Rita, Sue and Bob too

[BeachBlondey]

As a Happy Valley fan, I was surprised to find out that the actors who played Nev and Clare in Happy Valley, were actually in two main roles of the Rita, Sue and Bob too film from the 80s.

It's made me think about that old film again, and I'm actually shocked that it was made at all.

There is some discussion online today about the film, and most comments are along the lines of "great film", "a British Classic", and so forth.

The plot (for those who haven't seen it), is centered around a fully grown married man, who seduces grooms two 15 year old school girls and engages in lots of sex with them, mainly in his car (iirc).

How the hell was this okay, to put this out as a comedy, even back then? And how can the majority of people who remember the film, still think it's a great British classic?

It was many people's normal!! YABVU to question that experience with disbelief. You have obviously been lucky enough to be sheltered from it.
It is bloody bleak, but people make the best of what they can. And yes it is still the norm for a lot people. Children are groomed by married middle aged bastards all the damn time.
I was and you know what at that age I was happy. I was shown attention and loving it. It is only now in my 40s I realise how bloody shitty that was and how abused and groomed I was.

Exactly this! I feel a strange sense of comfort when I watch it because it is familiar to me. Obvious I realise I grew up with a lot of dysfunction, violence, addiction, and I have been to therapy most of my lfe, but still there is a certain "home" feeling when I see it.

When I was 13-15 there was girls in my year some younger that used to walk up and down the one main road into and out of our town. Just waiting for lads to notice them go off with them sleep with them in they're car. Some would hang around the 24 hour garage hoping to catch someone's eye. Sometimes they went alone sometimes together. If the lads had a few mate's. There were a few sleeping with anyone trying to get pregnant. One girl younger than me did get pregnant but drank heavily when she knew she was pregnant with DD's and told nobody. The two little girls she had at 14: and 16 I don't think she even knows who the father's are. They went to live with her auntie as her mother had walked out on them. We live in a predominantly white British town. The only Pakistani men here are doctors. These weren't Asian they were white local lads and men.

I hate the film, but it is too close to home for me. I was groomed and sexually assaulted at 15 by a guy in his 30s. The way the film makes light of the girls’ relationship with Bob makes me feel ill.

I don't think it a classic, I think I saw it a few years after it was made, when it was shown on Channel 4.

Channel 4 aka Film Four made or supported some very good films in the 80s and 90s, this was an exception.

YABU, it's a old film, have a

The impression I got was that he was doing it because it made him feel a big man and they were doing it because it made them feel grown up and powerful. And at the root of it, they were all empty and unfulfilled and the whole thing was sort of pathetic. But you could see how it happened. They weren't exactly bursting with opportunities and alternatives.

It was funny in parts, but not because of that horrible "relationship". It was more the absolute lack of self awareness (where would any of them get that from?) and the awfulness of life in general.

I've never heard of this film, so I read the Wikipedia summary and it sounds shocking and kind of bizarre. But of course, the written summary doesn't really convey the tone so going by other comments I guess it's meant to be a cautionary tale? Fishbowl is a similar and more recent film that on paper would seem to be romanticising teen girl/adult male relationships but was anything but

I've always found it distasteful btw, I just wouldn't get upset about it, there are far worse films, record lyrics, other art forms, isn't it better to educate our children rather than clutch pearls and ban stuff or pretend it don't happen.

Sorry, the film is called Fish Tank!

I started a post a year or so ago about exactly this.

I think it’s a great film and with a wonderful dark humour to it but it WAS sold as a comedy.

look at the posters.

Channel 4 aka Film Four made or supported some very good films in the 80s and 90s, this was an exception
Although I dont particularly like the film and it'll never be in my top 5, I do think it is a good film. I may not like the content but it is historically accurate, after all it was written from a lot of personal experience from the author. The film shines a light on some peoples miserable existence back in the 80's.
Sink estates were like that. Some are not much better now.

It wasn't normal but it did happen frequently. It was a time when men got away with grooming underage girls for sure. I babysat for a couple that had a house full of sex toys and lefts porno mags lying around. I was invited to the wife's ann summers party and given loads of booze and bought a horrible plastic corset thing. I was 13.
Luckily I never got pulled into anything sexual but the vibe was definitely there.
Weird times.

The Black Lace song is hilarious…. some things are so bad they’re good.

Its very similar to This is England, but compacted into one film. This is England isn't marketed as a comedy and I don't think Rita Sue and Bob Too should have been either. It contained racism grooming, sexual abuse (all the same themes as This is England) and I can't understand how it's funny. It's quite a bleak film. In saying that, I like both films, but not for comedy reasons. I think they are closer to real life more than anything.

I watched it in the 80's, I remember us kids laughing at the Gang Bang song, and the 'I thought I were great!' in the car, but even back then I knew it wasn't a comedy. Perhaps because I had a similar background to one of the characters

I was a teenager living in Bradford in the 80s, the film realistically reflects what was, and still is going on. But my friends and I did view it as a comedy at the time, it was one of those it's funny cos its true things, we knew nearly all the places featured, we played tennis tournaments on those school courts, in fact I currently live in one of the places shown in the film, it was relatable and realistic. Sadly.

Tbh it touched on a lot more stuff than 2 school girls being groomed by an older man.

If anything when one did go with someone more their own age it had a worse outcome.

I think in the era it might have looked questionable but I knew of far worse goings on.
I think also judging the film by todays standards and todays teens and people who didn’t grow up in that sort of neighbourhood it is going to make it a lot more shocking than it was.

If anything the ending was about them choosing to be with Bob and their best mate

Andrea Dunbar’s personal story might not have been a happy ending but the film was

The stage play was not axed.

The 2017 (I think) revival of the play was temporarily taken off the programme at the Royal Court not because of the play per se but because the MeToo campaign led to allegations against Max Stafford-Clark, the theatre director who originally discovered, mentored and produced the work of the 19 yo Andrea Dunbar.

After an energetic discussion / debate about censorship, the silencing of the voice of a young female writer etc, the artistic director of the Royal Court (a woman) reversed her decision.

My dad had a Rover SD1 like Bob and he's been teased about it.

People liking different things shocker. You sound very narrow minded, of course it's a classic film and there are lots of great films that portray things that shouldn't be right but try and add a comedic angle to it.

I love that film!

No-one said it was acceptable, but it was representative of what young girls had to deal with back then. I watched it as a teen and it resonated. I was hounded by creepy older men in the 90s as I'm sure were a lot of young women and it was deemed as almost acceptable. There were comic moments but it's actually rather dark.

Should we only watch Disney films?

I rewatched it recently. It’s not a comic, there are dark comedy elements in it.
It’s a great representation of what life was like at that time. All those girls wearing white skirts and tottering about on those little heels.
I think it’s a story that had to be told. These girls had no prospects, it’s good how far we have come.

First week I was sixth from a girl I made friends with was quitting as she was pregnant by her 35 year old boyfriend. It makes me so sad now.

A different film but the 1996: 'Stella does Tricks' is a better handled representation of how bad it was for some young women.

I hope he didn't have the same song on the car stereo. Yeesh!