The Knack …and How to Get It

Infobox_Film
name = The Knack...and How to Get It


image_size= 200px
caption = original film poster
director = Richard Lester
producer = Oscar Lewenstein
writer = Charles Wood
starring = Michael Crawford
Rita Tushingham
cinematography=David Watkin
distributor = United Artists Corporation
released = flagicon|UK 3 June, 1965
flagicon|USA 29 June, 1965
music =John Barry
runtime = 85 min.
country= UK
awards = Palme d'Or
language = English
budget =
amg_id = 1:97908
imdb_id = 0059362
|

"The Knack ...and How to Get It" is a 1965 British comedy film directed by Richard Lester based on the play by Ann Jellicoe. It depicts the sexual competition between three roommates — the aggressive, womanizing drummer Tolen (Ray Brooks), the shy, paranoid schoolteacher Colin (Michael Crawford), and the neutral artist Tom (Donal Donnelly) — when a young girl from out of town, Nancy (Rita Tushingham), enters their London world.

Making the film immediately after working with The Beatles on "A Hard Day’s Night" and just prior to "Help", Lester made major changes to the play, adding his own touch through direct address, unexpected oddly-edited sequences, humorous subtitles, and a Greek chorus of disapproving members of "the older generation". The film had Lester's distinctive look. "He’s a very visual man,” said actor Ray Brooks, talking about the film in the Eighties. "They reckon that you could take any frame from "Help", "The Knack" and "A Hard Day’s Night" and you could put it on the cover of Time/Life. Everything was so beautifully shot.” [ [http://www.chrishunt.biz/feature24.html "Ray Brooks interview"] by Chris Hunt]

Lester himself makes a brief cameo as an annoyed bystander. John Barry contributed the jazzy score. Charlotte Rampling, Jacqueline Bisset and Jane Birkin all made their first cinematic appearances in the film as extras. The film won the "Grand Prix" at the Cannes Film Festival in 1965.

Notes

External links

*imdb title|id=0059362|title=The Knack ...and How to Get It
*" [http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/knackand_how_to_get_it/ The Knack ...and How to Get It] " at Rotten Tomatoes
* [http://www.festival-cannes.com/films/fiche_film.php?langue=6002&id_film=2888 Cannes profile]

###@@@KEY@@@###succession box
title="Grand Prix", Cannes Film Festival
years=1965
before="The Umbrellas of Cherbourg"
after="A Man and a Woman" tied with
"The Birds, the Bees and the Italians"