Dave Hanratty

Some people are told at 18, some people are told at 40, but we're all told.

And that part is always, I find, very poignant.

Yeah.

so Moneyball I presume everyone's seen it really give or take so it's on Amazon Prime at the moment so anyone who has that watch it okay we'll stay with me and then throw it back to you we'll reverse the circle I first watched this sporting life I'd say a good 25 years ago now I was having a Richard Harris obsession oh yeah he's a magnetic man yeah yes isn't he one of the great characters in life unforgiven as well unbelievable small role

Yeah, so This Sporting Life is about Frank, who's a rugby league player in kind of north of England, coal mining town.

And I suppose like the emotional centrepiece of the movie is that he's, you know, a tenant of a widow whose husband has been killed and there's a relationship develops.

But, you know, Frank is an aggressive, has a temper, repressed man in many ways.

But like the rugby scenes are brief and,

but very very good especially you know this is 1963 they don't try and do too much with them they're mainly focused on him but they're very good and the opening scene is him having had his teeth knocked out in the dentist chair and he is just sort of so this is 63 this screams a guy who watched Brando

And I went, oh yeah, that's my kind of acting.

And I'm sure Richard Arras can do theatrical acting, but it's full of like, he's got the sleeves rolled up and the biceps out, you know, chewing gum all the time.

He's got this really dog-eared book.

Anytime he's got a spare minute on the bus or in his room, he takes the book out and keeps reading it.

You know what I mean?

There's all these little kind of...

touches to the character and more than anything there's his face he's just got a face and there's lots of brooding staring off into the distance and in every scene there's the possibility he's going to lose his temper in a restaurant in the pub with the lads just every scene

So here is him.

He has just signed his contract.

He's just hit the bit, you know, that he's now a professional and his dad's waiting outside the house because he wanted to see how the negotiations went.

So here is Richard Harris arriving back, having just signed a contract and his dad is waiting for him.