You can tell times have changed when Shirley Anne Field goes to visit boyfriend Albert Finney on his sickbed.

Today you'd expect her to bring along a bunch of grapes, a bouquet of flowers or maybe GQ or Maxim magazine. Shirl brings him a packet of fags.

More than 40 years down the line Finney's assured performance as the Midlands factory worker terrified of responsibility still has the power to impress.

Finney's Arthur is an unashamed Romeo who vaguely rages against the establishment while toiling away to make his pay packet that little bit bigger.

Constantly criticising the lack of ambition in his mum, dad and neighbours, he states categorically that no-one is going to tame his truculent individuality.

That is until he meets Doreen (Field) a hard-headed yet naive woman who wants things done the traditional way - i.e. she wants to get married.

"What I'm out for is a good time - all the rest is propaganda," states Finney as he clocks off and heads for the pub at the beginning of the film.

By the end he's still insisting he's a "fighting pit-prop wanting a pint of beer"... but you don't really believe him anymore.

As a working-class drama, it's interesting to view this as a social document - Sixties Nottingham has the grimy squalor of Victorian London.

Notable as an example of Czech director Reisz's New Wave of British cinema, it also features possibly the quietest ruck in cinema history.

Tim Evans