Gregory's Girl

source: Gregory's Girl

Every now and again a cinema house comes out with a film so good it makes you want to weep and this is one of those films. Set in 1980's Glasgow and featuring a typically acerbic and avant garde Glaswegian screenplay, the film concerns the adventures of Gregory (failed soccer striker * goalie) and his pursuit of Dorothy, the dashingly glamorous new addition to the school team. The course of false love refuses to run smooth of course and Gregory reels from being stood up and jilted by Dorothy, only to be gently coerced into the waiting arms of his secret admirer, Susan. There's some superb performances in this film from the wonderfully frustrated John Gordon Sinclair as Gregory, plus Dee Hepburn as Dorothy the stunning love interest. 'Gregory's Girl' was clearly filmed between Spring and early Autumn and there's one enduringly beautiful scene where Dorothy plays keep-up with a soccer ball, shot against the maternally basking backdrop of urban Glasgow, whilst a haunting saxophone laments and chases the fading daylight, bemoaning the inevitable and eventual closure of our younger years, brief and fleeting as the scene itself. Plenty of valiant support too from Robert Buchanan as Charlie who finds himself fresh out of luck with the ladies and is therefore reduced to irritation tactics in a vain attempt to court their favours, all of which goes wrong and he attempts to hitchhike from StrathClyde to 'Caracus', where he's heard that the women out number the men by 8 to 1. Clare Grogan is slow-burningly sexy as Susan and a special mention too for Allison Forster for her brilliant betrayal of Gregory's dour and deadpan sister Madeline. Watch out for a wandering and periodic cameo penguin, some 'Olympic-challenged' track and field events and the late Chic Murray as the Headmaster .."off you go you small boys". The film also shows all the hilarious vice rackets that existed around 80's schools during lunch breaks, plus the pompous '* of the walk' bravado that naturally seems to accompany young men around the fairer sex. I was saddened to note that 'Gregory's Girl' was the one and only on-screen appearance that some of the cast have made and I believe that to be a crying shame as the cast was talented beyond belief. That said however, this is a magnificent statement of young love from start to finish and everyone of any age currently in love (or theoretically), ought to see it, sooner rather than later.

I adore this movie. Putting it into words as to why is probably far more difficult for this film than any of the others i have talked about on this website. Firstly i can totally empathise with the lead character.... even down to the the fantastic choice of bands displayed on his wall (the Jam and the Specials although i am not too sure about Patti Smith myself!) We've all probably been in the situations Gregory finds himself in during the movie and this just brings it all back... playing football in the school team (and chatting nonchalently to spectators when should have been keeping an eye on players bearing down on goal), getting into scrapes with teachers and of course that first date with the girl of your dreams. I always come away from watching this movie with a high feel good factor. Gregory ends up with Susan who is far more suited and better for him than Dorothy even if it takes the whole movie for him to discover this. You even feel it will work out for his mates Andy and Charlie as they trudge off at the end in the cheerful knowledge that they can start afresh chasing girls the next day (i love the way Charlie doesn't say a word thru the whole movie, goes along with Andy's silly schemes and eventually gets the last word). In addition to these characters there's a whole slew of fantastic characters such as Steve whos obsessed with his baking enterprise, the eccentric headmaster ("off you go, you small boys,") and of course Mr Menzies the bumbling PE teacher who isn't really taken seriously by the other male teachers in the school and is obsessed with putting together the perfect football team. Another thing i like is the way the younger kids seem more in control and knowledgeable than Gregory and his mates. Gregory's sister is the one with the fashion sense and is the guiding hand in trying to sort out his love life while its Gregory who is the petulant immature one when confronted by his sisters' young admirer at the front door. I think this movie has a refreshing view of the innocence of early school days as opposed to other films which may go down the darker Grange Hill route of drugs/bullying etc.

This is one of the funniest and most warm-hearted films ever! John Gordon Sinclair and Dee Hepburn were absolutely wonderful in this story of teenage love and the sudden twists & turns that occur when you think you've met THE ONE, but then someone else...

Terrible, not funny, very boring movie. I understand it's an 80's movie, but that's no excuse for how crap this movie is. I managed to watch about 25 minutes, till I switched it off, I felt as if I had taken a double dose of Xanax.

A far too mild but still relatively pleasant Scottish comedy with pertinent ideas about teenage delusions and illusions concerning the concept of love, the film does not really go anywhere though, and there is not too much about the production that is really exceptional. Allison Forster is fairly good as the main character's younger but yet more down-to-earth sister, and there are some things that are interesting about the film, such as the lack of parent figures. However, it is just missing oomph - something special - to raise it above the norm, and the thick Scottish accents that are hard to hear are no real help.

One of my favorite things about this movie is that it captures a sort of 'parentless' world that further enhances its subtle and sweet adolescent tone. While there are adult characters in the film (most notably the coach, who is himself awkward and hardly authoritative), and while we meet Gregory's dad briefly, they come off as backdrop, and the overall impression is that this is like a live-action, Scottish, adolescent version of Charles Schulz's 'Peanuts' movies, where kids run about on their own seemingly at whim after school, but aren't necessarily concerned with being full of destructive mischief given that freedom. Indeed, the most mature character in the entire film may be the 10-year-old sister of the main character, and this flip-flop of roles is further illustrated by his sister's little suitor friend, Richard, acting ever the gentleman even through Gregory's very funny verbal onslaught. The contrast between teenage lust/horniness against the innocent and awkward nature of teenage infatuation and the eventual sweetness of the first kiss are spread decidedly toward the latter here. This is not Porky's or American Pie, despite an opening scene that maybe belongs in that territory. This is a very sensitive movie that treats kids as if they're real people, and allows for that kernel of dirty-minded lust to exist side-by-side with the fresh and innocent electrical sweetness of young love, and nevertheless avoids seriousness through that sensitivity, and serves each comedic moment up in the most understated and warm way it can. It's very natural, and it captures best the way adolescence really is: A no-man's land between being an utter child and becoming an adult. The director also achieved a great contrast in moods and environments, with the 1970s prog-jazz score and understated sterility of a boxy 1960-70s planned community with its plain institutional nature shown by the modern school and town planning. Somehow, it manages to bring everything about the characters and dialog into relief. Great acting from a cast of mostly unknowns, a more-or-less aimless story that you don't want to end, and a lovely look back to a time period that I actually miss make this movie a favorite.

I first learned of this film back in the early 1980's, while watching an episode of the "Siskel and Ebert" movie review show on PBS. One of them (I can't remember which)favorably reviewed it as one their undiscovered gems. Miraculously, it appeared on HBO a few weeks later. My wife and I both thought, "What a charming movie!" I didn't realize until much later that it had been re-dubbed with "softer" Scots accents for American audiences. I just thought the dialog was a bit stilted due to colloquial speech. For me, this just added to the charm. Gordon John Sinclair performance as Gregory is a classic. The anguish displayed on his face when he finally garners enough courage to ask Dorothy (Dee Hepburn) for a date, just as she enters the shower room is pure, teen-age angst! Any man or boy, who has experienced the same dilemma, anywhere in the world, can empathize superbly with Gregory. Even better is his feigned indifference when he realizes Dorothy stands him up, while waiting beneath the huge clock at the union. Dee Hepburn's performance as Dorothy displays the same infuriating ambivalence any boy has experienced when asking out a girl, he truly knows is indifferent to him. Perhaps the best performance is that of the script, with the subtle clues, thrown in by director Bill Forsyth, as to who really is "Gregory's Girl". The viewer is not even sure at first, who Madeline (Gregory's sister)is. The knowing glances stolen by Susan (Clair Grogan) and her furtive and clandestine conversations with Dorothy begin to tell the tale. The supporting performance by Robert Buchanan as Gregory's best friend Andy, almost steal the show. I always remembered his classic line: "Nine losses in a row and what do they do? Sack the goalie and put girl on the forward line!" In his Scottish brogue "girl" comes out as a rolling "gare-ell." Great stuff! Perhaps the best scene in the entire movie is Gregory's and Susan's "gravity defying" dance in the park near the end. What imagination and how utterly, typically, and wonderfully adolescent! I almost wish I was a teen-ager again.

While I'm sure I was a teenager once (my parents will attest to that), I was never a teenager in Scotland. This film makes me wish I had been. This unpretentious tale of adolescent adoration (all right, puppy love), is one of the purest, most enjoyable, romance films I have ever seen. Unlike American cinema where the main characters would be satisfying raging hormonal urges in gratuitously graphic sexual detail, this film by Mr. Forsythe catches the true essence of "young love" by letting the cast be what they are. Simply young people with an awkward sense of decency and a genuine curiosity for the opposite sex. This is a must see, especially if you ever thought you might have been in love or think you are now. Try to see the uncut version, as the British film industry has a different sense of 'Family Values' (whatever that is). I love the secondary sub-plots. So, pay close attention.

This is a great cute VERY Scottish movie. It's characters had a little more depth to them then your usual puppy love story. I saw this for the first time when I was 17 in 1987 and revisited it off and on since then .. it's one of those simple movies that makes you think life can be so simple as worrying about getting someone to like you.