The Entertainer
film by Richardson [1960]
The Entertainer, British dramatic film, released in 1960, that is a notable example of the British “kitchen sink” dramas produced in the post-World War II era by writers known as the Angry Young Men. Laurence Olivier portrayed Archie Rice, a third-rate vaudeville entertainer who refuses to accept the fact that his era and career are over. A monstrous man—whose decaying career symbolically parallels the moribund state of the British Empire in the postwar era—he uses and abuses everyone in his life, including his long-suffering family, and delivers pointed commentary on the state of society as he sees it. The Entertainer ...(100 of 194 words)