Despite the fact that I haven't seen this film since its release in 1969, such was its impact upon me that I feel my comments of today are as clear in my mind now as they were all those years ago.
The Golden Vision was actually filmed, by the BBC (as part of their renowned television series - Play For Today), as a drama-documentary set in Liverpool around the essentially tribal factions of one half of that great city's 'red' and 'blue' football supporters - the Everton fans!
It was written, if I recall correctly, by a contemporary ITN newscaster at that time, Gordon Honeycombe - and it was an everyday tale of the trials and tribulations of 'scousers' following their team in an almost religious manner (even though, being Evertonians, they were also almost all Catholic too).
To me, in recounting an unequalled feel for what it was actually like to be socialised in an environment in which the success or failure of the preferred football team (especially if it also had a big city rival - in this case, Liverpool FC) impacted so much upon the quality of the rest of one's life - chiefly in a contemporary manner - it was a genuine work of art starring such brilliant Liverpudlian actors as Bill Dean and Ken Jones.
The film's title, The Golden Vision, was in reality the nickname that Everton fans had given to one of their collective heroes, Alex Young, even though at the time of its broadcast Young had been replaced as the team's idol by Alan Ball.
There are some marvellous scenes in the tale such as a group of the working class 'Toffeemen' (the club's nickname) going down to London for an away match at Arsenal in the back of a furniture van. Then there is the one in which two ladies, chatting on their door-steps, agree that there are 'only two teams in Liverpool... Everton and Everton reserves!' But perhaps the best sub-plot of the lot is the one in which, with everyone at a wedding of two of the central characters being keen to get through the delayed formalities as quickly as they can - in order to get that afternoon's match at Goodison Park - it transpires that all of the wedding photographs had been shot with everyone turning away in their haste!
The Golden Vision - so appropriately named - is an absolute "must see" for all those who enjoy a peep into a past reality!
The Golden Vision was actually filmed, by the BBC (as part of their renowned television series - Play For Today), as a drama-documentary set in Liverpool around the essentially tribal factions of one half of that great city's 'red' and 'blue' football supporters - the Everton fans!
It was written, if I recall correctly, by a contemporary ITN newscaster at that time, Gordon Honeycombe - and it was an everyday tale of the trials and tribulations of 'scousers' following their team in an almost religious manner (even though, being Evertonians, they were also almost all Catholic too).
To me, in recounting an unequalled feel for what it was actually like to be socialised in an environment in which the success or failure of the preferred football team (especially if it also had a big city rival - in this case, Liverpool FC) impacted so much upon the quality of the rest of one's life - chiefly in a contemporary manner - it was a genuine work of art starring such brilliant Liverpudlian actors as Bill Dean and Ken Jones.
The film's title, The Golden Vision, was in reality the nickname that Everton fans had given to one of their collective heroes, Alex Young, even though at the time of its broadcast Young had been replaced as the team's idol by Alan Ball.
There are some marvellous scenes in the tale such as a group of the working class 'Toffeemen' (the club's nickname) going down to London for an away match at Arsenal in the back of a furniture van. Then there is the one in which two ladies, chatting on their door-steps, agree that there are 'only two teams in Liverpool... Everton and Everton reserves!' But perhaps the best sub-plot of the lot is the one in which, with everyone at a wedding of two of the central characters being keen to get through the delayed formalities as quickly as they can - in order to get that afternoon's match at Goodison Park - it transpires that all of the wedding photographs had been shot with everyone turning away in their haste!
The Golden Vision - so appropriately named - is an absolute "must see" for all those who enjoy a peep into a past reality!
