Rattle of A Simple Man

A coach-load of Manchester football fans are setting off for Wembley. Amongst their number is a 'simple man', Percy (Harry H. Corbett), a naive and gauche fellow who although by no means a youngster is still living at home with his parents. After a boozy night on the town, his friends take him to a Soho strip club where they corner him into a bet that he can get off with an attractive woman seated at the bar -Cyrenne (Diane Cilento). As she is undoubtedly a prostitute and agrees to take Percy back to her flat, there would seem to be little doubt as to Percy winning his £50, but, as his friends well know, he is excessively shy with women… The basic concern of Rattle of a Simple Man (1964) is the development of the relationship between Percy and Cyrenne. On the surface, the inexperienced Southerner and the sarcastic, mercurial tart make a mismatched pair, but both are isolated from their contemporaries, and appear to be locked into a drab existence from which there is little hope of escape. Their awareness of mutual shortcomings enables them to talk to each other with a degree of honesty impossible with others. The two leads are well supported - Michael Medwin is particularly good as the cocky but likeable Ginger (and it's possible to catch sight of Charles Dyer, the author, in the cameo role of Chalky). Although a comedy, Rattle of a Simple Man has elements of a thriller -will Percy win his bet? Will he realise the potential importance of the encounter with Cyrenne? Who are the strange Italians lurking outside the flat? In addition to making an amusing comedy, the director Muriel Box (and a woman director was even more of a rarity then than it is now) gently and unobtrusively manages to introduce some serious issues - the double standards many men have towards women, society's attitudes to homosexuality and prostitution, and the danger of being over-impressed by appearances.