Based on Henry Fielding's novel, Tom Jones is a lascivious eighteenth-century romp, its satirical bite achieved through Tony Richardson's use of asides, freeze-frames, subtitles, jump cuts and other twentieth-century devices. Albert Finney is Tom, the bastard boy raised by a Somerset squire “as his own.” But Tom's low birth and penchant for women of the same ilk keep him persona non grata as regards marrying any of the daughters of the local squires (all of whom, of course, have equally Rabelaisian proclivities). In love with Sophie (Susannah York), who beautifully belies her father's image of her as a pure flower, Tom suffers expulsion and numerous affairs with other women before he can get 'er. Tom Jones is filled with the joy of sex and cooking, together - scenes like that in which Tom and Mrs. Waters engage in foreplay with their supper are memorable - but its subversive, life-loving force is countered with a cynical view of more culturally accepted institutions: the cruel hunt, the military, and the boldly hypocritical social structure. (JB)