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Kes

1970 1h 51m
Drama
MOVIEVIBE Rating
7.4/10
459 reviews
Your Rating
Kes

Bullied at school and ignored and abused at home by his indifferent mother and older brother, Billy Casper, a 15-year-old working-class Yorkshire boy, tames and trains his pet kestrel falcon whom he names Kes. Helped and encouraged by his English teacher and his fellow students, Billy finally finds a positive purpose to his unhappy existence.

"They beat him. They deprived him. They ridiculed him. They broke his heart. But they couldn’t break his spirit."

Top Billed Cast

David Bradley
David Bradley
Billy
Freddie Fletcher
Freddie Fletcher
Jud
Lynne Perrie
Lynne Perrie
Mrs. Casper
Colin Welland
Colin Welland
Mr. Farthing
Brian Glover
Brian Glover
Mr. Sugden
Bob Bowes
Bob Bowes
Mr. Gryce
Bernard Atha
Bernard Atha
Youth Employment Officer
Laurence Bould
Laurence Bould

Detailed Critic & Audience Reviews

C CinemaSerf Verified TMDB Critic
2026-06-09

When I think back to my childhood, this is one of the few films that I ever saw that induced some sort of emotional reaction. It was it's last five minutes that achieved that, but building up to this denouement we watch the antics of the amiable working class lad "Billy" (David Bradley). He lives with his mum (Lynne Perrie) and his older, bullying, brother "Jud" (Freddie Fletcher) on a bit of a shoestring and is largely a loner at school. Then one afternoon he espies a young kestrel nesting in a farmer's tree. He convinces the man to allow him to try and rear the bird and so with the help of a...