The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

Sometimes Mr Winner gave the impression that as long as he got his cheque he didn't care whether anybody liked his films. Fortunately for him he hit a rich vein with his "Death Wish" franchise which were extremely popular and despite critical disapprobation hit a vein particularly in the U.S. where urban violent crime was reaching a new high and vigilanteism seemed to be an answer if not the answer. Long before then he had a number of idiosyncratic British films he could look back on including "The System" and "The jokers" both starring Mr O.Reed. From time immemorial local youths in seaside towns have regarded female visitors as fair game,but this is a game two can play and more often that they realised the hunters became the hunted as happens in "The System" where Ur- alpha male Beach photographer Mr Reed is played at his own game by a rich and beautiful tourist(Miss J.Merrow). Beautifully photographed by Mr Roeg and stylishly directed by an enthusiastic and energised Mr Winner,this film is due a renaissance.

Strange to think that this is set around the same time as Quadrophenia, with a similar modish feel and seaside destination. Like Quad, it has a fine up and coming cast including Oliver Reed, John Alderton, Julia Foster, Derek Nimmo, Derek Hemmings... It starts with a rackety beat group song complete with whoa yeahs! (why is it the Beatles still sound fresh doing that while other bands sound a bit naff and dated?) The 'system' refers to the local lads at Torquay who work out how to pull girls during the summer season when tourists flock to the seaside holiday resort (no easyJet back then). It opens as the lads walk down the train from London checking out the talent and alerting the leader of the gang Tinker (a young but still not particularly boyish Ollie Reed).Very early on you suss that this film is Alfie without the charm. This may be a good thing, seeing as Alfie isn't exactly a role model. None of the gang are charismatic but the moral trajectory is much the same as Alfie but without any of that Swinging London cheek or sex appeal. Still, it's a fascinating snapshot of the period. Nicolas Roeg did the photography, and er, Michael Winner the directing. Dramatically it faffs about a bit in the final third act.

A blast from the past for those young in the early 60s is the belated DVD release of THE SYSTEM (US Title: THE GO-GETTERS) made in 63 and released in 64 - when I saw it aged 18 when it would have played here in the UK for a week on release as part of a double bill and then promptly vanished without trace until I saw the DVD yesterday. It comes with a nice 8 page booklet too setting the film in context which is a model of its kind, if only more DVD re-issues followed suit! The film directed by Michael Winner with marvellous black and white photography by Nicholas Roeg is set in one of those English seaside towns following a gang of young men, led by the then very charismatic Oliver Reed, and their amorous pursuits over the summer and is actually a perfect compendium of European cinema trends of the time - there are Antonioniish moments (the tennis game here has a real ball) and it ends like LA DOLCE VITA in a Felliniesque dawn at the beach as the disillusioned characters realise the summer is over. The script by Peter Draper anticipates elements of DARLING and BLOWUP.It sports of course a great cast of English young players of the time (Barbara Ferris, Julia Foster, Ann Lynn, John Alderton) as well as reliables like Harry Andrews. Of the young cast David Hemmings (rather in the background here) would two years later personify the 60s when chosen by Antonioni for his lead in BLOWUP. Jane Merrow (Hemmings' girlfriend of the time, and a replacement for Julie Christie who was doing BILLY LIAR) is perfect as Nicola the rich girl whom Reed falls for but she plays the game better than he does. I got to meet her myself once ...Winner of course may be rather a figure of fun now, one forgets that in the 60s before those DEATH WISHES etc his films caught the moment as well as any by Richard Lester, Losey, Schlesinger or the underrated Clive Donner, with titles like THE JOKERS and I'LL NEVER FORGET WHATSHISNAME where Reed was meant to be his character from THE SYSTEM five years later.In all its a perfect early 60s movie full of sounds and faces and the mood of that time before the 60s happened. For anyone interested in English cinema or remembers the era, its a real pleasure to see again 40+ years later !

"The System" was both the first time director Michael Winner had ventured away from films featuring pop groups to something more serious and representative of the 60s, and the first time Oliver Reed had a lead role that wasn't in a Hammer horror. The scene where you see him for the first time in the camera range gives you some idea of what kind of screen presence he had before the booze became more important than the image. As Tinker the photographer, the leader of a randy gang in Brighton, Reed is exceptionally good, and also in the cast are John Alderton, David Hemmings, and Andrew Ray, all offering good support. The film gets under the skin of the decade and manages to be interesting to watch as well.