# Poor Cow
**Poor Cow** is a 1967 British drama directed by [Ken Loach](https://www.edgepedia.org/ken-loach), his debut feature film, about a young working-class mother in London who drifts through a series of failed relationships with criminals while her husband is in prison. It stars [Carol White](https://www.edgepedia.org/carol-white) as Joy, Terence Stamp as Dave, and [John Bindon](https://www.edgepedia.org/john-bindon) as Tom, and was adapted by Loach and novelist Nell Dunn from Dunn's 1967 novel of the same name.[1](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/a7777e6d-8dff-5653-94c7-222b436308cc/poor-cow) • [2](https://vintageclassicsfilm.co.uk/movies/poor-cow/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director / debut | Ken Loach's first feature film, made in 1967 after his television Wednesday Plays *Up the Junction* (1965) and *Cathy Come Home* (1966)[1](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/a7777e6d-8dff-5653-94c7-222b436308cc/poor-cow) • [3](https://player.bfi.org.uk/rentals/film/watch-poor-cow-1968-online) |
| Source | Adapted from Nell Dunn's 1967 novel; screenplay by Dunn and Loach[2](https://vintageclassicsfilm.co.uk/movies/poor-cow/) • [4](https://oldyorkeronline.com/poor-cow/) |
| Principal cast | Carol White (Joy), Terence Stamp (Dave), John Bindon (Tom), Queenie Watts (Aunt Emm), Kate Williams (Beryl)[5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/poor-cow) |
| Running time | 101 minutes[1](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/a7777e6d-8dff-5653-94c7-222b436308cc/poor-cow) |
| Music | Songs by Donovan, including settings of words by Christopher Logue[2](https://vintageclassicsfilm.co.uk/movies/poor-cow/) • [6](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1968/02/03/moo-who) |
| US release | January 31, 1968 (wide)[5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/poor-cow) |
| Later life | Scenes of Terence Stamp were reused as flashbacks in Steven Soderbergh's *The Limey* (1999)[1](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/a7777e6d-8dff-5653-94c7-222b436308cc/poor-cow) |
## Spoilers
### Story and characters
The film opens with Joy giving birth to her son Jonny, then follows her marriage to Tom, a small-time thief whose petty criminality outweighs his interest in his family.[7](https://www.blu-ray.com/Poor-Cow/167575/) • [4](https://oldyorkeronline.com/poor-cow/) Tom is jailed after a bungled robbery, and Joy takes up with his associate Dave, a thief played by [Terence Stamp](https://www.edgepedia.org/terence-stamp) who treats her with genuine affection.[3](https://player.bfi.org.uk/rentals/film/watch-poor-cow-1968-online) • [8](https://www.timeout.com/movies/poor-cow) Dave is in turn sentenced to twelve years for a robbery in which an old woman was beaten nearly blind, and Joy is left to raise her son alone, moving through jobs in a pub, cheesecake modeling, and a string of casual relationships before Tom's release brings her back to him.[9](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/dec/08/ken-loach-poor-cow-reviewed-1967) • [10](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/poor-cow/reviews)
The BFI describes Joy as a young working-class mother living in the London slums who, although poor and mistreated by her lovers, remains resilient about her lot.[1](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/a7777e6d-8dff-5653-94c7-222b436308cc/poor-cow) An Open University history publication quotes her line of intent, "All you need is a man and a baby and a couple of nice rooms to live in", and reads the film as a reminder that the "Swinging" 1960s applied only to a lucky metropolitan few while many lives remained circumscribed by poverty and class.[11](https://css2.open.ac.uk/outis/docs/publications/OZLSAB.pdf)
## Production and style
Loach came to the film at the height of his television fame, having directed hard-hitting docudrama for the BBC's Wednesday Play strand.[3](https://player.bfi.org.uk/rentals/film/watch-poor-cow-1968-online) • [12](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/BOOKSHELF-ARH/Encyclopedias/Archive-Encyclopedia-of-Television/Encyclopedia-of-Television-Vol-2.pdf) Shooting took place on London locations in the spring of 1967: contemporary press reports place Carol White in Chelsea and Fulham in late March, with the crew filming in Hounslow, Heston, Walham Green, and a World's End street scheduled for demolition under a redevelopment scheme in early April.[13](https://londononlocation.co.uk/films/poor-cow/)
**Style.** The film mixes kitchen-sink social realism with devices Loach rarely used again: Joy's voiceover narration, inter-titles reminiscent of the silent era, straight-to-camera interview segments, and pop songs on the soundtrack.[1](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/a7777e6d-8dff-5653-94c7-222b436308cc/poor-cow) • [9](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/dec/08/ken-loach-poor-cow-reviewed-1967) Time Out's Tom Huddleston described Chris Menges's restless camera winding through bustling streets, bombsites, smoky pubs, and poky flats, while noting Loach's debt to the [French New Wave](https://www.edgepedia.org/french-new-wave) combined with an intimate, non-judgmental empathy of his own.[8](https://www.timeout.com/movies/poor-cow) Other credits list the photography as Brian Probyn's, shot in Eastmancolor, with editor Roy Watts and music by Donovan.[14](https://www.nzfilmsociety.org.nz/uploads/4/4/8/5/44856883/close_up_2017_web.pdf) • [15](https://mubi.com/en/films/poor-cow/critics-reviews) For the first time Loach cast a well-known star, Terence Stamp, though he continued to use non-professionals in later work.[1](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/a7777e6d-8dff-5653-94c7-222b436308cc/poor-cow)
## Reception
The film divided critics from the start. Richard Roud, reviewing it in *The Guardian* on December 8, 1967, praised Terence Stamp's acting and parts of the dialogue but called the film "downright awful", objecting to what he saw as extraneous devices, including ballads with lyrics by Christopher Logue, Brechtian captions, and documentary shots emphasizing the ugliness of the couple's surroundings.[9](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/dec/08/ken-loach-poor-cow-reviewed-1967) [Pauline Kael](https://www.edgepedia.org/pauline-kael), in *The New Yorker* in January 1968, wrote that the film becomes impersonal in trying to be a modern, unsentimental slice of life, and that one comes away no wiser about Joy, her husband, or her lover.[6](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1968/02/03/moo-who) Roger Ebert, writing in the *Chicago Sun-Times* in March 1968, called it not a very good movie but extremely interesting in terms of what was happening in British cinema, noting that Loach seemed unable to decide what his story meant.[16](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/poor-cow-1968) Brenda Davies, in *Sight & Sound* in 1967, took the opposite view of the lead performance, praising Loach's rapport with actors and the "marvellously warm and likeable portrait" he drew from Carol White.[1](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/a7777e6d-8dff-5653-94c7-222b436308cc/poor-cow)
On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a Tomatometer score of 50 percent from 16 critics' reviews, against an audience Popcornmeter score of 80 percent from more than 250 ratings.[5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/poor-cow) Later assessments have been warmer: Peter Bradshaw's 2016 Guardian review of the restoration called it Loach's key early masterpiece and "a vividly detailed time capsule",[17](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/jun/23/poor-cow-review-ken-loach-debut-masterpiece) and Time Out rated it four out of five, calling it "a time-capsule character study of great warmth and compassion" while noting that the emotional intensity of Loach's very finest work would come with *Kes* two years later.[8](https://www.timeout.com/movies/poor-cow) The BFI summarizes the film's standing by saying it is not one of Loach's greatest critical successes, but shows that his concern with society's treatment of the working class was present from the start of his film career.[1](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/a7777e6d-8dff-5653-94c7-222b436308cc/poor-cow)
## Release and afterlife
Release dates for the film are reported inconsistently across databases. The US wide release is consistently given as January 31, 1968.[5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/poor-cow) • [18](https://www.25thframe.co.uk/movies/poor-cow) For the United Kingdom, Letterboxd lists a theatrical release on December 5, 1967,[19](https://embed.letterboxd.com/film/poor-cow/) blu-ray.com lists November 5, 1967,[7](https://www.blu-ray.com/Poor-Cow/167575/) and 25thframe and SaltyPopcorn list January 21, 1968.[18](https://www.25thframe.co.uk/movies/poor-cow) • [20](https://www.saltypopcorn.co.uk/movies/poor-cow) The film also reached Sweden in August 1968, Finland in November 1968, and Mexico in [January 1970](https://www.edgepedia.org/january-1970).[7](https://www.blu-ray.com/Poor-Cow/167575/)
The film gained an afterlife through [Steven Soderbergh](https://www.edgepedia.org/steven-soderbergh)'s *The Limey* (1999), which incorporated substantial excerpts of it, with scenes of a young Terence Stamp serving as flashbacks in the later crime drama.[1](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/a7777e6d-8dff-5653-94c7-222b436308cc/poor-cow) • [3](https://player.bfi.org.uk/rentals/film/watch-poor-cow-1968-online) A digital restoration funded by [StudioCanal](https://www.edgepedia.org/studiocanal) in collaboration with the BFI's Unlocking Film Heritage program, using National Lottery funds, supported a 2016 re-release on disc and in cinemas, fifty years after the premiere.[2](https://vintageclassicsfilm.co.uk/movies/poor-cow/) • [17](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/jun/23/poor-cow-review-ken-loach-debut-masterpiece) The film is available to rent on BFI Player and carries a 15 certificate for infrequent sexualised nudity.[1](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/a7777e6d-8dff-5653-94c7-222b436308cc/poor-cow) • [3](https://player.bfi.org.uk/rentals/film/watch-poor-cow-1968-online)
## References
1. [Poor Cow (1967), BFI](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/a7777e6d-8dff-5653-94c7-222b436308cc/poor-cow)
2. [Poor Cow, Vintage Classics (StudioCanal)](https://vintageclassicsfilm.co.uk/movies/poor-cow/)
3. [Watch Poor Cow online, BFI Player](https://player.bfi.org.uk/rentals/film/watch-poor-cow-1968-online)
4. [Poor Cow, Old Yorker](https://oldyorkeronline.com/poor-cow/)
5. [Poor Cow, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/poor-cow)
6. [Moo Who? by Pauline Kael, The New Yorker, January 27, 1968](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1968/02/03/moo-who)
7. [Poor Cow (1967), Blu-ray.com](https://www.blu-ray.com/Poor-Cow/167575/)
8. [Poor Cow review, Time Out (Tom Huddleston)](https://www.timeout.com/movies/poor-cow)
9. [Ken Loach's Poor Cow reviewed, archive 1967, The Guardian (Richard Roud)](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/dec/08/ken-loach-poor-cow-reviewed-1967)
10. [Poor Cow, Audience Reviews, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/poor-cow/reviews)
11. [Exploring History, Open University publication](https://css2.open.ac.uk/outis/docs/publications/OZLSAB.pdf)
12. [Encyclopedia of Television, Vol. 2 (Ken Loach entry), World Radio History](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/BOOKSHELF-ARH/Encyclopedias/Archive-Encyclopedia-of-Television/Encyclopedia-of-Television-Vol-2.pdf)
13. [London on Location: Poor Cow](https://londononlocation.co.uk/films/poor-cow/)
14. [NZ Film Society, Close Up 2017: Poor Cow credits](https://www.nzfilmsociety.org.nz/uploads/4/4/8/5/44856883/close_up_2017_web.pdf)
15. [Poor Cow (1967) critic reviews, MUBI](https://mubi.com/en/films/poor-cow/critics-reviews)
16. [Poor Cow movie review, Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times, March 3, 1968](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/poor-cow-1968)
17. [Poor Cow review, The Guardian (Peter Bradshaw), June 23, 2016](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/jun/23/poor-cow-review-ken-loach-debut-masterpiece)
18. [Poor Cow 1967, 25thframe.co.uk](https://www.25thframe.co.uk/movies/poor-cow)
19. [Poor Cow (1967), Letterboxd](https://embed.letterboxd.com/film/poor-cow/)
20. [Poor Cow (1967), SaltyPopcorn](https://www.saltypopcorn.co.uk/movies/poor-cow)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Drama and biographical films (individual works) › Drama films 1960s › Released 1966 to 1969*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license