Kes is a 1969 drama film directed by Ken Loach and produced by Tony Garnett. The film is based on the 1968 novel A Kestrel for a Knave, written by the Barnsley-born author Barry Hines. The film is ranked seventh in the British Film Institute's Top Ten (British) Films.
Kes was adopted from the novel A Kestrel for a Knave by Barry Hines who co-wrote the screenplay with Loach and producer Tony Garnett. The title is a quotation from the 15th century Boke of St. Albans which pairs appropriate birds with social ranks from
An Eagle for an Emperor, a Gyrfalcon for a King to a Kestrel for a Knave meaning that the kestrel is the bird appropriate to the common man or in this case to the common boy.
