Play It Cool (film)

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Play it Cool
Play it Cool (1962 film).jpg
British theatrical poster
Directed by Michael Winner
Screenplay byJack Henry
Produced byDavid Deutsch
Leslie Parkyn
Julian Wintle
Starring Billy Fury
Michael Anderson Jr.
Helen Shapiro
Bobby Vee
Cinematography Reginald H. Wyer
Edited byTristam Cones
Music by Norrie Paramor
Production
companies
Independent Artists
Coronado Productions Ltd.
Distributed by Anglo-Amalgamated Film Distributors
Release date
  • March 1962 (1962-03)
Running time
82 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Budget$400,000 [1]

Play It Cool is a 1962 British musical film directed by Michael Winner and starring Billy Fury, Michael Anderson Jr., Helen Shapiro, Bobby Vee, Shane Fenton, Danny Williams, Dennis Price, Richard Wattis, Maurice Kaufmann and Anna Palk. [2]

Contents

It was one of several pop musicals released around this time. [3]

Plot

Struggling singer Billy Universe and his band The Satellites befriend an heiress who, against the wishes of her father, is searching for her lover whom she has been forbidden to see and with whom she is hoping to elope. The main characters visit a succession of nightclubs where other stars are performing. There are guest appearances by Lionel Blair and Bernie Winters, as well as by record producer Norrie Paramor.

Cast

Production

Michael Winner said he was given the job off the back of several short films he had made. He later commented: "they started to make pop films and that provided the break for young directors. The French New Wave had produced a few young directors and the idea of a director in his twenties was not totally unheard of. That’s how Sidney Furie came in, you know, with Cliff Richard. Dick Lester came in with It’s Trad Dad (1962), and the same week I came in with a film called Play It Cool with Billy Fury." [4]

Winner called it "Britain’s first twist film. Except nobody was twisting there yet, so they didn’t quite know what it was ... But working on a feature film of whatever calibre was obvious preferable to sitting at home waiting for the phone to ring." He wanted to make the movie on location in real clubs but the producers turned down the idea: “We don’t want to go into the West End. Where would we park the cars and have lunch? Besides we have all these lovely men at Pinewood doing nothing and we think they ought to build something. So they put up a lot of rubbish as they always do a few potted plants and bits of hardboard with wallpaper on them then filled the place with extras looking bored." [5]

The only hit [ citation needed ]from the songs featured in the film was Fury's rendition of "Once Upon a Dream".

Critical reception

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "Since It's Trad, Dad deliriously pointed the way for this sort of haphazard pop musical free-for-all, the old-style "straight" treatment seems hopelessly outdated. But while making use of the usual silly romantic complication as an excuse to introduce a collection of frantic musical acts, this film benefits from a youthfully spirited treatment and some coarse-grained comedy that clicks as often as it misses. The boisterous camaraderie of the "Satellites" promises well, though it gets side-tracked by all those reverent tributes to such hit parade guests as Helen Shapiro, Bobby Vee and the talented Danny Williams. The hero is Billy Fury, who, while apparently suffering from an Elvis Presley complex, can't quite shake off an Old Kent Road perkiness which is rather endearing. "The Twist" also figures largely, with particular and inevitable emphasis on large figures." [6]

The New York Times reviewer Eugene Archer called Fury "a Cockney imitation of Elvis Presley" and commented: "some low-budget British filmmakers have contrived a flimsy plot in which he and his gang of Teddyboys escort a pretty socialite around London's twist dives in search of her fickle fiancé. ... The film is full of wiggling hips, throbbing larynxes and youthful energy. As for the sound track – well, it's loud." [7]

Related Research Articles

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This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1961.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Winner</span> English filmmaker, food writer (1935–2013)

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Robert Thomas Velline, known professionally as Bobby Vee, was an American singer who was a teen idol in the early 1960s and also appeared in films. According to Billboard magazine, he had thirty-eight Hot 100 chart hits, ten of which reached the Top 20. He had six gold singles in his career.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Danny Williams (singer)</span> South African singer (1942–2005)

Danny Williams was a South African-born British pop singer who earned the nickname "Britain's Johnny Mathis", for his smooth and stylish way with a ballad. He is best known for his 1961 UK number one version of "Moon River" and his 1964 U.S. top ten hit, "White on White".

<i>Girls! Girls! Girls!</i> 1962 film

Girls! Girls! Girls! is a 1962 American musical comedy film starring Elvis Presley as a penniless Hawaii-based fisherman who loves his life on the sea and dreams of owning his own boat. "Return to Sender", which reached No. 2 on the Billboard pop singles chart, is featured in the film. The film peaked at #6 on the Variety box office chart and finished the year at #19 on the year-end list of the top-grossing films of 1962, having earned $2.6 million at the box office. It was also nominated for the Golden Globe award for Best Motion Picture - Musical in 1963.

<i>Thatll Be the Day</i> (film) 1973 British film

That'll Be the Day is a 1973 British coming of age drama film directed by Claude Whatham, written by Ray Connolly, and starring David Essex, Rosemary Leach and Ringo Starr. Set primarily in the late 1950s and early 1960s, it tells the story of Jim MacLaine (Essex), a British teenager raised by his single mother (Leach). Jim rejects society's conventions and pursues a hedonistic and sexually loose lifestyle, harming others and damaging his close relationships. The cast also featured several prominent musicians who lived through the era portrayed, including Starr, Billy Fury, Keith Moon and John Hawken. The film's success led to a sequel, Stardust, that followed the life of Jim MacLaine through the 1960s and 1970s.

<i>The Cool Mikado</i> 1963 British film by Michael Winner

The Cool Mikado is a British musical film released in 1963, directed by Michael Winner starring Frankie Howerd, Lionel Blair and Stubby Kaye. It was produced by Harold Baim, with music arranged by Martin Slavin and John Barry. The script was written by Michael Winner from an adaptation by Maurice Browning.

<i>Its Trad, Dad!</i> 1962 British film by Richard Lester

It's Trad, Dad! is a 1962 British musical comedy film directed by Richard Lester in his feature directorial debut. It stars singer and actress Helen Shapiro alongside Craig Douglas, John Leyton, the Brook Brothers, and Chubby Checker, among other rock-and-roll singers, as well as several Dixieland jazz bands. The film was one of the first produced by Amicus Productions, a company known predominantly for horror films.

Shane Fenton and the Fentones were an English rock and roll group formed in Mansfield in 1960. Shane Fenton, the band's namesake, was actually the stage name of two different musicians; when the first Shane Fenton, actually named Johnny Theakston, suddenly died, he was replaced by Bernard Jewry who assumed the Shane Fenton identity. They had four top 40 hits with Jewry as their lead singer. Jewry would later find fame as Alvin Stardust.

<i>West 11</i> 1963 British film by Michael Winner

West 11 is a 1963 British crime film directed by Michael Winner and starring Alfred Lynch, Kathleen Breck, Eric Portman, Diana Dors, and Kathleen Harrison. It is based on The Furnished Room (1961), Laura Del-Rivo's debut novel, adapted for the screen by Willis Hall and Keith Waterhouse. Set in west London, the title is taken from the postcode W11.

British rock and roll, or typeset as British rock 'n' roll, is a style of popular music based on American rock and roll, which emerged in the late 1950s and was popular until the arrival of beat music in 1962. It was important in establishing British youth and popular music culture and was a key factor in subsequent developments that led to the British Invasion of the mid-1960s. Since the 1960s, some stars of the genre, most notably Cliff Richard, have managed to sustain successful careers and there have been periodic revivals of this form of music.

This is a summary of 1962 in music in the United Kingdom, including the official charts from that year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Once Upon a Dream (Billy Fury song)</span> 1962 single by Billy Fury

"Once Upon a Dream" is a song by English singer Billy Fury, released as a single in July 1962. It peaked at number 7 on the Record Retailer Top 50.

"Because of Love" is a song by Elvis Presley, released on his soundtrack album Girls! Girls! Girls! in November 1962.

References

  1. "Nat Cohen's Many Deal with Yanks". Variety. 31 January 1962. p. 4.
  2. "Play It Cool". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
  3. PLAY IT COOL Monthly Film Bulletin; London Vol. 29, Iss. 336, (Jan 1, 1962): 95.
  4. Spers, David. "An Interview with Michael Winner". Screen. Vol. 10, no. 3. p. 6.
  5. 'Rome Won't Forgget Him': Winner: Rome Wont' Forget Him Winner: Rome Won't Forget Him Palmer, Alix. Los Angeles Times 7 June 1970: p1
  6. "Play It Cool". The Monthly Film Bulletin . 29 (336): 95. 1 January 1962 via ProQuest.
  7. Archer, Eugene (18 July 1963). "British Rock 'n' Roll". The New York Times. p. 15.