Privilege (1967) YTS - Download Yify Movie

Reviewed by R T 7 / 10

(Slightly spoilerish, though I didn't give away the

(Slightly spoilerish, though I didn't give away the ending) Good premise,flawed execution. The plot outline: Steven Shorter (played by Paul Jones, lead singer of Manfred Mann) is a pop star, and the most famous person in the world. The film opens with him first recording a promo message to his fans, then, as we are informed by the narrator, receiving the first ticker-tape welcoming parade in England, as he returns there after a American tour. We then see his stage act, "based on a sentence he served in prison", which consists of a group of bobbies thrusting him into a cage on the middle of the stage floor, then beating him with clubs inside the cage as he sings a rather long tune imploring to be set free (good thing for the audience that it was long, though, as it's the only song he sings in the whole show, lasting about 10 minutes), while the almost-entirely female audience screams and cries. Towards the end of the song, he is released from the cage, and a girl from the audience is lowered on the stage, provoking the rest of the audience to rush the stage and attack the bobbies who were mistreating their beloved Steve (or maybe they were just mad about buying tickets for a 10-minute-long gig? :) ), which leads up to the best quote of the film: "There is now a coalition government in Britian, which has recently asked all entertainment agencies to usefully divert the violence of youth. Keep them happy, off the streets, and out of politics." We spend about another 15 minutes being introduced to all the other characters in the film, which should have been done in a different way, as the narration of "This is ____, Steven Shorter's manager,producer,ect. " gets old quickly. The main other characters are his two managers, who manipulate and dominate Steve to the verge of a nervous breakdown, and Vanessa Ritche (played by fashion model Jean Shrimpton), the artist commissioned to paint his picture, who tries to help him out of the maze of corruption he is entangled in. Steven Shorter is big business- he has his own chain of discotheques and grocery stores, and when the nation's apple crop is too numerous, he is commissioned to do a commercial stating that everyone should eat 6 apples a day. Finally, his managers decide that he has "reached commercial saturation point", and decide to do something more ambitious- use him to sell not groceries, but religion. They re-record some hymns with a rock'n'roll beat, and finally have a rally in which the new Steve will be revealed. It's set up in a sufficiently creepy way, with aged bishops carrying burning crosses,and it becomes apparent that Steven is the religion they are trying to sell. They want to make him the new Messiah (think the Who watched this film?); the introductory speech states that "Steven's new song may have auto-suggestive qualities to it from which the sick may derive some internal benefit" and invalids are brought before him to be healed. Another bishop holds up a card reading "We Will Conform",urging the spectators to make it their motto- good dystopian stuff here. After the rally, Steve desperately wants to find a way out, but is it too late? Privilege is a dystopian film, told in a documentary style, which has its good and bad points- but the narration style is often difficult to take seriously, since it bears a striking resemblance to a Monty Python sketch. It's slightly pretentious, and Paul Jones, though a good singer, is a terrible actor.I've heard claims that that's on purpose, but not having seen any of his other films (he did quit Manfred Mann to become an actor, after all), I can't say if the other performances are better than this one or not. It's a film that grows on you. The film has some very good ideas and points, moments that (almost) make up for the hokeyness of the way it's done, and if you can hear the posh voice without expecting a Python joke, and don't mind some of the moments where it drags a bit, it's worth a watch.

Reviewed by R T 5 / 10

More interesting than anything. You'll be glad you

More interesting than anything. You'll be glad you saw it and still not really like it very much. WILD IN THE STREETS is the better choice.

Reviewed by R T 6 / 10

Peter Watkins melds his faux documentary style (featured

Peter Watkins melds his faux documentary style (featured in The War Game, 1965, which shows Britain after a nuclear attack) with a more traditional narrative approach in this "near future" look at manipulation of the masses. Presciently, it is a pop star who is used, first, to encourage youth to release their violent impulses through music appreciation rather than protest, and secondly, to get them to embrace nationalism and religion - that is, a group of business leaders see the pop star as a way to set up a fascist government (coalition of tory and labor parties, as a matter of fact). Only artist Jean Shrimpton sees through everything and convinces the wan Paul Jones (from Manfred Mann) to rebel against his minders. A lot of good provocative ideas here but things drag a bit. I wondered too whether such centralized manipulation is even possible in this new age of social media and a thousand independent voices (but, yeah, they could just shut down the internet and be done with it, I guess).

Privilege

1967

Action / Comedy / Drama / Music / Sci-Fi

Privilege

1967

Action / Comedy / Drama / Music / Sci-Fi

Please enable your VPΝ when downloading torrents

Plot summary

Director

Top cast

Tech specs

Movie Reviews

(Slightly spoilerish, though I didn't give away the

More interesting than anything. You'll be glad you

Peter Watkins melds his faux documentary style (featured

1 Comment