Backdrop fallback

High Hopes

High Hopes

Share

High Hopes

1989

1h 48m

7.0(101 votes)

Comedy

Drama

Overview

Working-class couple Shirley and Cyril are in conflict over whether they should have children, their problems with 'yuppies' moving into the neighbourhood and outpricing them, and the advent of Cyril's ageing mother's seventieth birthday.

Links & Resources

Social & External

Production Companies

Film4 Productions

The people behind it

Cast & crew

10 featured cast members

Starring

Phil Davis

Phil Davis

Cyril Bender

Ruth Sheen

Ruth Sheen

Shirley

Edna Doré

Edna Doré

Mrs Bender

Philip Jackson

Philip Jackson

Martin Burke

Heather Tobias

Heather Tobias

Valerie

Lesley Manville

Lesley Manville

Lætitia Boothe-Brain

David Bamber

David Bamber

Rupert Boothe-Brain

Cheryl Prime

Martin's Girlfriend

Judith Scott

Suzi

Jason Watkins

Jason Watkins

Wayne

Creative team

Directed by: Mike Leigh
Written by: Mike Leigh
Produced by: Simon Channing Williams
Victor Glynn

Similar Movies

Barber Shop City

Barber Shop City

A documentary revealing an observation on three barbershops throughout the course of one summer's day in the city of London - Hackney, Herne Hill, and Catford.

Dark Matter

Dark Matter

Liu Xing a brilliant Chinese student, arrives at University and makes the transition into American life with the help of Joanna Silver. Xing joins a cosmology group working to create a model of the origins of the universe. He is obsessed with the study of dark matter and a theory that conflicts with the group's model. When he begins to make breakthroughs of his own, he encounters obstructions.

Moving McAllister

Moving McAllister

Rick Robinson, a law intern, is scheduled to take the bar exam in just four days. Anxious to score points with his boss Mr. McAllister, Rick unwisely agrees to help the man move. The next day, Rick finds himself in a moving van from Miami to Los Angeles, accompanied by McAllister's spoiled niece and her pet pig.

Holiday Reunion

Holiday Reunion

All Mitch Snider wants for his family is a traditional holiday feast with the relatives. The problem is that he doesn't have any. That is until he gets an invitation in the mail from his long-lost cousin Woodrow. What follows is a full-course meal of nonstop laughs when the neurotic suburbanites clash with the hippy hicks from hell in National Lampoon's most outrageous family misadventure yet.

An Inspector Calls

An Inspector Calls

An upper-crust family dinner is interrupted by a police inspector who brings news that a girl known to everyone present has died in suspicious circumstances. It seems that any or all of them could have had a hand in her death. But who is the mysterious Inspector and what can he want of them?

Assassination of a High School President

Assassination of a High School President

After the theft of copies of SAT exams from a principal's office, teenage reporter Bobby Funke sets out to unmask the thief.

Alone With Her

Alone With Her

The harrowing story of a disturbed young man's attempts to win the affections of an unsuspecting young woman. When Doug first sees Amy, he instantly falls for her and begins to watch her every move, going so far as to set up spy cameras in her apartment. However, as his fascination grows into obsession he's no longer satisfied with just watching.

Berkeley

Berkeley

Just as sex, drugs, rock & roll, hippies, and Vietnam enter our consciousness, so it does for Ben Sweet, the shy, 18-year-old son of conservative businessman, Sy. Ben enters UC Berkeley in 1966 to avoid the draft, but finds himself smack in the middle of a home-grown revolution.

Brutal Massacre: A Comedy

Brutal Massacre: A Comedy

Harry Penderecki, a once heralded horror auteur, finds himself on the outside looking in at Hollywood. He hasn't had a hit film in years, and most in the industry, including his close friends, think he's washed up. Harry is given one last chance to redeem himself with what could be his best or last picture. Brutal Massacre becomes just that, as the cast and crew find themselves battling one mishap after another as Harry struggles to keep his sanity against overwhelming resistance to finish the picture and find himself at the top once again.

Poison Ivy: The New Seduction

Poison Ivy: The New Seduction

A sinister seductress vows to destroy a suburban family.

True True Lie

True True Lie

After 12 years in an asylum, as she is reunited with friends and family, Dana begins to realize the events that led to her stay there may not have been imaginary.

Dr. Phibes Rises Again

Dr. Phibes Rises Again

The eminent Dr. Phibes awakens from a decade of suspended animation and heads to Egypt with the corpse of his dead wife, which he intends to resurrect by murdering people in strange and heinous ways.

Truly Madly Deeply

Truly Madly Deeply

Nina is totally heartbroken at the death of her boyfriend Jamie, but is even more unprepared for his return as a ghost. At first it's almost as good as it used to be – hey, even the rats that infested her house have disappeared. But Jamie starts bringing ghostly friends home and behaving more and more oddly.

Happy Together

Happy Together

A couple travels from Hong Kong to Argentina to revive their relationship but experience turbulence when both men's lives drift in separate directions.

Inherit the Viper

Inherit the Viper

Since the death of their father, the Riley siblings have kept their heads above water by illegally dealing in painkillers. Josie is managing the business with an iron fist, when her brother, War veteran Kip, is concerned that the risky business is increasingly turning them into outsiders in their small community. While Kip wants to keep his younger brother out of their illegal endeavors, his younger brother is already making plans of his own.

The Angry Birds Movie 2

The Angry Birds Movie 2

Red, Chuck, Bomb and the rest of their feathered friends are surprised when a green pig suggests that they put aside their differences and unite to fight a common threat. Aggressive birds from an island covered in ice are planning to use an elaborate weapon to destroy the fowl and swine.

City Rats

City Rats

Welcome to the world of the City Rats where eight lives collide in a Pulp Fiction style blend that reveals London‘s true dark and twisted underbelly.

Poster Boy

Poster Boy

The gay son of a conservative senator who is also the poster boy for his father's re-election unknowingly befriends a gay activist bent on destroying the hypocritical campaign.

Tears of Blood

Tears of Blood

In this first act, we follow the story of Kenji, a young boy who follows his family's tradition by rejecting any type of cybernetic enhancement in a world where humanity is increasingly mixing with machines.

The Fluffer

The Fluffer

Self-effacing, boyish Sean moves to LA to pursue a career in movies but finds it tougher than he imagined. He stumbles onto porn star Johnny Rebel - a handsome, muscled dream of men and women alike - who awakens Sean’s deep obsession.

Recommended Movies

A Dog Year

A Dog Year

Jon Katz is close to burnout. He's a writer with writer's block; his wife has left for her sister's because he's emotionally distant; he rarely answers his phone. A kennel sends him a border collie that's undisciplined because of abuse. Despite a series of mishaps, Jon decides to keep trying with the dog, and he rents a dilapidated farm house to give the dog room to run. A local handyman refers Jon to a woman who might be able to help him train the dog. Reluctantly, Jon gives her a try. Is the dog the problem, or the owner?

Duplex

Duplex

When a young couple buys their dream home, they have no idea what the sweet little old lady upstairs is going to put them through!

The Braid

The Braid

India. Smita is an untouchable. She dreams of seeing her daughter escape her miserable condition and enter school. Italy. Giulia works in her father’s workshop. When he has an accident, she discovers that the family business is ruined. Canada. Sarah, a successful lawyer, is about to be promoted to the head of her firm when she learns that she is ill. Three lives, three women, three continents. Three battles to fight. Although they don’t know each other, Smita, Giulia and Sarah are unknowingly linked by their most intimate and singular bond.

Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins

Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins

When a celebrated TV show host returns to his hometown in the South, his family is there to remind him that going home is no vacation!

Don't Think Twice

Don't Think Twice

An improv group deals with several crises, including the loss of their lease and one member hitting the big time.

An American Girl: McKenna Shoots for the Stars

An American Girl: McKenna Shoots for the Stars

A young girl struggles to maintain her school grades while competing as a gymnast.

What Maisie Knew

What Maisie Knew

In New York City, a young girl is caught in the middle of her parents' bitter custody battle.

Spanglish

Spanglish

Mexican immigrant and single mother Flor Moreno finds housekeeping work with Deborah and John Clasky, a well-off couple with two children of their own. When Flor admits she can't handle the schedule because of her daughter, Cristina, Deborah decides they should move into the Clasky home. Cultures clash and tensions run high as Flor and the Claskys struggle to share space while raising their children on their own, and very different, terms.

The House on Carroll Street

The House on Carroll Street

A reporter, fired after refusing to give names to a 1951 House Un-American Activities Committee, takes a part-time job as companion to an old lady. While working she overhears a noisy argument in the neighboring house, being conducted largely in German and involving her HUAC prosecutor. She begins to investigate, enlisting the help of the FBI Agent initially detailed to surveil her.

SubUrbia

SubUrbia

A group of suburban teenagers try to support each other through the difficult task of becoming adults.

The Family Plan 2

The Family Plan 2

Now that Dan's assassin days are behind him, all he wants for Christmas is quality time with his kids. But when he learns his daughter has her own plans, he books a family trip to London—putting them all in the crosshairs of an unexpected enemy.

Belfast

Belfast

Buddy is a young boy on the cusp of adolescence, whose life is filled with familial love, childhood hijinks, and a blossoming romance. Yet, with his beloved hometown caught up in increasing turmoil, his family faces a momentous choice: hope the conflict will pass or leave everything they know behind for a new life.

The Father

The Father

A man refuses all assistance from his daughter as he ages and, as he tries to make sense of his changing circumstances, he begins to doubt his loved ones, his own mind and even the fabric of his reality.

Hooking Up

Hooking Up

Bailey and Darla embark upon a misguided and mutually deceitful form of therapy, one in which they must drive across the country, re-enacting Darla's colorful history as a sex addict. As their true motivations for the road trip come to light, the unlikely pair force one another to confront their issues, discovering that there might actually be more to love than just sex.

Carnage

Carnage

Two pairs of parents hold a cordial meeting after their sons are involved in a fight, though as their time together progresses, increasingly childish behavior throws the discussion into chaos.

This Happy Breed

This Happy Breed

A chronicle of the lives of the Gibbons family, from shortly after the end of the First World War to the beginning of the Second.

Pieces of April

Pieces of April

Quirky and rebellious April Burns lives with her boyfriend in a low-rent New York City apartment miles away from her emotionally distant family. But when she discovers that her mother has a fatal form of breast cancer, she invites the clan to her place for Thanksgiving. While her father struggles to drive her family into the city, April -- an inexperienced cook -- runs into kitchen trouble and must ask a neighbor for help.

The Jazz Singer

The Jazz Singer

A young Jewish man is torn between tradition and individuality when his old-fashioned family objects to his career as a jazz singer. This is the first full length feature film to use synchronized sound, and is the original film musical.

Killer's Kiss

Killer's Kiss

Davey Gordon, a New York City boxer at the end of his career, falls for dancer Gloria Price. However, their budding relationship is interrupted by Gloria's violent boss, Vincent Rapallo, who has eyes for Gloria. The two decide to skip town, but before they can, Vincent and his thugs abduct Gloria, and Davey is forced to search for her among the most squalid corners of the city, with his enemy hiding in the shadows.

The Lady in the Van

The Lady in the Van

The true story of the relationship between Alan Bennett and the singular Miss Shepherd, a woman of uncertain origins who ‘temporarily’ parked her van in Bennett’s London driveway and proceeded to live there for 15 years.