I Start Counting
I Start Counting | |
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Directed by | David Greene |
Screenplay by | Richard Harris |
Based on | I Start Counting by Audrey Erskine Lindop |
Produced by | David Greene Stanley R. Jaffe |
Starring | Jenny Agutter Bryan Marshall Simon Ward |
Cinematography | Alex Thomson |
Edited by | Keith Palmer |
Music by | Basil Kirchin |
Production company | Triumvirate Films |
Distributed by | United Artists |
Release date | 27 November 1970 |
Running time | 105 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
I Start Counting is a British thriller film released in 1970, directed by David Greene and starring Jenny Agutter in one of her first major roles. It was based on the 1966 novel of the same name by Audrey Erskine Lindop.
The film was moderately controversial because of Agutter's squeaky-clean image and youth (16, playing a 14-year-old), when coupled with the film's sexual content.[1] It also included Simon Ward's first major film role. The theme song, also titled "I Start Counting", was sung by Lindsey Moore.
The film was shot at Bray Studios in Berkshire and on location around Bracknell. The sets were designed by the art director Brian Eatwell.
Plot summary
Wynne (Agutter), an adopted 14-year-old girl, has a crush on her 32-year-old stepbrother, George (Bryan Marshall). While spying on George in the bathroom, Wynne notices he has several scratches on his back, and finds a jumper she made for him that he threw in the rubbish has blood on it; this leads her to suspect him of being the serial killer of several local teenage girls, who is still at large. Despite this belief, Wynne continues to have romantic sexual fantasies about George, and dreams of marrying him when she comes of legal age.
Wynne hides in George's minibus, thinking to catch him in the act of murdering a young girl, but instead discovers he is having an affair with a mentally fragile woman (Lana Morris), whose blood was on the discarded jumper after she slashed her wrist in a suicide attempt.
Wynne's best friend Corinne (Clare Sutcliffe) teases her about her crush on George and, when the family goes out on a picnic, Corinne even flirts with him; he gets angry at her for acting like a "pathetic little mini-tart", and pins her down roughly on the ground. Corinne runs off, and later telephones Wynne to tell her she will stay out all night with an unnamed boy who, she says, they both know. Wynne gets worried about her friend, goes searching for her, and finds Corrinne's dead body. When the murderer sees Wynne, he chases and corners her. He seems to break down in distress, as he genuinely likes her, at which point the police arrive.
Cast
- Jenny Agutter as Wynne
- Bryan Marshall as George
- Clare Sutcliffe as Corinne
- Simon Ward as Conductor
- Gregory Phillips as Len
- Lana Morris as Leonie
- Billy Russell as Granddad
- Madge Ryan as Mother
- Michael Feast as Jim
- Fay Compton as Mrs. Bennett
- Lally Bowers as Aunt Rene
- Charles Lloyd-Pack as Priest at School
- Lewis Fiander as Priest at Church
- Gordon Richardson as Tramp
References
- ^ Britmovie.co.uk Archived 24 December 2010 at the Wayback Machine
External links
- 1970 films
- 1970s thriller films
- British coming-of-age films
- British thriller films
- British films
- English-language films
- Films based on British novels
- Films based on thriller novels
- Films directed by David Greene
- Films scored by Basil Kirchin
- British serial killer films
- United Artists films
- Films shot at Bray Studios
- Films shot in Berkshire
- Films set in England
- 1970s thriller film stubs