Alan Clarke
Alan John Clarke | |
---|---|
Born | Wallasey, Cheshire, England | 28 October 1935
Died | 24 July 1990 London, England | (aged 54)
Occupation | Director, producer, writer |
Children | 2, incl. Gabriel Clarke |
Alan John Clarke (28 October 1935 – 24 July 1990) was an English television and film director, producer and writer.
Life and career
Clarke was born in Wallasey, Wirral, England.
Most of Clarke's output was for television rather than cinema, including work for the famous play strands The Wednesday Play and Play for Today. His subject matter tended towards social realism, with deprived or oppressed communities as a frequent setting.
As Dave Rolinson's book details, between 1962 and 1966 Clarke directed several plays at
Clarke continued to work for ITV through the 1970s, but during the decade made much of his work for the
A number of his works achieved notoriety and widespread criticism from the conservative end of the political spectrum,[
Clarke's work in the 1980s was fiercely stark and political, including the David Leland plays Beloved Enemy (1981) on multinational corporations and Psy-Warriors (1981) on military interrogation.[3] Clarke also directed David Bowie in Baal (1982) for the BBC, part of Clarke's interest in Bertolt Brecht.[3] His film work became more sparse, culminating in Contact (1985) on the British military presence in Northern Ireland, Billy the Kid and the Green Baize Vampire (1985), Road (1987), and Elephant (1989).[2]
Many of the films that Clarke directed from this period are often seen as bleak and lacking redemptive qualities – the 1986 BBC film Christine dealt with teenage drug addiction whilst Road featured a cast of characters in the depressed estates of Northern England. Elephant, lasting only 37 minutes, dealt with '
In 1990, Clarke travelled to America in order to pursue the idea of developing a US-based career in filmmaking. Prior to his death he was making initial plans to film Assassination On Embassy Row, later retitled An American Murder, about a murder filmed from the assassin's point-of-view. The film never came to fruition, partly due to a lack of interest from the major US film studios and Clarke's declining health. Another project, a script by David Yallop entitled In God's Name, also went unmade as Clarke began radiotherapy for cancer which by that time had spread from his lungs to his spine.[citation needed]
In 1991, a documentary on him, Director Alan Clarke by Corin Campbell-Hill, aired on British TV.[9] In 2016, all of Clarke's surviving work for the BBC was released in a two-part DVD/Blu-Ray collection titled Dissent & Disruption: Alan Clarke at the BBC. This set included the first official release of the 1976 documentary Bukovsky alongside extensive interviews with many of Clarke's collaborators and contemporaries.
Clarke has inspired others, such as the director Nick Love, to direct films founded upon social realism.[10] Love stated that watching Clarke's The Firm had motivated him to become a filmmaker.[11]
Personal life
Clarke died on 24 July 1990[12] after suffering from lung cancer. He was 54.[13]
Clarke's son is Gabriel Clarke, a sports journalist with ITV. His daughter is Molly Clarke.
Filmography
Television plays
Broadcast strand/series in brackets, otherwise screened as a standalone play.
- Shelter (Half-Hour Story, Rediffusion 1967)
- A Man Inside (Half-Hour Story, Rediffusion 1967)
- The Gentleman Caller (Half-Hour Story, Rediffusion 1967)
- Which of these Two Lades is He Married To? (Half-Hour Story, Rediffusion 1967)
- George's Room (Half-Hour Story, Rediffusion 1967)
- Sleeping Dogs Lie (episode of The Informer, Rediffusion 1967)
- Sally Go Round the Moon (episode of A Man of Our Times, Rediffusion 1968)
- Goodnight Albert (Half-Hour Story, Rediffusion 1968)
- Got Yourself Sorted Out At All? (episode of A Man of Our Times, Rediffusion 1968)
- Never Mind How We Got Here - Where Are We? (episode of A Man of Our Times, Rediffusion 1968)
- Stella (Half-Hour Story, Rediffusion 1968)
- The Fifty-Seventh Saturday (Half-Hour Story, Rediffusion 1968)
- Nothing's Ever Over (Half-Hour Story, Rediffusion 1968)
- Thief (Half-Hour Story, Rediffusion 1968)
- Stand By Your Screen (Company of Five, LWT 1968)
- Gareth (Company of Five, LWT 1968)
- The Piano Tuner (Saturday Night Theatre, Kestrel/LWT 1969)
- The Arrangement (episode of The Gold Robbers, LWT 1969)
- The Ladies: Joan/Doreen (two plays for Plays of Today, BBC Two 1969)
- The Last Train Through Harecastle Tunnel (The Wednesday Play, BBC One 1969)
- The Comic (Saturday Night Theatre, Kestrel/LWT 1969)
- Sovereign's Company (The Wednesday Play, BBC One 1970)
- I Can't See My Little Willie (Play for Today, BBC One 1970)
- The Hallelujah Handshake (Play for Today, BBC One 1970)
- Everybody Say Cheese (Play for Today, BBC One 1971)
- Under the Age (Thirty-Minute Theatre, BBC Two 1972)
- Horace (BBC Two, 1972)
- To Encourage the Others (BBC Two, 1972)
- A Life is for Ever (Play for Today, BBC One 1972)
- Horatio Bottomley (The Edwardians, BBC Two 1972)
- Achilles Heel (LWT, 1973)
- Man Above Men (Play for Today, BBC One 1973)
- The Love Girl and the Innocent (Play of the Month, BBC One 1973)
- Penda's Fen (Play for Today, BBC One 1974)
- A Follower for Emily (Play for Today, BBC One 1974)
- Funny Farm (Play for Today, BBC One 1975)
- Diane (BBC Two, 1975)
- Fast Hands (Plays for Britain, Thames 1976)
- Scum (made for Play for Today, BBC One 1977, but not transmitted until 1991 on BBC Two)
- Danton's Death (Play of the Month, BBC One 1978)
- Nina (Play for Today, BBC One 1978)
- Beloved Enemy (Play for Today, BBC One 1981)
- Psy-Warriors (Play for Today, BBC One 1981)
- David Bowie in Baal (BBC One, 1982)
- Made in Britain (Tales Out of School, Central 1982)
- Contact (Screen Two, BBC Two 1985)
- Christine (ScreenPlay, BBC Two 1987)
- Road (ScreenPlay, BBC Two 1987)
- Elephant (BBC Two 1989)
- The Firm (Screen Two, BBC Two 1989)
Films
- Scum (1979)
- Billy the Kid and the Green Baize Vampire (1985)
- Rita, Sue and Bob Too (1987)
Documentaries
- Bukovsky (1977)
- Vodka Cola (1980)
- British Desk (1984)
Cultural influences
Musician Annie Locke[14] was a close friend of Clarke for many years, and they worked together on The Love-Girl and the Innocent. After Clarke's death, she wrote a suite of pieces in his memory, entitled "A Man Called Alan".
Clarke inspired a generation of actors, writers and directors, including
Critic David Thomson has observed, "No one has ever grasped the central metaphor of cramped existence in walking as well as Alan Clarke."[17]
References
- ^ "The Questors Theatre Archive: Alan Clarke". archive.questors.org.uk.
- ^ a b "Alan Clarke". BFI. Archived from the original on 8 February 2016.
- ^ a b c d "Where to begin with Alan Clarke". British Film Institute.
- ^ "Dissent & Disruption: Alan Clarke at the BBC (1969-1989): Bukovsky/Nina | The Digital Fix". www.thedigitalfix.com.
- ^ "BFI Screenonline: Scum (1977)". www.screenonline.org.uk.
- ^ "BFI Screenonline: Made in Britain (1983)". www.screenonline.org.uk.
- ^ "BFI Screenonline: Elephant (1989)". www.screenonline.org.uk.
- ^ "BFI Screenonline: Firm, The (1989)". www.screenonline.org.uk.
- ^ Reader, Chicago (26 October 1985). "Director: Alan Clarke and Psy-warriors". Chicago Reader.
- ^ "Nick Love: wild boy finally shines" – via www.thetimes.co.uk.
- ^ "- YouTube". www.youtube.com.[dead YouTube link]
- ^ "BFI Screenonline: Clarke, Alan (1935-1990) Biography". www.screenonline.org.uk. Retrieved 24 November 2022.
- ^ "Where to begin with Alan Clarke". BFI. Retrieved 24 November 2022.
- ^ "Annie Locke profile | Inner Harmonies Music". www.innerharmoniesmusic.co.uk. Archived from the original on 3 August 2012. Retrieved 27 July 2016.
- BOMB Magazine. 20 March 2014. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
- ^ "Back to his roots: a walk around Alan Clarke's old haunts". British Film Institute.
- ^ The New Biographical Dictionary of Film, David Thomson, Knopf, 2014
- Kelly, Richard (1998). Alan Clarke (first ed.). London: Faber & Faber. p. 216. ISBN 0-571-19609-8.
Further reading
- Alan Clarke, Richard Kelly (editor), London: Faber, 1998
- Alan Clarke, Dave Rolinson, Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2005
- Andrea Grunert, "Alan Clarke: Die unglaubliche Energie der Rechtlosen"; in: Lexikon des Kinder- und Jugendfilms im Kino, im Fernsehen und auf Video, Meitingen: Corian, November 2003 (p. 1–7)
External links
- Biography and filmography from the British Film Institute's Screenonline
- Alan Clarke at IMDb
- Senses of Cinema profile
- Village Voice article (09/2004)
- "The Hallelujah Handshake" Archived 26 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine from "Play for Today website" Archived 18 June 2008 at the Wayback Machine
- My Hero Alan Clarke Paul Greengrass tells of his unexpected encounter with Clarke at a court martial
- Alan Clarke: His Own Man (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXzAeji4CPU) a 2000 documentary made for Film4 by Andy Kimpton-Nye/400Blows Productions.
- Tim Roth: Made in Britain (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=deOzrwyMqRA) a 2000 documentary short made for Film4: Tim Roth talks about working with Alan Clarke. Made by Andy Kimpton-Nye/400Blows Productions.
- Memories of: Elephant (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lyj0DNoeCSg) a 2000 documentary short made for Film4: Gary Oldman, David Hare, Howard Schuman and Molly Clarke remember Alan Clarke's powerful BBC drama, Elephant. made by Andy Kimpton-Nye/400Blows Productions.