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Derided by one critic as a director whose early promise had allegedly given way to his being 'merely a consummate professional', Schlesinger's adaptability can now rightly be celebrated as perhaps his greatest strength.
The Consummate Professional: John Schlesinger at 100 season shines a spotlight on the often overlooked full range of the director's filmography in this, his centenary year, with screenings taking place across the UK from February to April 2026.
As the first openly gay mainstream director to feature explicitly LGBTQ characters in a majority of his films (as a main theme or highlighted as an significant background feature), it was only natural to begin this retrospective on LGBTQ+ History Month with Midnight Cowboy, the film released the year of the Stonewall riots of 1969.
(1956, UK)
Despite having made some well-regarded amateur features, it was the short Sunday in the Park that provided Schlesinger's watershed moment. Shot and edited while he was still a touring stage actor, it proved such an effective showpiece that it won him the BBC contract that launched his professional career.
(1961, UK)
Developed from the day-in-the-life home movies he made as a schoolboy, Schlesinger's breakthrough midlength film was shot entirely on location at Waterloo station. Mixing documentary footage with staged incidents, the memorable result would win its director the first of his many BAFTAs, for Best Short Film.
(1962, UK)
Schlesinger's first studio feature also marked the first of his four collaborations with actor Alan Bates. In an adaptation of Stan Barstow's debut novel, Bates plays the luckless Vic Brown, one of the British New Wave's numerous & 'angry young men' - but in this case, one upstaged by his mother-in-law (Thora Hird).
Starring Alan Bates, June Ritchie
(1963, UK)
Schlesinger's second feature arguably signalled the end of the British New Wave, melding its gritty kitchen-sink realism in the North of England with the comic fantasy life of its title character, played to perfection by Tom Courtenay. But it was one Julie Christie, in a radiant supporting role, who stole the show.
Starring Tom Courtenay, Julie Christie
(1967, UK)
Savaged by the critics on its original release, this epic Thomas Hardy adaptation - produced at the height of the Swinging Sixties - would soon have the last laugh. Ranked the 79th greatest British film by the BFI, its scope and grandeur provided the earliest proof of Schlesinger's ability to adapt himself to any genre.
Starring Julie Christie, Terence Stamp, Alan Bates, Peter Finch
(1969, US)
A haunting soundtrack, iconic dialogue, unforgettable characters and a heartbreaking story: against all odds, John Schlesinger's first film made outside the UK became a landmark of American cinema. An X-rated blockbuster, it won Best Picture and Best Director Oscars, and an enduring spot in filmmaking history.
Starring Jon Voight, Dustin Hoffman, Sylvia Miles
(1971, UK)
The runaway success of Midnight Cowboy gave Schlesinger the freedom to make any film he wanted; the result was his greatest masterpiece. Penelope Gilliatt's melancholy drama of a polyamorous relationship is told with unrivalled depth and understanding for its characters, not least Peter Finch's gay Jewish doctor.
Starring Peter Finch, Glenda Jackson, Murray Head
Winner of 2 BAFTAs for Best Actor (Peter Finch) and Best Actress (Glenda Jackson)
(1975, US)
Fresh off his two greatest critical successes, Schlesinger found it almost impossible to get his next film off the ground at all. Rarely seen and perennially misunderstood, his bitterly savage exposé of the darkest facets of Hollywood's golden era would leave its mark on everything from Barton Fink to Babylon.
Starring Donald Sutherland, Karen Black, Burgess Meredith, William Atherton
(1976, US)
A graduate student and obsessive runner in New York is drawn into a mysterious plot involving his brother, a member of the secretive Division.
Starring Dustin Hoffman, Laurence Olivier, Roy Scheider
(1979, US)
Vanessa Redgrave, Richard Gere and Rachel Roberts shine in Colin Welland's ensemble Second World War tale of American GIs billeted in a small Lancashire town. Schlesinger's insightful drama lays bare the bittersweet stories behind the once-familiar saying that the Yanks were 'overpaid, oversexed and over here'.
(1987, US/UK/Canada)
Schlesinger's teenage experiments with the cinematic grotesque finally came to fruition in his most explicit foray into mainstream horror. Martin Sheen plays a traumatised police psychiatrist tracking down the occultists behind a series of unspeakable crimes, all committed in the pursuit of unimaginable rewards.
Starring Martin Sheen, Helen Shaver, Harley Cross
(1990, US)
Schlesinger's return to thrillers provided one of his most enduring late successes, with its initially mixed reception firmly settling into cult classic status. Melanie Griffith stars as one of a pair of loved-up yuppie landlords whose San Francisco dream renter (Michael Keaton) turns out to be the tenant from hell.
Starring Melanie Griffith, Michael Keaton, Matthew Modine
(1993, Germany/UK)
Despite being brought in as a late directorial replacement, Schlesinger made The Innocent his own, recasting and reworking Ian McEwan's adaptation of his own novel as a mix of his favourite genres, resulting in a pleasingly Hitchcockian spy thriller. Its central set piece of bloodless butchery remains one of his finest.
Starring Anthony Hopkins, Isabella Rossellini
- Sunday Bloody Sunday - March 2026 (TBA)
- The Day of the Locust - March 2026 (TBA)
- The Innocent - March 2026 (TBA)
- Pacific Heights - April 2026 (TBA)
- The Believers - April 2026 (TBA)
- Sunday Bloody Sunday - April (TBA)
- Far From the Madding Crowd - April (TBA)
- Billy Liar - April (TBA)
- April-May 2026 (TBA)
- Sunday Bloody Sunday + Panel discussion (March/April TBA)
- Yanks (35mm) + Intro - 26th March