I must have been nine years old, given the date of the film, when I saw this. I remember it as gray, wet, and fascinating. There seemed to have been a run on children's films from the UK in the late sixties ("Run Silent, Run Free" comes to mind as well), and that may have helped make me the Anglophile I am today.
And the killing... yes, it was a huge emotional shock. But was it an inappropriate one? I don't think so. In fact, what I remember even more than the shock of the killing itself was watching the main character's grief and recovery from that. I don't think I'd seen anything like that before in a film, and it is something very worthwhile that stayed with me.
Certainly you should be prepared to talk to your children about this, but I don't know if sheltering them from it is a good response. That's like never getting them a pet because animals die.
And the killing... yes, it was a huge emotional shock. But was it an inappropriate one? I don't think so. In fact, what I remember even more than the shock of the killing itself was watching the main character's grief and recovery from that. I don't think I'd seen anything like that before in a film, and it is something very worthwhile that stayed with me.
Certainly you should be prepared to talk to your children about this, but I don't know if sheltering them from it is a good response. That's like never getting them a pet because animals die.