Shirley Valentine (film) seem recycled directly from greeting cards . . . If there is a shred of plausibility in the film, it comes from Bernard Hill's performance as Shirley Valentine's husband. He isn't a bad bloke, just a tired and indifferent one, and when he follows his wife to Greece at the end of the film there are a few moments so truthful that they show up the artifice of the rest." Shirley Valentine (film) Shirley Valentine is an award-winning 1989 British romantic comedy-drama film directed by Lewis Gilbert. The screenplay by Willy Russell is based on his 1986 one-character play of
The Ecstasy of Rita Joe Ryga and... Bloomfield have accomplished their purpose." Jamie Portman of the "Vancouver Province" wrote of the revival in 1976: "...the play still worked. Rita Joe was a landmark in more ways than one. It was - and remains - a play for all seasons and for all peoples." The "Washington Post" was positive, but Julius Novick, of "The New York Times" wrote, "'Canadian Playwright.' The words seem a little incongrous together, like 'Panamanian hockey-player,' almost, or 'Lebanese fur-trapper.'" The Ecstasy of Rita Joe The Ecstasy of Rita Joe is a drama by George Ryga. The play, in two acts, premiered