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    • The Hidden Leader
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  • Walter's Blog.
  • Home
  • Introduction
  • About Walter
    • 1980 Joining Up - Grafton Street >
      • Arrival and First Impressions
      • First Week
      • Training
      • Passing Out
    • Yaumati Cowboy >
      • Getting on the Streets
      • Tempo of the City
      • Jumpers, pill poppers and the indoor BBQ
      • Into a Minefield.
    • Why Tango in Paris, when you can Foxtrot in Kowloon? >
      • Baptism By Fire
      • Kai Tak with Mrs Thatcher.
      • Home; The Boy Returns
  • 1984 - 1986
    • PTU Instructor & Getting Hitched
    • Having a go: SDU
    • Starting a Chernobyl family
    • EOD - Don't touch anything
    • Semen Stains and the rules
  • 1987 to 1992 - Should I Stay or Go?
    • Blue Lights, Sirens & Grenades
    • Drugs, Broken Kids & A Plane Crash
    • 600 Happy Meals Please!
    • Hong Kong's Best Insurance
    • Riding the Iron Horse
  • Crime in Hong Kong
    • Falling Crime Rates - Why?
    • Triads
  • History of Hong Kong Policing
    • History 1841 to 1941
    • History 1945 to 1967
    • Anatomy of the 50 cent Riot - 1966
    • The Fall of a Commissioner.
    • History 1967 to 1980
    • Three Wise Men from the West
    • The Blue Berets.
    • The African Korps and other tribes.
    • Getting About - Transport.
    • A Pub in every station
    • Bullshit Bingo & Meetings
    • Godber - The one who nearly got away.
    • Uncle Ho
  • Top 20 Films
    • 2001 - A Space Odyssey.
    • The Godfather.
    • Blade Runner
    • Kes
    • Star Wars
    • Aliens
    • Ferris Bueller's Day Off
    • The Life of Brian
    • Dr Strangelove.
    • Infernal Affairs
    • Bridge on the River Kwai.
    • This Is Spinal Tap.
    • Chung King Express
    • An Officer and a Gentleman
    • PTU
    • Contact
    • Saving Private Ryan
    • Family Guy Star Wars
    • Zulu
    • Hard Day's Night
  • The Long Read
    • How The Walls Come Down
    • War in Ukraine - the narrative and other stuff.
    • The Hidden Leader
    • The Big Game
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KES

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As a Yorkshireman I can claim this film as my own. The setting I recognise, the accents are familiar whilst the characters are known. We had a kid down our street called ‘Rookie’. He had a pet crow, was a bit of a loner and got bullied. So Kes as resonance with me, although I never suffered like Billy Casper.

It’s 1969. Billy is a poor northern lad destined for work down the pit. At 15 he’s failing at school, has a history of petty crime, whilst his dysfunctional family provides only the basics. His father has left home, his Mum is seeking a new companion and his elder half-brother is a violent bully. Billy is a ‘hopeless case’ according to his Mum. 

One day Billy finds a Kestral, which he adopts and starts to train. He can't get a falconry book from the library, so he steals one from a shop. Billy starts to train the bird. In the process he matures, becomes focused and starts to make progress at school. His speech about the bird to a class of enthralled classmates is captivating. Suddenly Billy is no longer a victim of life, but someone with purpose.

Unfortunately, things don’t go well for Billy. He spends his brothers horse bet money on feeding the bird instead of placing the bet.  But the horses win. His enraged brother kills the bird in revenge. Billy buries the bird. 


The movie captures a time and place. A northern English community where young people have no future beyond the mines. The people portrayed are all familiar. Self important teachers, the football mad sports master with delusions of being a football star and petty officials in the library. We are left bereft of an ending, wondering what happened to Billy. Did he go down the pit? What became of the boy?

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