Graham Greene's 'Brighton Rock' was a formative book in my life. I got hold of it as a young teenager back in the 1960's and found it absolutely riveting. This was one of the first truly adult books I had read.
As a 'mixed-up kid' and in bad company myself, I could identify with 17-year-old 'Pinkie' Brown entirely - which may well be a criticism of my character as a youth. Happily, I have no criminal convictions and thus far haven't murdered anybody. In a way, the book revealed how far my own life could slip, and may well have pulled me back from the edge. If this is true I owe the author a great debt. And so do a number of other people with whom I had unresolved issues at the time.
I saw the movie some years later and was bitterly disappointed. It so far failed to interpret 'Pinkie's' psychology (and perhaps mine also) that I hardly recognised his portrayal. Although a worthy actor - and later, director - Attenborough was totally miscast. He was too old for the character, but yet too inexperienced as a man to interpret the subtly brooding internal conflicts. Faith and fury, a bitter pride and worldliness, vied with a loathing of weakness in himself that was vented upon others. All of these complex shades and many more were glossed-over to create a rather second-rate noirish gangster movie. 'Pinkie' is a kid in great pain. He has an almost unbearable sense of betrayal, and now regards loyalty in others with cynical contempt. His only support and succour has come from a much older gangster, 'Kite', who has taken him in from the streets, and who's untimely murder has left him for the first time in his life with Power. The movie never makes it adequately clear that - at just 17 - he is (even today) technically just a minor. However, when this book was written, the age of majority was actually 21. I do not fault the players. They all did a sterling job. The script-writer and director apparently preferred to emphasise simple criminality rather than the corrupting influence of neglect and maltreatment with the lack of a positive role-model upon vulnerable youth. This is strange because Graham Greene was himself involved in the production. Perhaps there were budgetary constrains.
Some have questioned the likelihood of a 'Rose' character being attracted to the vicious, spiteful introvert that is 'Pinkie' Brown. They clearly haven't heard of Myra Hindley, Rosemary West, or the 20-30 women who routinely correspond with serial-killer Peter Sutcliffe. Violent, dangerous males are an aphrodisiac to some women. Actually, if you compare the outline of Pinkie's past described in the book with the early life of Ian Brady, there are striking similarities. Given a stable home and loving parents; both he and Pinkie might have been pillars of the community.
I think it is a measure of how completely Pinkie has been misunderstood - not just by movie-buffs, but by authorities as a whole - that today's prisons and inner-city gangs are populated with teenage kids just like him, and often much younger and worse. Graham Greene's 'Pinkie' only intimidated those who represented a threat to him or an advantage. Killing was a very last resort. His modern equivalents, however, won't hesitate to stab or gun-down comparative strangers simply for looking at them with the wrong expression.
I would recommend that everyone should read the book - especially politicians. Even today, Graham Greene has something to teach us all about juvenile delinquency and its causes. Though already I'm afraid it's too late. Just don't be so quick to dismiss Pinkie as 'cold-blooded' or 'evil'; for the most part you get out of kids what you put in. He could have been anyone's child. He could have been me.
This movie will entertain you in an unmemorable way for 90 minutes or so. The book, like bad memories, will stay with you for life.
As a 'mixed-up kid' and in bad company myself, I could identify with 17-year-old 'Pinkie' Brown entirely - which may well be a criticism of my character as a youth. Happily, I have no criminal convictions and thus far haven't murdered anybody. In a way, the book revealed how far my own life could slip, and may well have pulled me back from the edge. If this is true I owe the author a great debt. And so do a number of other people with whom I had unresolved issues at the time.
I saw the movie some years later and was bitterly disappointed. It so far failed to interpret 'Pinkie's' psychology (and perhaps mine also) that I hardly recognised his portrayal. Although a worthy actor - and later, director - Attenborough was totally miscast. He was too old for the character, but yet too inexperienced as a man to interpret the subtly brooding internal conflicts. Faith and fury, a bitter pride and worldliness, vied with a loathing of weakness in himself that was vented upon others. All of these complex shades and many more were glossed-over to create a rather second-rate noirish gangster movie. 'Pinkie' is a kid in great pain. He has an almost unbearable sense of betrayal, and now regards loyalty in others with cynical contempt. His only support and succour has come from a much older gangster, 'Kite', who has taken him in from the streets, and who's untimely murder has left him for the first time in his life with Power. The movie never makes it adequately clear that - at just 17 - he is (even today) technically just a minor. However, when this book was written, the age of majority was actually 21. I do not fault the players. They all did a sterling job. The script-writer and director apparently preferred to emphasise simple criminality rather than the corrupting influence of neglect and maltreatment with the lack of a positive role-model upon vulnerable youth. This is strange because Graham Greene was himself involved in the production. Perhaps there were budgetary constrains.
Some have questioned the likelihood of a 'Rose' character being attracted to the vicious, spiteful introvert that is 'Pinkie' Brown. They clearly haven't heard of Myra Hindley, Rosemary West, or the 20-30 women who routinely correspond with serial-killer Peter Sutcliffe. Violent, dangerous males are an aphrodisiac to some women. Actually, if you compare the outline of Pinkie's past described in the book with the early life of Ian Brady, there are striking similarities. Given a stable home and loving parents; both he and Pinkie might have been pillars of the community.
I think it is a measure of how completely Pinkie has been misunderstood - not just by movie-buffs, but by authorities as a whole - that today's prisons and inner-city gangs are populated with teenage kids just like him, and often much younger and worse. Graham Greene's 'Pinkie' only intimidated those who represented a threat to him or an advantage. Killing was a very last resort. His modern equivalents, however, won't hesitate to stab or gun-down comparative strangers simply for looking at them with the wrong expression.
I would recommend that everyone should read the book - especially politicians. Even today, Graham Greene has something to teach us all about juvenile delinquency and its causes. Though already I'm afraid it's too late. Just don't be so quick to dismiss Pinkie as 'cold-blooded' or 'evil'; for the most part you get out of kids what you put in. He could have been anyone's child. He could have been me.
This movie will entertain you in an unmemorable way for 90 minutes or so. The book, like bad memories, will stay with you for life.