The Knack… and How to Get It

A candidate for Lester’s defining work, The Knack… and How to Get It is a virtual panoply of his stylistic hallmarks, including witty subtitles, asides to the audience, and a Greek chorus of finger-wagging adults. This adaptation of Ann Jellicoe’s play stars Michael Crawford (20 years before becoming Broadway’s Phantom of the Opera) as a shy schoolteacher who implores his suave lodger (Ray Brooks) to teach him “the knack” of how to score with women, and Rita Tushingham as the object of both men’s desire. The Knack won the Palme d’Or at Cannes and introduced a new term to the lexicon. And that’s not all it introduced—keep your eyes peeled for Charlotte Rampling (as a water skier), Jacqueline Bisset (a girl on a motorbike), and Jane Birkin (who would marry the film’s composer, John Barry, later that year), all three making their screen debuts.