The Entertainer (1960) on Netflix
Archie Rice, a third-rate music-hall performer in a seaside town, plays to dwindling audiences and cannot pay his bills. His daughter Jean arrives to find the family in disarray.
- Netflix3.6/5
- IMDb7.1/104,205 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes71%
Trailer
Plot summary
In 1956 Jean Rice, an art teacher in London, heads for the coastal town where her family lives, troubled by a quarrel with her fiancé Graham and by the Suez Crisis, which has taken her brother Mick into the army. The resort has declined since before the war, and her father Archie's music-hall act draws small, uninterested crowds. Archie is an undischarged bankrupt hounded by creditors, including his unpaid cast. His son Frank adores him and his father Billy watches with amusement, but his second wife Phoebe drinks heavily and speaks openly about his womanizing. To secure a winter show, Archie charms Tina Lapford, runner-up in a beauty contest, whose wealthy parents will put money into his production if it features her.
Cast
- MacDonald Hobleyas McDonald Hobley (as McDonald Hobley)
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Entertainer (1960)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- To play the failing music-hall performer Archie Rice, Laurence Olivier had two teeth filed to create the character's distinctive gap. He was then appearing in Shakespeare's Coriolanus at Stratford-upon-Avon and commuting to the Morecambe shoot.
- Budgeted at £193,000, The Entertainer went over budget because of production and post-production problems, among them the noise of seagulls at its Morecambe location.
SPOILER
The death of Archie Rice's son Mick was based on the real murder of Anthony Moorhouse during the 1956 Suez Crisis.- Roger Livesey was cast as Archie Rice's father Billy even though he was only one year older than Laurence Olivier, who played Archie.
- The Entertainer was a film debut for two actors: it was Alan Bates's first film and also the first film of Albert Finney.
