Scum (film)

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Scum" film – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (May 2012) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Scum
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Alan Clarke
Written by	Roy Minton
Produced by	Davina Belling Clive Parsons Don Boyd Michael Relph Martin Campbell
Starring	Ray Winstone Mick Ford Julian Firth John Blundell Phil Daniels Ray Burdis
Cinematography	Phil Meheux
Edited by	Michael Bradsell
Production companies	Kendon Films Berwick Street Films "A"
Distributed by	GTO
Release dates	12 September 1979 (1979-09-12) (Toronto International Film Festival) 20 September 1979 (1979-09-20) (London)
Running time	97 minutes[1]
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Budget	£250,000[2]

Scum is a 1979 British prison drama film directed by Alan Clarke and starring Ray Winstone, Mick Ford, Julian Firth and John Blundell. The film portrays the brutality of life inside a British borstal. The script was originally filmed as a television play for the BBC's Play for Today series in 1977. However, due to the violence depicted, it was withdrawn from broadcast.^[3] Two years later, director Alan Clarke and scriptwriter Roy Minton remade it as a film, first shown on Channel 4 in 1983.^[3] By this time the borstal system had been reformed. The original TV version was eventually allowed to be aired eight years later in 1991.

The film tells the story of a young offender named Carlin as he arrives at the institution and his rise through violence and self-protection to the top of the inmates' pecking order, purely as a tool to survive. Beyond Carlin's individual storyline, the film also serves as an indictment of the borstal system's flaws, with no attempt at rehabilitation. The warders and convicts alike are brutalised by the system. The film's controversy arose over its graphic depiction of racism, extreme violence, rape, suicide, many fights and very strong language.^[4]