- Breaking Glass
"This article is about the 1980 musical film. For the song by David Bowie, see
Breaking Glass (song) . For the film about Stephen Glass, seeShattered Glass .""Breaking Glass" is a
1980 British film directed by Brian Gibson, and starringHazel O'Connor ,Phil Daniels , andJonathan Pryce . The film is remarkable in that it also featured in the cast (sometimes in small roles) very many actors who would eventually become major stars of film and television:Mark Wingett ,Richard Griffiths ,Mark Wing-Davey ,Jim Broadbent , Ken Campbell,Gary Tibbs ,Peter-Hugo Daly ,Derek Thompson ,Janine Duvitski ,Michael Kitchen ,Gary Olsen ,Jonathan Lynn ,Zoot Money ,Gary Holton , andJon Finch . The film was co-produced byDodi Fayed and written and directed byBrian Gibson . The film's main character Kate, played by Hazel O'Connor, was named afterKate Bush who was the UK's most popular female singer at that time.Plot
The movie tells the story of Kate, an angry but creative young woman who through a series of lucky breaks ends up becoming one of the biggest pop stars of her day. Her friend and manager Danny (played by a young Phil Daniels) comes along for the ride. All goes well for both of them until Kate has a nervous breakdown prompted by violence at a demonstration, and the group's saxophonist Ken (Jonathan Pryce) becomes increasingly dependent on
intravenous drugs. Woods, an overbearing manager, pushes Danny away and takes his place as the group's manager and Kate's boyfriend.Reception
The film is often held out as being an example of
punk rock , but by the time it was made, the punk craze had died down and New Wave was taking its place. This is reflected in the soundtrack, which is more melodic and refined, partly thanks to the involvement of veteran producerTony Visconti . The music strongly featuressaxophone s, played in the movie by Pryce's character. Pryce in fact learned all the saxophone parts, so the fingering is correct, but his playing was not used in the soundtrack.The film is also often cited as showing the mood of pre-Thatcherite Britain during the
Winter of Discontent of 1978-79, with a rebellious teenage underclass, public unrest, and racial or class tensions.The Soundtrack of the film is regarded as cult classic, and spent several weeks in the UK top 20, spawning a number of top 20 Singles.
External links
*imdb title|id=0080469|title=Breaking Glass
* [http://www.breakingglass.net/ Breaking Glass]
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