[petejh]

Thought this was ace. Well put together with the old footage mixed in with some nice reenactment stuff - loved seeing the footage of Jerry on Liquid Ambar. Hopefully it'll inspire one or two of today's wads to see if they're good enough to climb a testpiece power-endurance 8c+ which has defeated most... 

[Will Hunt]

I enjoyed the film. Nice old skool footage. It would have been even better if I'd been alive during that era. It oozed nostalgia. Great stuff.

I don't want to lead this thread into a rather tedious gender politics cul-de-sac, but it was a strikingly male film.
I'm not necessarily having a go at it for that as I'm guessing that was quite representative of the scene at the time. Particularly Hunter House Road and the development of sport climbing. Were there any women who were active in bringing hard sport into the UK? I'm aware of Ruth Jenkins' contribution but have a feeling that her era was the 90s? Was Airlie around/involved or did she come later too? Sorry - genuine ignorance on my part.

[andy popp]

Airlie and Ruth were more the 90s. Bonny Masson and Claudie Dunn were probably important early female sport climbers. As I remember Geraldine largely climbed (and presumably still climbs) trad. I'm sure there are more though. The 80s scenes simply were very male, that was true of Beris too.

[gme]

I loved this but I obviously would. However nostalgia aside I think Nic’s done a great job. It truly was an amazing time for climbing that really inspired many of us who started during the era.

And re the male focus, there really were not many women climbing then might be hard to believe now but there were literally a hand full. I didn’t see a female climbing in Northumberland or the lakes in the 80s. Only Bonny Masson in Yorkshire.
Even in the early 90s there were not many.

[Muenchener]

As I remember Geraldine largely climbed (and presumably still climbs) trad.

I suspect the "still" part may be unlikely since she lives on Kalymnos

[Doylo]

Thought this was ace. Well put together with the old footage mixed in with some nice reenactment stuff - loved seeing the footage of Jerry on Liquid Ambar. Hopefully it'll inspire one or two of today's wads to see if they're good enough to climb a testpiece power-endurance 8c+ which has defeated most... 

Never thought I’d see any new footage of Jez on LA. And on Hubble too, looking pretty strong on it.

[sheavi]

Update on JM's injury?

Saw Ben Moon couple of days ago - JM doing well, neck brace off.

[SA Chris]

Great, thanks

Could have ended badly!

https://magicseaweed.com/news/bodyboarder-dies-in-canary-islands-as-all-time-xl-swell-hits/11295/

[Nibile]

I just watched it and it's absolutely brilliant!

On a side note, unless there was some hi-tech editing, Ned did actually solo Revelations, didn't he?
I think this should have deserved more recognition.

[Will Hunt]

I just watched it and it's absolutely brilliant!

On a side note, unless there was some hi-tech editing, Ned did actually solo Revelations, didn't he?
I think this should have deserved more recognition.

There was a photo on Facebook somewhere of the biggest pad stack you've ever seen at the bottom of it.

[Nibile]

Thank you, fair enough.

[Johnny Brown]

Not sure of the details but I don't think he did it all in a one-er either.

Just to explore Will's theme a little further, I couldn't help noticing it was also a strikingly white film. And not only that, although the protagonists sexuality wasn't explicitly explored, there were strongly heterosexual tones. I had really hoped that a more modern, inclusive view of the 1980's Hunter House Road scene might have recast it somewhere along the lines of Pose/ Paris is Burning?

[spidermonkey09]

Not sure of the details but I don't think he did it all in a one-er either.

Just to explore Will's theme a little further, I couldn't help noticing it was also a strikingly white film. And not only that, although the protagonists sexuality wasn't explicitly explored, there were strongly heterosexual tones. I had really hoped that a more modern, inclusive view of the 1980's Hunter House Road scene might have recast it somewhere along the lines of Pose/ Paris is Burning?

It was also a strikingly male film, which earlier in the thread sounds like was glossed over a little in the q&a? Although I wasn't there so pure conjecture.

[Will Hunt]

I don't think it's a problem that it was a very white/straight/male film because it sounds like that's how the scene was at the time. I wasn't suggesting that we should alter history to fit with modern sensibilities, nor should we impose our values on how we judge historical people or events.

[petejh]

Is pointing out that the 80s climbing scene was very white and male not extremely obvious though? Maybe not to those born in the 1990s?

A bit like saying the orangutan enclosure at Chester Zoo is very ape and hairy.

[Johnny Brown]

Quite. Which is why I considered it a pointless cul-de-sac. (Sorry, spidermonkey09, I was at the Q&A, it wasn't glossed over at all, and I am now taking the piss).

It's a documentary about a very small group of friends in their early twenties. I know it is the fashionable angle of 2019, but I really can't see the point in exploring why they represented a narrow demographic any more than exploring why there weren't any lesbian asians in Cool Runnings.

[spidermonkey09]

Apologies, I missed the pisstaking! I agree with all of the above. Although pretty sure some of the pics of Andy Pollitt were Glenn Robbins shots, which might have a slight homoerotic angle! (see the Jam Crack with Glenn, a great listen).

[Doylo]

Some of them must have gone down ‘bournville boulevard’ during barron spells.

[petejh]

Some of them must have gone down ‘bournville boulevard’ during barron spells.

To be fair who wouldn't want a bit of this man-action:

[duncan]

I enjoyed the film a lot, a UK equivalent to Valley Uprising, structurally and in its mythologising. It romanticised the crapness of the early 80s but only a little. I was only a visitor and never a resident of 84 but it seemed a pretty accurate portrait. Like Revelations it underplayed the drug taking but as some of the protagonists now have jobs and children that’s not a big surprise.

The biggest change in climbing in the last 30 years has been the increase in women participating. In 1984 it was almost solely the preserve of badly adjusted heterosexual (or very closeted, Glen Robbins the notable exception) white men. I was struck by this when watching the film but can’t see how it could have been otherwise.

[spidermonkey09]

While watching it I idly wondered how many of the (I presume) virulently anti-Thatcher protaganists at the time might have voted for her in their current incarnations as businessmen? NB: I may be ascribing political views to them that they didn't hold; no idea!

[cheque]

...any more than exploring why there weren't any lesbian asians in Cool Runnings.

Completely aside from this discussion, I would love to see a Hollywood version of Statement of Youth in the style of Cool Runnings.

[Johnny Brown]

While watching it I idly wondered how many of the (I presume) virulently anti-Thatcher protaganists at the time might have voted for her in their current incarnations as businessmen? NB: I may be ascribing political views to them that they didn't hold; no idea!

There's been some discussion along these lines on the UKC thread...

Completely aside from this discussion, I would love to see a Hollywood version of Statement of Youth in the style of Cool Runnings.

Just as long as they find a role for John Candy.

[gme]

While watching it I idly wondered how many of the (I presume) virulently anti-Thatcher protaganists at the time might have voted for her in their current incarnations as businessmen? NB: I may be ascribing political views to them that they didn't hold; no idea!

You obviously have a very stereotypical view of business men as I would suggest very few in the film vote as you suggest. One definitely does but suggest a vast majority don’t.   
Along similar lines it’s interesting how many ex enterprise allowance scheme members went on to be successful business men.

[gme]

And if you think that 80s sheffield climbing was white male and straight you should have seen Northumberland.

Most in this film should have been looked at as pretty camp boys up north.