Bullied at school and ignored and abused at home by his indifferent mother and older brother, Billy Casper, a 15-year-old working-class Yorkshire boy, tames and trains his pet kestrel falcon whom he names Kes. Helped and encouraged by his English teacher Mr. Farthing and his fellow students, Billy finally finds a positive purpose to his unhappy existence, until tragedy strikes.

Kes (1969)
  • Rating: (6,562 votes)
  • Tagline:They beat him. They deprived him. They ridiculed him. They broke his heart. But they couldn't break his spirit. »
  • Runtime:110 minutes
  • Director: Ken Loach
  • Country:UK
  • Actors:
    Billy
    David Bradley
    Jud
    Freddie Fletcher
    Mrs. Casper
    Lynne Perrie
    Mr. Farthing
    Colin Welland
    Mr. Sugden
    Brian Glover
    Mr. Gryce
    Bob Bowes
    Youth Employment Officer
    Bernard Atha
    Laurence Bould
    Comedian at Pub
    Joey Kaye
    Ted Carroll
  • Genre:Drama
  • Producer:
    Tony Garnett
    producer  
  • Plot: Bullied at school and ignored and abused at home by his indifferent mother and older brother, Billy Casper (David Bradley), a 15-year-old working-class Yorkshire boy, tames and trains his pet kestrel falcon whom he names Kes. Helped and encouraged by his English teacher Mr. Farthing (Colin Welland) and his fellow students, Billy finally finds a positive purpose to his unhappy existence, until tragedy strikes. Written by alfiehitchie
Kes
  • User's comment:This is a classic. by R-P-L

    If you are not from the north of England you may have difficulty with the dialogue in this film but dont let it put you off this is a masterpiece.The story of a teenage boy with no friends and no hope set in the mining heartland of yorkshire in the sixties is absolutely authentic. He finds salvation from the grim reality of his existence when he rears and trains a young kestrel, which is the only thing in his young life that has any meaning.David Bradley who plays Billy Casper in the leading role is superb.There are many scenes from the film that are absolute gems, but here are a few that warrant a special mention.Brian Glover playing the role of billys physical education teacher is out of this world, why he was never nominated as best supporting actor for an oscar i will never know.Colin Welland (later to become an oscar winner himself for screenplay of chariots of fire) was also brilliant as billys form teacher.The film reaches out to you on many levels. In me it stirred horror, anger, humour and tears.I am quite sure it will also do the same to anyone who views this timeless masterpiece.


  • Quotes: Billy: [training his falcon] C'mon Kes! Billy: C'mon Kes!
  • Also known as: Kes (Greece - festival title), Kes (Hungary - imdb display title), Kes (Spain), Kes (West Germany), 'Kes' - falken (Sweden - imdb display title), A Kestrel for a Knave (UK - working title), Kerkenez (Turkey - TV title, Turkish title), Poika ja haukka (Finland),

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