Kes
1969
A young working-class boy in a Yorkshire mining community finds purpose and joy in training a kestrel hawk, providing an escape from an oppressive home life and a school system with no interest in his potential. Ken Loach's landmark British realist film is a quietly devastating portrait of a child failed by every adult around him.
Director
- Ken Loach
Cast
- David Bradley
- Colin Welland
- Brian Glover
Filming Locations
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Athersley
Athersley South was home to St Helens Secondary School, where writer Barry Hines had taught, and where most of the school scenes were filmed; the staff and pupils were also used as extras.
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Barnsley
The film was shot entirely on location in and around Barnsley, with the town's streets, shops, and townscape providing the authentic working-class backdrop for Billy Casper's story.
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Hoyland
Hoyland provided Billy Casper's home streets, with 56 Parkside Road used as his house, and nearby streets including a fishmonger and butcher's van used in scenes where Billy buys food for himself and his kestrel.
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Hoyland Common
Hoyland Common, off Hawshaw Road just north of the Casper house, is where Billy proudly puts the kestrel through its paces for his impressed teacher Mr Farthing in one of the film's most celebrated scenes.
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St. Helens County Secondary School
St Helens Secondary School in Athersley South is the school depicted in the film, used for all the classroom, corridor, and football field scenes, with real staff and students appearing as extras.