Butley (film)
Encyclopedia
Butley is a 1973 film directed by Harold Pinter
, an adaptation from Simon Gray
's 1971 play of same name. The film starred Alan Bates
, Jessica Tandy
, Richard O'Callaghan
, Susan Engel
, and Michael Byrne
.
The title character, a literature professor and longtime T. S. Eliot
scholar with a recently developed interest in Beatrix Potter
, is a suicidal alcoholic, who loses his wife and his male lover on the same day. The dark comedy encompasses several hours in which he bullies students, friends, and colleagues, while falling apart at the seams. Apart from an opening sequence of Butley waking in his flat with a hangover and taking the Underground and occasional shots in the corridor and the pub at lunchtime, the entire film takes place in Butley's office.
In his introduction to the trade edition of the play, the film's director Harold Pinter
wrote:
The film lasts 130 minutes and was shot at Shepperton Studios
. The Executive Producer was Otto Plaschkes
and the cinematographer was Gerry Fisher
.
Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter, CH, CBE was a Nobel Prize–winning English playwright and screenwriter. One of the most influential modern British dramatists, his writing career spanned more than 50 years. His best-known plays include The Birthday Party , The Homecoming , and Betrayal , each of which he adapted to...
, an adaptation from Simon Gray
Simon Gray
Simon James Holliday Gray, CBE , was an English playwright and memoirist who also had a career as a university lecturer in English literature at Queen Mary, University of London, for 20 years...
's 1971 play of same name. The film starred Alan Bates
Alan Bates
Sir Alan Arthur Bates CBE was an English actor, who came to prominence in the 1960s, a time of high creativity in British cinema, when he demonstrated his versatility in films ranging from the popular children’s story Whistle Down the Wind to the "kitchen sink" drama A Kind of Loving...
, Jessica Tandy
Jessica Tandy
Jessie Alice "Jessica" Tandy was an English-American stage and film actress.She first appeared on the London stage in 1926 at the age of 16, playing, among others, Katherine opposite Laurence Olivier's Henry V, and Cordelia opposite John Gielgud's King Lear. She also worked in British films...
, Richard O'Callaghan
Richard O'Callaghan
Richard O'Callaghan is an English film, stage and television character actor.Born on 7 March 1940, he is the son of actors Patricia Hayes and Valentine Brooke whose stage name was Valentine Rooke. As a boy actor he was known as Richard Brooke. He has led a versatile career in film, stage and...
, Susan Engel
Susan Engel
Susan Engel is a British actress.-Theatre:Engel's work in theatre includes: Angels in America , Richard III, King Lear , The Good Person of Sezuan, Watch on the Rhine , Spring Awakening, The Hour We Knew Nothing Of Each Other and Her Naked Skin at the National Theatre, London; Women...
, and Michael Byrne
Michael Byrne (actor)
Michael Byrne is an English actor noted for his roles on film and television. He has often been cast in Nazi military roles such as Colonel Vogel in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and Obergruppenführer Odilo Globocnik in the BBC radio dramatisation of the novel Fatherland by Robert Harris...
.
The title character, a literature professor and longtime T. S. Eliot
T. S. Eliot
Thomas Stearns "T. S." Eliot OM was a playwright, literary critic, and arguably the most important English-language poet of the 20th century. Although he was born an American he moved to the United Kingdom in 1914 and was naturalised as a British subject in 1927 at age 39.The poem that made his...
scholar with a recently developed interest in Beatrix Potter
Beatrix Potter
Helen Beatrix Potter was an English author, illustrator, natural scientist and conservationist best known for her imaginative children’s books featuring animals such as those in The Tale of Peter Rabbit which celebrated the British landscape and country life.Born into a privileged Unitarian...
, is a suicidal alcoholic, who loses his wife and his male lover on the same day. The dark comedy encompasses several hours in which he bullies students, friends, and colleagues, while falling apart at the seams. Apart from an opening sequence of Butley waking in his flat with a hangover and taking the Underground and occasional shots in the corridor and the pub at lunchtime, the entire film takes place in Butley's office.
In his introduction to the trade edition of the play, the film's director Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter, CH, CBE was a Nobel Prize–winning English playwright and screenwriter. One of the most influential modern British dramatists, his writing career spanned more than 50 years. His best-known plays include The Birthday Party , The Homecoming , and Betrayal , each of which he adapted to...
wrote:
The film lasts 130 minutes and was shot at Shepperton Studios
Shepperton Studios
Shepperton Studios is a film studio in Shepperton, Surrey, England with a history dating back to 1931 since when many notable films have been made there...
. The Executive Producer was Otto Plaschkes
Otto Plaschkes
Otto Plaschkes was a British-Jewish film producer.-Early life:Plaschkes was born in Vienna. His father, a butcher, was from Bratislava and his mother from Budapest...
and the cinematographer was Gerry Fisher
Gerry Fisher
Gerry Fisher, B.S.C. is an English cinematographer. In 1976 Fisher was nominated for the Best Cinematography Award by the British Society of Cinematographers, for Aces High, and in 1977 was nominated for a BAFTA Award for the same film...
.
Cast
- Alan BatesAlan BatesSir Alan Arthur Bates CBE was an English actor, who came to prominence in the 1960s, a time of high creativity in British cinema, when he demonstrated his versatility in films ranging from the popular children’s story Whistle Down the Wind to the "kitchen sink" drama A Kind of Loving...
... Ben Butley - Jessica TandyJessica TandyJessie Alice "Jessica" Tandy was an English-American stage and film actress.She first appeared on the London stage in 1926 at the age of 16, playing, among others, Katherine opposite Laurence Olivier's Henry V, and Cordelia opposite John Gielgud's King Lear. She also worked in British films...
... Edna Shaft - Richard O'CallaghanRichard O'CallaghanRichard O'Callaghan is an English film, stage and television character actor.Born on 7 March 1940, he is the son of actors Patricia Hayes and Valentine Brooke whose stage name was Valentine Rooke. As a boy actor he was known as Richard Brooke. He has led a versatile career in film, stage and...
... Joey Keyston - Susan EngelSusan EngelSusan Engel is a British actress.-Theatre:Engel's work in theatre includes: Angels in America , Richard III, King Lear , The Good Person of Sezuan, Watch on the Rhine , Spring Awakening, The Hour We Knew Nothing Of Each Other and Her Naked Skin at the National Theatre, London; Women...
... Anne Butley - Michael ByrneMichael Byrne (actor)Michael Byrne is an English actor noted for his roles on film and television. He has often been cast in Nazi military roles such as Colonel Vogel in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and Obergruppenführer Odilo Globocnik in the BBC radio dramatisation of the novel Fatherland by Robert Harris...
... Reg Nuttall - Georgina HaleGeorgina HaleGeorgina Hale is an award-winning English actress notable for many stage, film and television appearances; often in the works of director Ken Russell and writer Simon Gray...
... Miss Heasman - Simon RouseSimon RouseSimon Rouse is an English actor, best known for playing the role of Superintendent Jack Meadows in the long-running ITV police drama The Bill....
... Mr. Gardner - John SavidentJohn SavidentJohn Savident is a British actor, best known for playing the part of Fred Elliott in the soap opera Coronation Street from 1994 to 2006. And also was a frequent guest on Soccer AM alongside fellow actor Jack 'The Rigger' Spooner....
... James - Oliver Maguire ... Train Passenger
- Colin Haigh ... male student
- Darien AngadiDarien AngadiDarien Angadi was an English actor.Darien was born in Stoke Newington, and attended Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School where he was a prolific performer in school plays. In 1965 whilst at the school, he was a member of the school team for BBC Television's Television Top of the Form...
... male student