Poor Cow (1967)

This is director Ken Loach‘s first attempt to bring the social concerns and uncompromising style of his TV work – Up The Junction and Cathy Come Home – to the big screen. The result is an unrelenting picture of sordid South London life.

Joy (Carol White) is the ‘poor cow’ – a perky Cockney blonde married to bullying crook Tom (newcomer John Bindon in his acting debut). When he is sent to jail for four years, she gets into a hopeless tangle with Tom’s equally dodgy friend Dave (Terence Stamp, fresh from Far From the Madding Crowd).

Dave appears to offer Joy and her new child some form of happiness until he also ends up in prison for twelve years. Joy begins divorce proceedings against her husband and regularly visits Dave in Wormwood Scrubs, but when Tom is released, she attempts to revive their marriage for the benefit of their son.

This is probably Loach’s least characteristic film. There are moments – Joy posing topless for seedy old photographers or making love in the hay – which wouldn’t look out of place in a sex comedy. The music from Donovan is also incongruous.

The commitment is undeniable, but it’s a gruelling experience: Loach’s next movie, Kes (1970), was so much better for the humour.

Many future stars had small (often uncredited) parts in the film, including Billy Murray (The Bill and EastEnders), Anna Karen (On The Buses), Tony Selby (Ace of Wands and Get Some In!), and Jack Wild (Oliver and HR Pufnstuf).

Carol White was possibly even hipper than Julie Christie, but she once said that she felt very uncomfortable during her first trip to the US because of her clothes. Apparently, her London wardrobe was a little too far ahead of its time in America.

She died in 1991 in Florida at the age of 48. The cause of her death is disputed, with some sources claiming she took a drug overdose and others suggesting she succumbed to liver disease from chronic alcoholism.

Joy
Carol White
Dave
Terence Stamp
Tom
John Bindon
Aunt Emm
Queenie Watts
Beryl
Kate Williams
Customer at Hairdresser
Rose Hillier
Photographer
George Tovey
Judge
Gerald Young
Billy
Malcolm McDowell

Director
Ken Loach