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From Amazon.co.uk
"I fell in the family way when I was 18 and I got married to a right bastard". Ken Loach's debut feature tells the story of Joy, a young mother (Carol White) whose chauvinistic thug of a husband is thrown into prison. She takes up with one of his friends, lovable, kind-hearted burglar Terence Stamp, but he too ends up in jail.
It's intriguing to compare Poor Cow with Cathy Come Home, which Loach made for TV with the same actress at around the same time. Both are about mums trying to make a go of their lives in adverse circumstances. Cathy Come Home, shot in black and white, is an altogether tougher film. Poor Cow, with its Donovan music, gaudy colour photography, star names, and incongruously bawdy humour, seems lightweight by comparison. Certain sequences--Joy making love in the hay or posing half-naked for lecherous amateur photographers--must surely make Loach grimace now. There are some powerful moments--Joy desperately looking for her son who has wandered off, unattended, onto a building site, or trying to escape from her abusive husband--which anticipate such later Loach films as Ladybird, Ladybird or Raining Stones. The scenes between Joy and Stamp are played with real tenderness and humour. Don't be surprised if you think you've seen them before--some of the footage of Stamp was used in Steven Soderbergh's recent thriller, The Limey. --Geoffrey Macnab
Product Description
Kitchen sink drama directed by Ken Loach. Young mother Joy (Carol White) is forced to fend for herself when her brutal and uncaring husband, Tom (John Bindon), is put in jail. Joy finds brief happiness with Tom's criminal associate Dave (Terence Stamp), who proves kind and gentle when she moves in with him, but this relationship ends when he is also jailed, and Joy is left to raise her young son alone in squalid circumstances.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
29 of 29 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
"Poor Cow" is my favourite Ken Loach film. In fact, it is my favourite film of all time. I only discovered it 2 years ago and it has a very personal connection for me. I have since read the novel that inspired it and can state that it is a very honest and faithful dramatisation of Nell Dunn's text. It is a film about a side of London life to which many will be oblivious, and, of course, many will not.
Carol White is superb as Joy, whose first name is not as ironic as it may seem. Her life may well be a vortex of poverty, squalor and unhappiness, but White (through her acting) and Loach (through his direction) portray the character with compassion and strength as someone who is sassy and fun. This same compassion shows through in all the other characters too. There are quite a few bright moments that shine through. The scenes of Joy with her little son, Johnny, are particularly touching and very, very well-done. The location filming around Wales is visually stunning, as indeed is the opening sequence! (I will say no more about this!)
Terence Stamp is also amazing in this film, as are all of the supporting cast. Watch out for John Bindon who somehow steals the show with his brilliant-but-awful acting in his début performance as Tom Steadman!
The theme song, specially adapted and performed by Donovan, is haunting and in a way, ironic, for John Bindon's life ended early at the age of 50, as, for that matter, did Carol White's.
This film is a real rough diamond and I cannot recommend it highly enough.
I am grateful to Ken Loach for having the guts and tenacity to bring to this film to life. Poor Cow documents the lives of the underdogs and is an important and interesting piece of cinema that will always have a special place in my heart.
Carol White is superb as Joy, whose first name is not as ironic as it may seem. Her life may well be a vortex of poverty, squalor and unhappiness, but White (through her acting) and Loach (through his direction) portray the character with compassion and strength as someone who is sassy and fun. This same compassion shows through in all the other characters too. There are quite a few bright moments that shine through. The scenes of Joy with her little son, Johnny, are particularly touching and very, very well-done. The location filming around Wales is visually stunning, as indeed is the opening sequence! (I will say no more about this!)
Terence Stamp is also amazing in this film, as are all of the supporting cast. Watch out for John Bindon who somehow steals the show with his brilliant-but-awful acting in his début performance as Tom Steadman!
The theme song, specially adapted and performed by Donovan, is haunting and in a way, ironic, for John Bindon's life ended early at the age of 50, as, for that matter, did Carol White's.
This film is a real rough diamond and I cannot recommend it highly enough.
I am grateful to Ken Loach for having the guts and tenacity to bring to this film to life. Poor Cow documents the lives of the underdogs and is an important and interesting piece of cinema that will always have a special place in my heart.
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
As a Ken Loach fan I've seen quite a few films that he's made. However,I overlooked this film for years. I simply adored this film. My heart was moved by the central character played by Carol White and her journey through life with disappointing relationships with men, her struggles to bring up her child on her own and with money. It was interesting to see so many actors in their younger days appearing in this film such as Billy Murray(East Enders -Johnny Allen), Terence Stamp, Kate Williams as well as legends such as Queenie Watts. This is a superb film and a great social commentary on a very different England to the one that we all live in today.
36 of 38 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
Poor Cow [DVD] [1967]
Without a doubt this is the most foul female character in any movie of this era and of this genre. She is just a shocker. Completely self obsessed, without empathy and completely lacking in morals. She's a young girl in the 60s who becomes a single parent and just doesn't care about anything but her own needs, no matter how hurt she gets in the process. There's no redeeming feature, even the child she claims to love is dreadfully neglected while she pursues her own pleasures. The end of the film is the beginning of the film. She's been to hell and back and rather than move on and learn from the experience she returns to the physically and mentally abusive partner she had in the first place. It really is a great movie, it asks a great many questions about social injustice and how a young girl survived the male dominated society of the time, but the ending is so frustrating, I wanted her to take the baby and run, in the opposite direction.
Without a doubt this is the most foul female character in any movie of this era and of this genre. She is just a shocker. Completely self obsessed, without empathy and completely lacking in morals. She's a young girl in the 60s who becomes a single parent and just doesn't care about anything but her own needs, no matter how hurt she gets in the process. There's no redeeming feature, even the child she claims to love is dreadfully neglected while she pursues her own pleasures. The end of the film is the beginning of the film. She's been to hell and back and rather than move on and learn from the experience she returns to the physically and mentally abusive partner she had in the first place. It really is a great movie, it asks a great many questions about social injustice and how a young girl survived the male dominated society of the time, but the ending is so frustrating, I wanted her to take the baby and run, in the opposite direction.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By D. J. Tutton
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
A must for your sixties collection!
All about a young girl & child living on the bread line with various gangster husbands who spend more time in prision then out.
Great touching part where her child goes missing and she looks everywhere for him.
Well worth getting.
All about a young girl & child living on the bread line with various gangster husbands who spend more time in prision then out.
Great touching part where her child goes missing and she looks everywhere for him.
Well worth getting.
26 of 29 people found the following review helpful
By Anthony Cox
Format:DVD
Well this one has it it all ..love it or hate it ..the movie tells the story of 'Joy'..broken down by her thieving thug of a husband..and they moved to 'Ruislip'..once caught..her husband that is..she was helpless with a small baby to bring up..enter Terrence Stamp..in one of his most fine acting performances..the story has it's moments..but shows TRUE British culture in the 1960's and also make you aware of how time has progressed..recommended viewing..I LOVE THIS ONE...
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful
By Rock Chick
Format:DVD
I love movies like this. Despite a never ending trend of bogus remakes you cant remake history. Watch it over and over and gasp at the enormous beauty of Terrance Stamp who looks like a young George Best.
60's classic.
60's classic.
13 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Anyone who grew up in the 60s or anyone who wants to know what the real 60s was really like then this is for you! This is top draw British Cinema. Fantastic cast, directed by Kenneth Loach and music by Donavon, what more could you want.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
Very controversial when it first came out. Carol White and Terence Stamp played good parts.
Enjoyed it. Still brings a tear to the eye, but unfortunately I don't think much has been learnt over
the past 50 years.
Enjoyed it. Still brings a tear to the eye, but unfortunately I don't think much has been learnt over
the past 50 years.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
poor cow
Brilliant film sad but funny. arrived on time, so was impressed. Good classic film. Very enjoyable. Would recommend to anyone
Published 2 months ago by EAP of B
5.0 out of 5 stars
great buy
A good old 60s film well worth buying for people of a certain age to remember back, to the fashion and cars
Published 3 months ago by FIONA E A FISH
5.0 out of 5 stars
GOOD QUALITY PRODUCT
GOOD QUALITY PRODUCT. THE RESPONSE TO MY ORDER WAS GOOD. I WOULD RECOMMEND THIS COMPANY AND THE PRODUCT TO ANYONE
Published 11 months ago by J. R. Snow
5.0 out of 5 stars
'Who ever heard of a girl like me making it?'
What should be a rather sordid tale of a young woman, bringing up a child alone, while her husband serves his time in prison for robbery, is a strangely enjoyable and nostalgic... Read more
Published 18 months ago by Peter Shilpot Freeman
3.0 out of 5 stars
quite boring
I watched this film maybe only a few months ago but can now remember very little of it, having been bored while watching it and wanting it to finish. Read more
Published 19 months ago by Mr. Robert Marsland
5.0 out of 5 stars
Poor Cow
Poor Cow reminds me of the harsh reality of post war Britain in parts of the East End and how long the reminders of the bombing remained. Read more
Published on 29 May 2011 by Big Peanut
4.0 out of 5 stars
Poor Cow
Young People have a lot more in life to-day but still just as many problems in life only in a different way, it is a very sad film
Published on 20 Feb 2011 by Lady J. S. Paton
4.0 out of 5 stars
good film
This is quite a good film made in the mid 1960's. Several of the actors are well known faces today in 2010. Read more
Published on 17 Oct 2010 by Nicky Cymru
3.0 out of 5 stars
Left-wing propaganda
Prime example of 1960s left-wing propaganda. No doubt some look back and say, smugly, oh how glad I am that we're so much more "compassionate", "liberal", "tolerant" etc today. Read more
Published on 18 July 2010 by Myles
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another fantastic British 60's gem!!
Yet another slice of life from the 60's, this time filmed as a documentary-style drama by Ken Loach. Read more
Published on 2 Jun 2010 by Jaynie
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