BBC Documentaries

The Falkirk Cowboys (2019x259)

Uitzenddatum: Dec 04, 2019

Nearly 50 years ago, in the unlikely setting of the British Aluminium plant in Falkirk, a group of around 20 workers put aside15p a week from their wages to fund their other lives as film-makers. The Falkirk Cowboys tells the story of those men, their town and the impact of the films they made.This posse of factory-working movie-makers called themselves the BA Cowboys. They were led by a fork lift driver-turned amateur film director called Rab Harvey, whose love of Westerns proved so infectiousthat he corralled enough co-workers together to make a series of increasingly ambitious amateur films.The 60s and 70s saw a rising trend in amateur film-making. Super 8 cameras became increasingly affordable, creating home enthusiasts. One such enthusiast was British Aluminium worker Jock Aitken.Rab, Jock and a few others shot a homemade Western called The Lawless Breed. The initial reaction of the workers at the plant was one of amusement. But on seeing the film, opinions changed. Rab Harvey askedhis co-worker Denis McCourtney to lasso in a few extra people and the BA Cowboys were born. Their films had all the trademarks of the classic Western, though with a definite Falkirk slant.The Cowboys’ series of increasingly ambitious films not only capture something of their time, but also communicate the creativity, fun and camaraderie within the group. The men worked long shifts inmonotonous jobs and the films provided them with an arena where they could let their imaginations run free. Inspired by Westerns they had seen in the cinema and on TV during their childhoods their film titles included Border Badmen, Apache Ambush and Showdown.Shot on a shoestring budget and often filmed in a day, they turned Falkirk’s Callander Park into a Western backdrop, learned to ride the horses they hired for the shoots from a local stable, and witha bit of help from fellow factory workers and family members, made their own props and costumes - the gun holsters were made from ladies handbags picked