  prick up your ears is a 1987 film, directed by stephen frears, about the playwright joe orton and his lover kenneth halliwell. the screenplay was written by alan bennett, based on the book by john lahr. the film stars gary oldman as orton, alfred molina as halliwell, wallace shawn as lahr and vanessa redgrave as margaret "peggy" ramsay. ==plot== the film tells the story of orton and halliwell in flashback, framed by sequences of lahr researching the book upon which the film is based with orton's literary agent, peggy ramsay. orton and halliwell's relationship is traced from its beginnings at the royal academy of dramatic arts. orton starts out as the uneducated youth to halliwell's older faux-sophisticate. as the relationship progresses, however, orton grows increasingly confident in his talent while halliwell's writing stagnates. they fall into a parody of a traditional married couple, with orton as the "husband" and halliwell as the long-suffering and increasingly ignored "wife" (a situation exacerbated by orton's unwillingness, in 1960s england, to acknowledge having a male lover). orton is commissioned to write a screenplay for the beatles and halliwell gets carried away in preparing for a meeting with the "fab four", but in the end orton is taken away for a meeting on his own. finally, a despondent halliwell kills orton and commits suicide. ==cast== * gary oldman as joe orton * alfred molina as kenneth halliwell * vanessa redgrave as peggy ramsay * frances barber as leonie orton * janet dale as mrs. sugden * julie walters as elsie orton * bert parnaby as the magistrate * margaret tyzack as madame lambert * lindsay duncan as anthea lahr * wallace shawn as john lahr * joan sanderson as anthea's mother ==reception== prick up your ears received a generally positive critical reaction, with a 92% "fresh" rating at review aggregator rotten tomatoes."prick up your ears (1987)". [
1980s_drama_films 1987_films British_LGBT-related_films British_biographical_films British_drama_films British_films English-language_films Films_about_writers Films_directed_by_Stephen_Frears Films_set_in_England Screenplays_by_Alan_Bennett