The Small World of Sammy Lee

Comedy drama based on the television play Sammy by Ken Hughes about a small-time chancer that scrambles around Soho’s seedy underworld to raise the money to pay off a vicious bookie. Entertainer Newley gives one of his best screen performances with a restrained and sympathetic portrayal of a chancer that still retains a vestige of morality. There’s great use of authentic Soho locations and whilst the hackneyed melancholic plot may lack the flair of Billy Liar the film is both assured and not without charm.

Sammy Lee (Anthony Newley), fast-talking compere of a strip tease at a Soho Club, is threatened by the henchmen of Joe Conner, a bookie, to whom he owes money. Meanwhile, Patsy (Julia Foster), a naive 18-year-old former flame of Sammy’s from Bradford arrives in London. Sammy attempts to dissuade her but Peepshow club owner Gerry Sullivan (Robert Stephens) initially offers Patsy a job behind the bar before making her a stripper. Connor despatches a couple of henchmen to collect his £300 or work Sammy over, but after a plea for mercy they give him five hours to find the cash.

Sammy turns to his grocer brother Lou (Warren Mitchell) for the money, but just as he’s heading to the bank, Lou’s hard wife forbids him bailing his brother out. Now desperate for cash, Sammy sets up a number of shady deals but none of them seems to work out. Sammy decides to flee back to Bradford, but Connor’s men are waiting at Victoria Station as the bus leaves. —Britmovie.co.uk