Product: Educating Rita (UK) [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2 Import - United Kingdom ]
Rating: 5.0
Good take on the British class system
Pygmalion recast on a modern British college campus. Michael Caine plays Professor Frank Bryant, a literature prof and burnt-out drunk, and Julie Walters is the blimey girl who wants an education. Both are wonderful as is the story, with the emphasis being placed on Walters's insistance on choosing for herself. It's a credit to Willy Russell's script that she does not fall in love with Caine at the end (that would have been an easy road to go down): the good professor's life is changed for the better and given purpose again by Walters, but he does not win her in the end. The dialogue is crisp and sharp (though it takes a bit getting used to, especially Walters), and the whole movie is most enjoyable. Well worth a watch.