Ken Loach

Kes

Kes

Named one of the ten best British films of the century by the British Film Institute, Ken Loach’s Kes, is cinema’s quintessential portrait of working-class Northern England. Billy (an astonishingly naturalistic David Bradley) is a fifteen-year-old miner’s son whose close bond with a wild kestrel provides him with a spiritual escape from his dead-end life. Kes brought to the big screen the sociopolitical engagement Loach had established in his work for the BBC, and pushed the British “angry young man” film of the sixties into a new realm of authenticity, using real locations and nonprofessional actors. Loach’s poignant coming-of-age drama remains the now legendary director’s most beloved and influential film.

Film Info

  • United Kingdom
  • 1970
  • 99 minutes
  • Color
  • 1.66:1
  • English
  • Spine #561

Director-Approved Special Edition Features

  • Newly restored digital transfer, supervised and approved by director Ken Loach and director of photography Chris Menges, with the filmmaker's original production soundtrack, with uncompressed monaural audio on the Blu-ray edition
  • Making “Kes,” a new documentary featuring Loach, Menges, producer Tony Garnett, and actor David Bradley
  • The Southbank Show: “Ken Loach,” a 1993 profile
  • Cathy Come Home (1966), an early television feature by Loach, with an afterword by film writer Graham Fuller
  • Alternate, internationally released soundtrack, with postsync dialogue
  • Original theatrical trailer
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • PLUS: A new essay by Fuller

    New cover by Sarah Habibi

Purchase Options

Director-Approved Special Edition Features

  • Newly restored digital transfer, supervised and approved by director Ken Loach and director of photography Chris Menges, with the filmmaker's original production soundtrack, with uncompressed monaural audio on the Blu-ray edition
  • Making “Kes,” a new documentary featuring Loach, Menges, producer Tony Garnett, and actor David Bradley
  • The Southbank Show: “Ken Loach,” a 1993 profile
  • Cathy Come Home (1966), an early television feature by Loach, with an afterword by film writer Graham Fuller
  • Alternate, internationally released soundtrack, with postsync dialogue
  • Original theatrical trailer
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • PLUS: A new essay by Fuller

    New cover by Sarah Habibi
Kes
Cast
David Bradley
Billy
Freddie Fletcher
Jud
Lynne Perrie
Mrs. Casper
Colin Welland
Mr. Farthing
Brian Glover
Mr. Sugden
Bob Bowes
Mr. Gryce
Bernard Atha
Youth employment officer
Zoe Sutherland
Librarian
Credits
Director
Ken Loach
Screenplay
Barry Hines
Screenplay
Ken Loach
From the book A Kestrel for a Knave by
Barry Hines
Producer
Tony Garnett
Director of photography
Chris Menges
Editor
Roy Watts
Art director
William McCrow
Music
John Cameron

Current

Kes: Winged Hope
Kes: Winged Hope
An Eagle for an Emperor, a Gyrfalcon for a King;   a Peregrine for a Prince, a Saker for a Knight, a Merlin for a Lady;   a Goshawk for a Yeoman, a Sparrowhawk for a Priest,   a Musket for a Holy water Clerk, a Kestrel for a Knave. …

By Graham Fuller

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