Alan Bates Michael Caine Sean Connery Tom Courtenay Albert Finney Richard Harris Peter OToole Robert Shaw & Terence Stamp: They are the most formidable acting generation ever to tread the boards or stare into a camera whose anti-establishment attitude changed the cultural landscape of Britain. This was a new breed many culled from the working class industrial towns of Britain & nothing like them has been seen before or since. Their raw earthy brilliance brought realism to a whole range of groundbreaking theatre from John Osbornes Look Back in Anger" to Joan Littlewood & Harold Pinter & the creation of the National Theatre. & they ripped apart the staid middle class British film industry with kitchen sink classics like " Saturday Night & Sunday Morning" " This Sporting Life" " The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner" "A Kind of Loving" & " Billy Liar" before turning their sights on international stardom: Connery with James Bond OToole as Lawrence of Arabia Finney with Tom Jones & Caine in Zulu. " Dont Let the Bastards Grind You Down" brings alive the trail-blazing period of theatre & film from 1956-1964 through the vibrant energy & exploits of this revolutionary generation of stars who bulldozed over austerity Britain & paved the way for the swinging 60s. What Peter Biskinds " Easy Riders Raging Bulls" did for American cinema writing so " Dont Let the Bastards" will do for the British cinema."