The Last of the Finest

John Mackenzie , known as "Frenzy Mackenzie", was a British film director. Born in Edinburgh, he worked in British film from the late 1960s, first as an assistant director and later as an independent director himself. He has been described by critics as "a solid and reliable filmmaker with frequent... flairs of brilliance", but despite tackling such topics as the Hiberno-British struggle, or the assassination of John F. Kennedy he was generally not thought of as a political filmmaker. Rather, Mackenzie focused more frequently on narrative, character and plot. Mackenzie was born in Edinburgh, Scotland on 22 May 1928 and educated at Holy Cross Academy. He studied History at Edinburgh University. He studied drama and joined Edinburgh's Gateway Theatre Company. He worked as a teacher and moved to London in 1960. Mackenzie came at a relatively young age into the formative world of British cinema in the 1960s, with a ready interest in storytelling and narrative devices.
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