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Alan Bates, Albert Finney, Brenda De Banzie

Laurence Olivier broke with the theatrical poise of previous roles to play seedy music-hall entertainer Archie Rice in John Osborne's acclaimed play, The Entertainer, reprising the role in T...( read more  read more... )ony Richardson's 1960 screen version and earning an Oscar nomination for his performance. Olivier gives his all as the gap-toothed vaudevillian living in the shadow of his music-hall-legend father Billy Rice (Roger Livesey), spitting out pithy wisecracks and mugging pathetically for bored audiences in seaside dives. Under the life-of-the-party patter, however, is a pathetic music-hall dinosaur trying too hard for his moment in the spotlight, nursing his wounded humiliation in trysts with naïve young girls and pouring out his passion in his finale tune, "Why Should I Care." "I have an affinity with Archie Rice," Olivier once opined. "It's what I really am. I'm not like Hamlet."

Shot on location on the boardwalk carnivals and holiday camps of the British seaside, the shabby show-biz world is beautifully photographed but never quite shakes off its origins on the stage. It's the vivid performances that drive the drama: Joan Plowright (who married Olivier in 1961) as his pragmatic daughter; Alan Bates and Albert Finney (making their film debuts) as his sons, a next-generation show-biz hustler and a soldier shipped off to the Suez, respectively; and Brenda de Banzie as Archie's long-suffering wife. "You've been a good audience. Let me know where you're playing tomorrow and I'll come see you." --Sean Axmaker

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71% liked it

903 ratings

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88% liked it

8 critics

Unrated, 97 min.

Directed by: Tony Richardson

Release Date: January 1, 1960

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DVD Release Date: June 19, 2001

Stats: 50 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (50)

  • brooklynspo
    March 30, 2008
    brooklynspo
    Wow, tough audience @ the Flixster. Give the poor guy a break.
  • SageSlowdive
    August 24, 2009
    SageSlowdive
    Olivier is very good.
  • mizfitz65
    May 9, 2008
    mizfitz65
    This as a great portrait of a selfish and egotistical performer.
  • jmillerdp
    March 18, 2007
    jmillerdp
    Stark, unsentimental portrait of a never-was song-and-dance man. Olivier does a superb job, giving a gutsy portrayal of a performer whose borrowed time is running out.

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The Entertainer Trivia

  • What movie starrs Ice cube and Cedric the entertainer and Eve  Answer »
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