When his fellow workers decide to go on strike, a factory worker (Richard Attenborough) decides to go it alone and cross picket lines to work. The retribution from his fellow Union workers is quick and ugly. Ostensibly the film is about the rights of the individual versus the group mentality. Perhaps that's what the film makers intended but at it's heart, it's an anti-union film. I suppose what one takes away from the film depends on one's personal feelings regarding unions. Attenborough's character is a none too bright (otherwise surely he would have known what the consequences of his actions would be) working class bloke though, of course, he doesn't deserve what happens to him. The union officials are portrayed as conniving agitators preying on their uneducated dupes. A bit one sided to be entirely believable but the acting is good including Pier Angeli as Attenborough's Italian immigrant wife. The Oscar nominated screenplay is by Bryan Forbes and Guy Green directs. There's a strong score by Malcolm Arnold. With Michael Craig, Brian Bedford, Bernard Lee, Laurence Naismith, Geoffrey Keen, Marianne Stone and Oliver Reed.
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