Gregory's Girl (1980)

What John Hughes did for eighties America, Forsyth has done for Eighties Britain with this little gem. It captures the boredom of a new town, then rips one character's life, such that it was, to pieces by having a girl replace him on the football team. Of course he can't help himself but to fall in love.

I adore this film - well, love it anyway. It quite simply makes me want to be a teenager again. But not in anywhere,USA like so many of Hughes' films, but at home in Scotland. It's just a shame that the three main players - John Gordan Sinclair, Claire Grogan, and to a lessor degree, Dee Hepburn - were never able to build on this.

A one off that has to be seen ....

Fmovies: While I'm sure I was a teenager once (my parents will attest to that), I was never a teenager in Scotland. This film makes me wish I had been.

This unpretentious tale of adolescent adoration (all right, puppy love), is one of the purest, most enjoyable, romance films I have ever seen.

Unlike American cinema where the main characters would be satisfying raging hormonal urges in gratuitously graphic sexual detail, this film by Mr. Forsythe catches the true essence of "young love" by letting the cast be what they are. Simply young people with an awkward sense of decency and a genuine curiosity for the opposite sex.

This is a must see, especially if you ever thought you might have been in love or think you are now.

Try to see the uncut version, as the British film industry has a different sense of 'Family Values' (whatever that is).

I love the secondary sub-plots. So, pay close attention.

This is one of the funniest and most warm-hearted films ever! John Gordon Sinclair and Dee Hepburn were absolutely wonderful in this story of teenage love and the sudden twists & turns that occur when you think you've met THE ONE, but then someone else...

Gregory's Girl fmovies. There is only one thing negative I could say about Gregory's Girl...it makes you sad that the innocence of first love and first dates is gone forever, and also makes me wish my school had been as cool as Gregory's. Excellent performances by all and sundry, no attempts to sacrifice realism for laughs and Clare Grogan at her prettiest. Special mention must be given to the music, wonderfully twee and with a kind of nostalgic delight. Only Bill Forsyth seems able to avoid mawkishness yet still make utterly inoffensive and delectable movies. One of my top ten favourite films and one I never stop enjoying.

Quite simply, one of the best British movies ever made, in fact one of the best movies, period. I watch it about three times a year and never tire of it. A film that is up there with the classic Ealing comedies and has every right to be classed alongside the best. John Gordon Sinclair exudes a gawky, gangling charm as the lovesick Gregory and the rest of the cast are perfect.Jake D'Arcy is wonderful as Phil Menzies, the ambitious sports master, the brilliant Chick Murray is the pompous headteacher, Dee Hepburn is Dorothy, the confident, dedicated new member of the soccer team, Gregory is besotted with her. Clare Grogan of Altered Images is Susan, who along with Carol and Margo conspires to make it an evening that Gregory will never forget. Who's going to be Gregory's Girl? Is it any of them, or is it his kid sister Madeline, 10-going-on-20 years old and his mentor. Special mention goes to Rob Buchanan and Graham Thompson as Gregory's mates Andy and Charlie, who feel that life is passing them by and resolve to get girlfriends. Charlie only has one line, right at the end of the film, but it remains my fave line. If you haven't seen Gregory's Girl, quite simply, you are inadequate!

Back in the eighties when my family first purchased a (Betamax!) video recorder, I watched this all the time. There's just something about the combination of youngster actors who obviously hadn't come from the usual stage schools, the lines from minor characters that you almost miss the first few times (the school reporter - 'I want to interview you and that girl in 4A who had the triplets' - and so many more!) and just the general surrealism (the penguin wandering around the school must surely have influenced the writers of 'Teachers'?) There's a wealth of bizarre characters, both pupils and staff, and for someone who was 13 when it came out, it will never fail to take me back to those awkward teenage crushes and raise a smile. Well, several smiles actually.