Life After Kes: The Making of the British Film Classic

by Simon W. Golding

Life After Kes examines the history and legacy of the 1969 award-winning British film, Kes, about a boy's (Billy Casper) relationship with a kestrel. This fascinating book not only pays homage to the vision and extraordinary talent involved both in front and behind the camera but also looks at subsequent changes in the educational system, posing some important questions. Are we any better off today? Have schools and teaching staff moved forward over the last few decades? Have successive government's learnt anything from the mistakes of the past? Life After Kes explores the lives of the cast and production team since the making of the film including David (Dai) Bradley who played the lead role and examines why the legacy of Billy Casper and the national perception of Kes cast a shadow over South Yorkshire. Does Casper's ghost still haunt this ex-mining community and is director Ken Loach's gritty northern drama as relevant today as it was then? This book is a must-have for all film fans, anyone who enjoyed Kes and all those with an interest in British social history.

288 pages, Hardcover

First published March 16, 2006

Reviews

[Tom Strange · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great, great book and well researched - and funny. If you like Kes - you will love this book. Tom Strange.

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book but I'm sad to say that on the Kindle version at least it was riddled with errors (over twenty). For example use of 'there' instead of 'their' and many other basic mistakes. Some phrases such as 'Penny was very quick corrected me' stood out and the butcher with his 'stripped' apron and many others, which I have forgotten now. If it's only the kindle format it needs a serious revision because I can't believe a journalist of the author's standing would make such basic errors.
On the plus side, this book contains lots of information regarding the cast and what has happened to them.
I would recommend that you read the book if you remember Kes with fondness but grit your teeth when encountering the errors.

[Richard Spindle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great

[Stephen Rigg · Rating 4 out of 5]

A brilliant insight into pretty much everything surrounding the making of this film.