitchen sink drama as a young woman goes from one bad relationship to another See more 10/28/2013 A young mother from the poor side of England struggles to find some happiness by falling in love with the wrong men and making the wrong decisions. Despite Ken Loach's affinity to working class storytelling and a stand out music score by none other than Donovan, this film cannot get past its unlikeable characters and its dead moments that make the film inevitably seem a little overstretched. See more eric b @GondolaBob 04/17/2012 Director Ken Loach's first feature is an insightful but somewhat shapeless portrait of a vivacious young woman (Carol White) struggling to raise a baby in a dingy English neighborhood. Within the opening minutes, her husband is sent to prison after a bungled robbery. She soon latches onto a second man (Terence Stamp) but, unfortunately, he too has been pressed into a life of crime. He is more sensitive to her needs but also is sentenced before long, which means Stamp fans may be frustrated with his lack of screen time. From there, our heroine takes a job in a rowdy pub, dabbles in cheesecake modeling and tries to fill her relationship void with casual lovers. There is no moral lesson here -- this is just how a woman on her own manages to stay afloat. The story fades out inconclusively. Donovan provides a few tunes for the soundtrack (Stamp himself sings "Colours"), and various other pop songs are heard throughout -- almost as if a crew member's transistor radio is randomly playing in the background. The effect is a bit ragged, and further shaky elements include the girl's sporadic narration, an odd decision to close with a documentary-style interview and some awkward title cards that rarely add useful information. The lighting often seems too warm and pleasing for the story's gritty tone, but an initial childbirth scene and an overgenerous amount of toddler nudity add some controversy. "Poor Cow" usually gets lumped with its era's "kitchen-sink" movement, but there are much better examples of the genre to seek out. See more Read all reviews

Poor Cow

My Rating

Read More Read Less WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW POST RATING