In Northern England in the early 1960s, Frank Machin is mean, tough and ambitious enough to become an immediate star in the rugby league team run by local employer Weaver.

The Whales of August is a 1987 film based on a play by David Berry starring Bette Davis and Lillian Gish as elderly sisters. Also in the cast were Ann Sothern as one of their friends, and Vincent Price as a peripheral member of the former Russian aristocracy. The film was shot on location on Maine’s Cliff Island. The house still stands and is a popular subject of artists on the island. The film was directed by Lindsay Anderson, his final feature film, and the screenplay was adapted by David Berry from his own play.