Boy and Bicycle

Last updated

Boy and Bicycle
Directed by Ridley Scott
Written byRidley Scott
Produced byRidley Scott
Starring Tony Scott
CinematographyRidley Scott
Release date
  • 1965 (1965)
Running time
27 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

Boy and Bicycle is the first film made by Ridley Scott. The black and white short was made on 16mm film while Scott was a photography student at the Royal College of Art in London in 1962.

Contents

Although a very early work – Scott would not direct his first feature for another 15 years – the film is significant in that it features a number of visual elements that would become motifs of Scott's work. Shot entirely in West Hartlepool and Seaton Carew the film features the cooling tower and blast furnaces of the local British Steel North Works foreshadowing images in Alien , Blade Runner and Black Rain . The central element of the Boy and Bicycle is re-used in Scott's advert for Hovis of the early 1970s. The film features Scott's younger brother, Tony Scott, as the boy. [1] "We were both experiencing the process that would fundamentally take us through our live together, in terms of making movies", Ridley Scott commented about the film and his brother.[ citation needed ]

Scott secured finance from the British Film Institute to complete the editing and sound in 1965 [2] including a track by John Barry called "Onward Christian Spacemen" (which originally appeared as the B-side of a cover version of the theme to The Human Jungle television series). Scott wanted to use the existing recording by Barry, but the composer was so impressed by the young filmmaker he agreed to produce a new recording for the film [2] at limited cost.

Release

This film has been released as an extra on the Paramount DVD of Scott's first feature The Duellists and The Criterion Collection Blu-Ray and 4K UHD of Scott's Thelma & Louise .

Related Research Articles

<i>Blade Runner</i> 1982 film by Ridley Scott

Blade Runner is a 1982 science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott from a screenplay by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples. Starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, and Edward James Olmos, it is an adaptation of Philip K. Dick's 1968 novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? The film is set in a dystopian future Los Angeles of 2019, in which synthetic humans known as replicants are bio-engineered by the powerful Tyrell Corporation to work on space colonies. When a fugitive group of advanced replicants led by Roy Batty (Hauer) escapes back to Earth, burnt-out cop Rick Deckard (Ford) reluctantly agrees to hunt them down.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ridley Scott</span> English director and producer (born 1937)

Sir Ridley Scott is an English filmmaker. He is best known for directing films in the science fiction, crime, and historical drama genres. His work is known for its atmospheric and highly concentrated visual style. He ranks among the highest-grossing directors and has received many accolades, including the BAFTA Fellowship for lifetime achievement in 2018, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and a Golden Globe Award. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2003, and appointed a Knight Grand Cross by King Charles III in 2024.

<i>Captain Kangaroo</i> American childrens television series

Captain Kangaroo is an American children's television series that aired weekday mornings on the American television network CBS for 29 years, from 1955 to 1984, making it the longest-running nationally broadcast children's television program of its day. In 1986, the American Program Service integrated some newly produced segments into reruns of past episodes, distributing the newer version of the series to PBS and independent public stations until 1993.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bert Berns</span> American songwriter and record producer (1929–1967)

Bertrand Russell Berns, also known as Bert Russell and (occasionally) Russell Byrd, was an American songwriter and record producer of the 1960s. His songwriting credits include "Twist and Shout", "Piece of My Heart", "Here Comes the Night", "Hang on Sloopy", "Cry to Me" and "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love", and his productions include "Baby, Please Don't Go", "Brown Eyed Girl" and "Under the Boardwalk".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Barry (composer)</span> British composer and conductor (1933–2011)

John Barry Prendergast was an English composer and conductor of film music. Born in York, Barry spent his early years working in cinemas owned by his father. During his national service with the British Army in Cyprus, Barry began performing as a musician after learning to play the trumpet. Upon completing his national service, he formed a band in 1957, the John Barry Seven. He later developed an interest in composing and arranging music, making his début for television in 1958. He came to the notice of the makers of the first James Bond film Dr. No, who were dissatisfied with a theme for James Bond given to them by Monty Norman. Noel Rogers, the head of music at United Artists, approached Barry. This started a successful association between Barry and the Bond series that lasted for 25 years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Cowsills</span> American vocal group

The Cowsills are an American singing group from Newport, Rhode Island, six siblings noted for performing professionally and singing harmonies at an early age, later with their mother.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tony Scott</span> British film director and producer (1944–2012)

Anthony David Leighton Scott was an English film director and producer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scott Walker (singer)</span> British-American singer-songwriter, composer and record producer (1943–2019)

Noel Scott Engel, better known by his stage name Scott Walker, was an American-British singer-songwriter and record producer who resided in England. Walker was known for his emotive voice and his unorthodox stylistic path which took him from being a teen pop icon in the 1960s to an avant-garde musician from the 1980s to his death. Walker's success was largely in the United Kingdom, where he achieved fame as a member of pop trio the Walker Brothers, who scored several hit singles, including two number ones, during the mid-1960s, while his first four solo albums reached the top ten during the later part of the decade, with the second, Scott 2, reaching number one in 1968. He lived in the UK from 1965 onward and became a UK citizen in 1970.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matt Monro</span> British singer (1930-1985)

Matt Monro was an English singer. Known as "The Man with the Golden Voice", he performed internationally during his 30-year career and sold a reported 23 million records. AllMusic has described Monro as "one of the most underrated pop vocalists of the '60s", who "possessed the easiest, most perfect baritone in the business". Frank Sinatra said of Monro after his death: “If I had to choose three of the finest male vocalists in the singing business, Matt would be one of them. His pitch was right on the nose; his word enunciations letter perfect; his understanding of a song thorough.”

Jack Isaac Clayton was a British film director and producer who specialised in bringing literary works to the screen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Don Black (lyricist)</span> English lyricist

Donald Blackstone, known professionally as Don Black, is an English lyricist. His works have included numerous musicals, movie, television themes and hit songs. He has provided lyrics for John Barry, Charles Strouse, Matt Monro, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Quincy Jones, Hoyt Curtin, Lulu, Jule Styne, Henry Mancini, Meat Loaf, Michael Jackson, Elmer Bernstein, Michel Legrand, Hayley Westenra, Ennio Morricone, A. R. Rahman, Marvin Hamlisch and Debbie Wiseman.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Walker Brothers</span> American pop group

The Walker Brothers were an American pop group formed in Los Angeles in 1964 by John Walker and Scott Walker, with Gary Walker joining shortly after. They adopted the 'Walker Brothers' name as a show business touch even though they were unrelated. After moving to Britain in 1965, they had several Top 10 albums and singles there, including the No. 1 hits "Make It Easy on Yourself" and "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine (Anymore)", both of which also made the US Top 20 and Canadian Top 2. Between them was the UK No. 3 hit "My Ship is Coming In". They provided a unique counterpoint to the British Invasion, a period when the popularity of British bands such as The Beatles dominated the U.S. charts, by achieving much more success in the UK than in their home country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jake Scott (director)</span> British film director (born 1965)

Jason "Jake" Scott is a British film director who works primarily in the field of music videos and commercials. His father is film director Sir Ridley Scott.

Barry Shear was an American film and television director and producer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adrian Biddle</span> English cinematographer (1952–2005)

Adrian Biddle, BSC, was an English cinematographer.

<i>Planet of the Vampires</i> 1965 film by Mario Bava

Planet of the Vampires is a 1965 science fiction horror film produced by Fulvio Lucisano, directed by Mario Bava, that stars Barry Sullivan and Norma Bengell. The screenplay, by Bava, Alberto Bevilacqua, Callisto Cosulich, Antonio Roman and Rafael J. Salvia, was based on an Italian-language science fiction short story, Renato Pestriniero's "One Night of 21 Hours". American International Pictures released the film as the supporting film on a double feature with Daniel Haller's Die, Monster, Die! (1965).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scott Free Productions</span> British-American film and television production company

Scott Free Productions is a British-American independent film and television production company founded in 1970 by filmmakers and brothers Ridley Scott and Tony Scott. They formed the feature film development company Percy Main Productions in 1980, naming the company after the English village Percy Main, where their father grew up. The company was renamed Scott Free Productions in 1995. Scott Free has produced films ranging from the 2000 Hollywood blockbuster Gladiator (2000) to "smaller pictures" like Cracks (2009). Between the productions of White Squall (1996) and G.I. Jane (1997), Ridley Scott reorganised the company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greg P. Russell</span> American sound engineer

Greg P. Russell is an American re-recording mixer. He is a 16 time Academy Award nominated post-production sound mixer who has worked in the film industry for more than 40 years, contributing to over 235 feature films. He received Oscar nominations for his work on Black Rain, The Rock, Con Air, Armageddon, The Mask of Zorro, The Patriot, Pearl Harbor, Spider-Man, Spider- Man 2, Memoirs of a Geisha, Apocalypto, Transformers 1, 2 & 3, Salt and Skyfall. Other nominations include 12 CAS awards, two BAFTA's and two Emmys, with a Daytime Emmy Award win in 1989.

Blade Runner is an American cyberpunk media franchise originating from the 1968 novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick, featuring the character of Rick Deckard. The book has been adapted into several media, including films, comics, a stage play, and a radio serial. The first film adaptation was Blade Runner, directed by Ridley Scott in 1982. Although the film initially underperformed at the American box office, it became a cult classic, and has had a significant influence on science fiction. A novelization and a comic adaptation of the film were released in the same year. From 1995 to 2000, three novels serving as sequels to both Blade Runner and the original novel were written by K. W. Jeter, a friend of Dick's. A film sequel to Blade Runner, Blade Runner 2049, was released in 2017. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Blade Runner in 2012, a short film was released, and in the lead up to the release of Blade Runner 2049, several more short films detailing events that occurred between 2019 and 2049 were released. The influence of the franchise has helped spawn the cyberpunk subgenre.

<i>The Bike Ride</i> 1973 British television commercial directed by Ridley Scott

The Bike Ride, Bike Round or Boy on the Bike is a 1973 advert for the bread maker Hovis. It was directed by Ridley Scott.

References

  1. "Watch Boy and Bicycle".
  2. 1 2 "BFI Screenonline: Boy and Bicycle (1965)".