Six Days to Saturday

[london_red]

Came across this gem this afternoon and thought it might be of interest:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/wiltshire/content/articles/2008/05/12/six_days_to_saturday_stfc_film_1963_feature.shtml

Basically a documentary about the start of Swindon's '63-4 season, with a newly promoted side featuring a 17 year old Don Rogers.

Bizarrely directed by John Boorman who went on to direct a few major films - Deliverance being the only one I'd actually heard of to be fair.

Just watched it, and for someone not old enough to have seen these guys in person found it quite fascinating.

Oh, and to help take away the disappointment of Saturday, the last 15 minutes or so are highlights of us beating Leyton Orient 5-0 at home 

[leefer]

Seen it many times but still enjoy watching it.
Maybe some of the Town players of those days gave him the idea for Deliverance!
Brilliant film that is.

[Summerof69]

I got it copied onto a DVD a number of years ago.

Top documentary though, along with the 'That's Football' one from the '92-93 season.

[Batch]

Seen the film, is great. Always worth a periodic repost in case someone missed it.

Bizarrely directed by John Boorman who went on to direct a few major films - Deliverance being the only one I'd actually heard of to be fair.

I didn't know that. But I just IMDB'd him and he also produced the Exorcist II. That was probably a fairly big film given the first was a success.

As an aside the Exorcist was based on a boys real life account - well what the boy/family said was real anyway. A few years ago somebody wrote a piece on it and tracked down who the boy was and where he now lived. With the information, even though the names/some of the places were changed, it took 45 minutes to do the same. The internet is a more powerful beast than the beast.

[Ardiles]

I will never get tired of promoting this excellent 'fly on the wall' documentary - so apologies for bumping an old thread.

For anyone who has not come across it before, 'Six Days to Saturday' is a documentary directed by legendary director John Boorman in 1963.  It follows a week in the life of Swindon Town FC during October 1963, starting with footage of the squad returning (by plane!) from an away defeat at Preston (some things never change) through to the following Saturday where we thumped Leyton Orient 5-0 at the County Ground in front of a crowd of 19,000.

A link to the documentary (also shown in london_red's opening post) can be found here.

And records of the two games that week are also linked below:
  Saturday, Oct 12th 1963: Preston 1-0 STFC
  Saturday, Oct 19th 1963: STFC 5-0 Leyton Orient

The reason for bringing this up again now is that 50th anniversary of the week covered by 'Six Days to Saturday' is now just a couple of weeks away.  Hopefully we'll mark the occasion 50 years on with more wins against Rotherham and Notts County.

[Ardiles]

Just watched the first 5 minutes again and, if you are in to club history etc., it's enough to stand up the hairs on the back of your neck.  If you haven't watched it, please do give it a go.  It's free, and 40 minutes very well spent.  Nice little intro to all of the players from that era (incl Summerbee, Smart, Rogers) and to the Club itself...in its first ever season on the 2nd rung of English football.

[Reg Smeeton]

For anyone who has not come across it before, 'Six Days to Saturday' is a documentary directed by legendary director John Boorman in 1963.  It follows a week in the life of Swindon Town FC during October 1963, starting with footage of the squad returning (by plane!) from an away defeat at Preston (some things never change) through to the following Saturday where we thumped Leyton Orient 5-0 at the County Ground in front of a crowd of 19,000.

That Preston side was half decent...ended up in the Cup Final...when it was still meaningful. Howard Kendall came in as a kid, who I think at the time was the youngest ever player to appear in the final. They lost 3-2 to West Ham, after being 2-1 up quite late on...WHU had Bobby Moore and Geoff Hurst.  Been downhill ever since for Preston.

Much has changed in Swindon in the subsequent years...a few things for the better, but many things for the worse. The club largely reflecting this trend.

[dalumpimunki]

Came across this gem this afternoon and thought it might be of interest:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/wiltshire/content/articles/2008/05/12/six_days_to_saturday_stfc_film_1963_feature.shtml

Bizarrely directed by John Boorman who went on to direct a few major films - Deliverance being the only one I'd actually heard of to be fair.

Surprised you've not heard of him. Point Blank, his first film, is really good, and Excalibur was a big cult hit. His son Charley, who was in a few of his films (he was the little gold armour wearing Mordred in Excalibur and the kid brought up by the rainforest tribe in the Emerald Forest), is the freeloading mate of Ewan McGregor who rides around the world on bikes with him in order to make a TV career.

[RedRag]

Point Blank ....documenting the hilarious and increasingly desperate attempts of Swindon's new striker* to score a goal as he exasperates disbelieving fans, teammates and coaches alike.  You will weep but not with laughter

*Insert Thomas Dossevi, Eric Sabin or Shaun Close according to taste

[Ardiles]

One final plug.  Today marks the 50th anniversary of the 5-0 victory over Leyton Orient, extended highlights of which appear at the end of the documentary (click here).  Goals from Hunt, Summerbee (Snr), Rogers & Morgan.  Anyone missing their Saturday football fix today should give it a go!

[Ardiles]

And just re-reading the end of my earlier post from a few weeks ago, the present day incarnation of STFC certainly didn't disappoint.  

Hopefully we'll mark the occasion 50 years on with more wins against Rotherham and Notts County.

[Bogus Dave]

Just watched it. It's nice and nostalgic, but it's a bit awkward to watch. A lot of bad acting