Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1961)

Albert Finny’s anti-hero Arthur Seaton is the kind of character that you love to despise.  He’s a factory worker who loves a good time, and it doesn’t matter if it’s with a co-worker’s wife.   When she’s preoccupied he scopes out his next score, a girl undeserving of his affections, but hey, we like him so much we find ourselves rooting for him, even when he gets the girl he’s having an affair with a pregnant.  How Finny is able to make us like a creep like this is a stunning achievement.   Karal Reisz directs in black and white what feels like a film from the film's producer, Tony Richardson.   I even mistakenly told some friends it was directed by Richardson and only while researching did I discover differently.  I wonder how much of a micro-manager Richardson was?  Grade: B+