I Start Counting (1970)

Unlike a great many movies that deal with youthful infatuation and unrequited love, both Jenny Agutter ("Wynne") and Bryan Marshall ("George") are approximately the ages they are meant to be in this coming-of-age drama with a twist, and that helps the plot work rather well. She is the 15 year old girl living with her mother, two stepbrothers, and her grand father. She has the mother of all crushes on the 32 year old "George", and even though he doesn't remotely reciprocate, she will do what she can to keep him sweet. When she discovers a jumper she gave him covered in blood, just as news is breaking of a serial killer who is preying on young girls, she decides it must be him and to protect him at all costs... Agutter was never the most versatile of actors but here she plays a character that has an innocence, a naivety, a vulnerability about her that vacillates from the absurd to the creepy very effectively. We know who the killer is (or, initially whom it certainly isn't, anyway) so the thriller element is dealt with really quite quickly. What's left isn't just a daft romance though, it has menace and a sharpness to it with a well written, gritty and occasionally quite ripe dialogue from her other stepbrother "Len" (Gregory Phillips) and quite an intimidating performance from bus conductor Simon Ward. David Greene has used a fair degree of cinematic licence with this adaptation, and to be honest elements of the production look very dated after 50 years, but it is still very tautly presented and is well worth a watch.

Not a typical coming of age story, not a typical thriller. This movie shows love, danger, and family through female eyes but with an objective voice.

You will see obsessive unrequited love drawn to its inevitable conclusion. You will find female sexuality accurately portrayed as a naive and contradictory force. The friendship between the two young female leads is also a bitingly accurate portrayal of the relationship dynamic between girls who, while they depend on one another, tend towards spiteful competition.

The movie is layered and nuanced despite being simple in its delivery. Murder mystery, teenage romance, and personal drama all dovetail into a coherent story that never feels overwhelming or convoluted. The ending is predictable yet satisfying.