Gregory's Girl
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''Gregory's Girl'' is a 1980 Scottish
coming-of-age Coming of age is a young person's transition from being a child to being an adult. The specific age at which this transition takes place varies between societies, as does the nature of the change. It can be a simple legal convention or can b ...
romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a sub-genre of comedy and Romance novel, romance fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount all obstacles. Ro ...
film written and directed by
Bill Forsyth William David Forsyth (born 29 July 1946) is a Scottish film director and writer known for his films '' Gregory's Girl'' (1981), '' Local Hero'' (1983) and '' Comfort and Joy'' (1984) as well as his adaptation of the Marilynne Robinson novel ...
and starring
John Gordon Sinclair John Gordon Sinclair (born Gordon John Sinclair; 4 February 1962) is a Scottish actor. He is best known for playing Gregory in the 1981 film '' Gregory's Girl''. There was a Gordon Sinclair already registered with Equity, so he took John Gordon ...
, Dee Hepburn and Clare Grogan. The film is set in and around a state secondary school in the Abronhill district of
Cumbernauld Cumbernauld (; ) is a large town in the Shires of Scotland, historic county of Dunbartonshire and council area of North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is the tenth List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, most-populous locality in Scotl ...
. ''Gregory's Girl'' was ranked No. 30 in the
British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves filmmaking and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...
's list of the top 100 British films of the 20th century, and No. 29 on ''
Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...
''s 2015 list of the 50 best high school movies.


Plot

Gregory Underwood is a young man who plays on his school
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
team. They are not doing very well, so the coach holds a trial to find new players. Dorothy shows up and despite the coach's misgivings, proves to be a very good player. She subsequently takes Gregory's place as centre forward and Gregory in turn replaces his friend Andy as goalkeeper. Gregory is all for her making the team, as he finds her very attractive. He has to compete for her attention with all the other boys who share the same opinion. Gregory initially confides in his best friend Steve, the most mature of Gregory's circle of friends and asks him for help in attracting Dorothy. Steve is unable to assist him. Acting on the advice of his precocious 10-year-old sister Madeleine, he awkwardly asks Dorothy out on a date. She accepts but Dorothy's friend, Carol, shows up at the rendezvous instead and informs Gregory that something had come up; Dorothy would not be able to make it. He is disappointed but Carol talks him into taking her to the chip shop. When they arrive, she hands him off to another friend, Margo, and leaves. Gregory is rather confused but goes for a walk with the new girl. On their stroll, they encounter a waiting Susan, another of Dorothy's friends and Margo leaves. Susan confesses that it was all arranged by her friends, including Dorothy. She explains, "It's just the way girls work. They help each other". They go to the park and talk. At the date's end, Gregory is more than pleased with Susan and the two kiss numerous times on his doorstep before calling it a night and arranging a second date. Madeleine, who had been watching from the window, quizzes him on his date and calls him a liar when he claims he did not kiss Susan. Gregory's friends, Andy and Charlie, are even more inept with girls but see Gregory at various times with three apparent dates and are envious of his new success. They try to hitch-hike to
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, where Andy has heard the women greatly outnumber the men but fail at that as well.


Cast


Production

Produced on a budget of £200,000 the film generated worldwide box office revenue of £25.8 million. Many of the young actors were members of the
Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...
Youth Theatre, and had appeared in Forsyth's earlier film '' That Sinking Feeling'' (1979), including Robert Buchanan, Billy Greenlees, and John Gordon Sinclair. After casting, Hepburn was given six weeks of intense football training at Partick Thistle F.C. Filming of exterior scenes at Gregory's school took place at Abronhill High School. As the film had a small budget, the actors supplied many of their own clothes; Hepburn's white shorts were borrowed from her sister. A person in a
penguin Penguins are a group of aquatic flightless birds from the family Spheniscidae () of the order Sphenisciformes (). They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere. Only one species, the Galápagos penguin, is equatorial, with a sm ...
costume is seen at various points in the film for no apparent reason. Inside the suit was Christopher Higson, son of production supervisor Paddy Higson. The film was re-dubbed with rather
anglicised Anglicisation or anglicization is a form of cultural assimilation whereby something non-English becomes assimilated into or influenced by the culture of England. It can be sociocultural, in which a non-English place adopts the English language ...
Scottish accent Scottish English is the set of varieties of the English language spoken in Scotland. The transregional, standardised variety is called Scottish Standard English or Standard Scottish English (SSE). Scottish Standard English may be defined ...
s for the original American theatrical release. Both versions are available on the American
DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...
release from MGM Home Entertainment. The film's cast reunited for the 30th anniversary of its release in 2010, and a clip from the film featuring Hepburn was part of the
opening ceremony An opening ceremony, grand opening, or ribbon-cutting ceremony marks the official opening of a newly constructed location or the start of an event.
at the London 2012 Summer Olympics.


Release

The film was released on 23 April 1981. There was a charity premiere in
Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...
on 3 May 1981. It was released on DVD and Blu-ray on 5 May 2014.


Reception


Critical response

Film critic
Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...
liked the film's direction, and wrote "Bill Forsyth's ''Gregory's Girl'' is a charming, innocent, very funny little movie about the weird kid. ... The movie contains so much wisdom about being alive and teenage and vulnerable that maybe it would even be painful for a teenager to see it. ... Maybe only grown-ups should see this movie. You know, people who have gotten over the pains of unrequited love (hollow laugh)." On '' Sneak Previews'' Ebert and
Gene Siskel Eugene Kal Siskel (January 26, 1946 – February 20, 1999) was an American film critic and journalist for the ''Chicago Tribune'' who co-hosted a movie review television series alongside colleague Roger Ebert. Siskel started writing for the '' ...
gave it two "yes" votes, with both critics praising the film's honest depiction of the awkwardness of adolescence. The staff at '' Variety'' liked the work of the young cast and Forsyth's direction, and wrote, "Filmmaker Bill Forsyth, whose friendly, unmalicious approach recalls that of
René Clair René Clair (; 11 November 1898 – 15 March 1981), born René-Lucien Chomette (), was a French filmmaker and writer. He first established his reputation in the 1920s as a director of silent films in which comedy was often mingled with fantasy. H ...
, is concerned with young students (in particular, a soccer team goalie, Gregory) seeking out the opposite sex. ... As Gregory, John Gordon Sinclair is adept at physical comedy. Hepburn is properly enigmatic as the object of his desire, with ensemble approach giving Greg's precocious 10-year-old sister played by Allison Forster a key ''femme'' role." Critic Richard Skorman wrote, "Forsyth does a good job of making light of the tender part in regory'steenage psyche, and his friends and little sister in particular are quirky and lovable. Unlike the film's American counterparts, ''Gregory's Girl'' is refreshingly free of mean-spirited characters and horny young studs bemoaning their virginity." The review aggregator
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
reported that 96% of critics gave the film a positive review, based on 23 reviews.


Reappraisal

In a retrospective appraisal of the film forty years after its release, Jonny Murray, Senior Lecturer in Film and Visual Culture at
Edinburgh College of Art Edinburgh College of Art (ECA) is one of eleven schools in the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Edinburgh. Tracing its history back to 1760, it provides higher education in art and design, architecture, histor ...
, was quoted in ''
The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact (newspaper), compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until ...
'' as saying: "''Gregory’s Girl'' is one of cinema’s true portrayals of the state of adolescence – a totally universal theme which only a few other filmmakers have been able to capture so brilliantly. Bill managed to capture not just what that looks like – but what that feels like."


Awards

;Wins *
British Academy of Film and Television Arts The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA, ) is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual awa ...
(BAFTA): Award for Best Original Screenplay, Bill Forsyth, 1982 * London Critics Circle Film Awards: Special Achievement Award, Bill Forsyth, 1982 * Variety Club actress of the year award, Dee Hepburn, 1981 ;Nominations * BAFTA Award for Best Newcomer, John Gordon Sinclair, 1981 *
BAFTA Award for Best Direction The BAFTA Award for Best Direction, formerly known as David Lean Award for Achievement in Direction, is a British Academy Film Awards, British Academy Film Award presented annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to a ...
, Bill Forsyth, 1982 *
BAFTA Award for Best Film The BAFTA Award for Best Film is a film award given annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts and presented at the British Academy Film Awards. It has been given since the 1st BAFTA Awards, representing the best films of 19 ...
, Bill Forsyth, 1982


Sequel

'' Gregory's Two Girls'' was released in 1999, with Sinclair reprising the role of Gregory, who by then was a 35-year-old teacher in his former secondary school. Reviewing the film for ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'',
Peter Bradshaw Peter Nicholas Bradshaw (born 19 June 1962) is a British writer and film critic. He has been chief film critic at ''The Guardian'' since 1999, and is a contributing editor at ''Esquire'' magazine. Early life and education Bradshaw was educat ...
said: "This quaint film is from the stable of Forsyth movies such as '' That Sinking Feeling'' and '' Local Hero'', and disconcertingly out of its time... all Forsyth's films have charm, including this one. But, unfortunately, Gregory's Two Girls has the unhappy distinction of being an Accidental Period Piece." However, ''
Time Out London ''Time Out'' is a global magazine published by Time Out Group. ''Time Out'' started as a London-only publication in 1968 and has expanded its editorial recommendations to 333 cities in 59 countries worldwide. In 2012, the London edition becam ...
s reviewer said "There's still comic mileage in Gordon-Sinclair's amiable fumbling Gregory... tention is directed towards wider, broadly political issues, but Forsyth's assured craftsmanship ensures that they are deftly woven into the storytelling. Gordon-Sinclair is a revelation, and although the film suffers from a lack of pace, its wealth of human insight and the premium it places on subtlety of expression make it a rare pleasure.


See also

*
BFI Top 100 British films In 1999, the British Film Institute surveyed 1,000 people from the world of British film and television to produce a list of the greatest British films of the 20th century. Voters were asked to choose up to 100 films that were " culturally British ...
* List of association football films


References


External links

* * * *
''Gregory's Girl''
trailer at
YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gregory's Girl 1980s coming-of-age comedy films 1980s high school films 1981 romantic comedy films 1980s teen comedy films 1980s teen romance films Films about puberty British coming-of-age comedy films 1980s English-language films Films set in Scotland Films shot in Scotland Films shot in Philadelphia Films whose writer won the Best Screenplay BAFTA Award Films directed by Bill Forsyth ITC Entertainment films Scottish comedy films Scottish films Cumbernauld 1980s British films English-language romantic comedy films