The Reckoning (1970)

A working class Irishman (Nicol Williamson) has worked himself up through the ranks until he is a successful but ruthless businessman with a major corporation and married to an aristocratic wife (Ann Bell). But when his father dies, he returns to his hometown of Liverpool and finds he hasn't quite shaken off his working class roots after all. Based on the novel by Patrick Hall and directed by Jack Gold (THE MEDUSA TOUCH). For the most part, this is a strong drama with hints of those "angry young man" kitchen sink films like LOOK BACK IN ANGER, SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY MORNING, THIS SPORTING LIFE etc. which were so prevalent in the late 50s and early 60s in British cinema. But the approach is different in that it examines someone who has ostensibly made the transition from working class to upper class, who has become the very thing he railed against in his youth. Williamson's character isn't very likable or sympathetic which keeps us at a distance until the film's conclusion when he's downright despicable. The effective score is by Malcolm Arnold (BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI). With Rachel Roberts, Zena Walker, Paul Rogers and Tom Kempinski.