Milton Public Library

Outside bet

eng

videorecording

NRT

Outside bet

electronic resource

101

A cold Sunday afternoon in Camberwell, South London. The year is 1985 and six men gather at a table in the pub. They are close friends ages ranging from 20 to 70, and as is their custom, the boys are ready for their weekly session of bonding and banter. Their names are Bax, his father Threads, Mickey, Sam the Sole Man, Alfie, and Smudge, and this afternoon their lives will change forever. A man enters the pub and offers them the chance to buy a racehorse. One of them asks 'what do we know about the king of sports except how to lose a week's wages at the bookies?'. Except Bax doesn't think it is such a bad idea. In fact, the next day at his new job, the idea takes such a hold it prevents him taking note of the conversation around him concerning Rupert Murdoch's plans to relocate the workforce from Fleet Street to Wapping. On his way home, Bax stops off to see Sam the Sole Man and persuades him to 'buy in' to the idea. When he arrives home, his father delivers devastating news. Over the next few days as they try to make sense of this terrible blow, Bax makes a major decision. At their next Sunday get together he announces to his friends that he wants to form a syndicate and buy the horse in honor of his father. His friends and the barmaid (and secret admirer) Katie agree to form a syndicate and the following week trek up to the horse's country stables to negotiate a price with the owner. With a deal in place, the team name the horse The Mumper. Forever fashion conscious, for his first race the boys over estimate the owner's dress code and make quite a spectacle at the smaller than anticipated race course. The trainer convinces Bax that the horse continues to show promise and will come good. Having in turn convinced a now more skeptical syndicate to continue to spend their savings on The Mumper's training, Bax returns to work where the word redundancy is now in the air

adult

live action