On 22 November 2022, I watched one of those quite numerous early 1960s British juke-box-style teen musicals in which a minimal, largely incidental storyline links together a sizeable number of pop performances by big music stars of the day. I have a fair few of these nowadays largely-forgotten movies in my DVD collection, and the one that I watched last November and am now reviewing here today is Just For Fun.
Directed by Gordon Flemyng, and released in 1963 by Columbia Pictures, Just For Fun is an 85-min-long b/w film (segments from it have subsequently been colourised) whose story, such that it is, is about how Britain's dissatisfied teenagers (is there any other kind??) launch their own political party, the Fun Party, headed by Mark Wynter's lead character, Mark, in order to win the forthcoming general election – which, incredibly, they do!
But like I say, in typical teen movie musical style most of the film consists of song performances (presented in lieu of dull speechifying as the Fun Party's bright and breezy election campaign, and with the movie's title song serving as their campaign song!), by notable UK acts, including the afore-mentioned Mark Wynter, plus The Tornados, Jet Harris & The Jet Blacks, Joe Brown & The Bruvvers, Brian Poole & The Tremeloes, The Springfields (featuring Dusty), Cloda Rodgers (she later changed her name's spelling to Clodagh), Kenny Lynch, Lyn Cornell, and Karl Denver. There are some big-name USA singing stars appearing here too, such as Bobby Vee, The Crickets, Ketty Lester, Johnny Tillotson, and Freddy Cannon.
Aptly, Just For Fun also features some lively turns from a number of great British comedy actors and actresses, including Irene Handl, Richard Vernon, Hugh Lloyd, and Frank Williams (the vicar in Dad's Army, not the F1 boss!). A stand-out, laugh-outloud performance is provided by the ever-wonderful Dick Emery, who plays four different judges on the panel in a hilarious Juke Box Jury spoof, including a young proto-punk memorably named Neil Sadistic, whose nomenclatural similarity to Neil Sedaka was entirely coincidental, I'm sure...
This movie musical's presenter/narrator, who also features extensively throughout it, is none other than famed DJ Alan Freeman (who still spoke in such a posh accent back then that when he introduced Cockney rockers Joe Brown & The Bruvvers, he insisted, amusingly, upon pronouncing 'Bruvvers' as 'Brothers'!), with fellow DJ David Jacobs appearing too (Jacobs was the host of the real Juke Box Jury TV show, and gamely did the same in best poker-faced manner within this movie's spoof version). But speaking of DJs… the only downside to a very enjoyable, relaxing 1960s music medley of a movie is the mercifully brief appearance of a third DJ, a certain white-haired cigar-chomping unmentionable & unspeakable freak in the role of compère at a party event – but I'm sure that a little careful editing could remove his loathsome presence from future releases of this film.
So yes, except for that, Just For Fun certainly lives up to its name, and showcases a very starry array of performers, as well as some fine, tuneful songs – but which for the most part were apparently specific to this movie rather than being released for the pop charts. One notable exception, however, consists of Bobby Vee performing his smash hit 'The Night Has A Thousand Eyes', which had reached #3 in the UK Singles chart in late 1962.
A video clip featuring him singing this song appears prominently on YouTube, but I'd never realised until now that it had featured in this movie (I think I'm right in believing that it had actually originated as a Scopitone promotional video for this song). So click here to watch said video of Bobby Vee, and here to watch an official Just For Fun trailer on YouTube.
Moreover, at the time of my posting this review here at Shuker in MovieLand (but for who knows how long afterwards?), if you click here you can actually watch Just For Fun in its entirety on YouTube for free! So do so while you can! Or, if you'd prefer simply to view (and listen to!) the song performances, here are links to some of them currently accessible on YouTube:
Click here for Mark Wynter & co performing this movie's title song (colourised).
Click here for Mark Wynter performing 'Vote For Me' (colourised).
Click here for Mark Wynter (with Cherry Rowland) performing 'I'm Happy With You' (colourised).
Click here for Bobby Vee performing 'All You Gotta Do Is Touch Me'.
Click here for Brian Poole & The Tremeloes performing 'Keep On Dancing'.
Click here for Cloda(gh) Rodgers performing 'Sweet Boy'.
Click here for The Crickets performing 'My Little Girl'.
Click here for The Crickets performing 'Teardrops Fall Like Rain' (colourised).
Click here for Freddy Cannon performing 'It's Been Nice (I Gotta Get Up Early In The Morning)'.
Click here for Jet Harris & The Jet Blacks performing 'Man From Nowhere'.
Click here for Joe Brown performing 'Let Her Go'.
Click here for Joe Brown & The Bruvvers performing 'What's The Name Of The Game' (colourised)
Click here for Johnny Tillotson performing 'Judy Judy Judy'.
Click here for Kenny Lynch performing 'Monument' (NB – no visuals from movie)
Click here for Ketty Lester performing 'A Warm Summer Day'.
Click here for Lyn Cornell performing 'Kisses Can Lie'.
Click here for The Springfields (featuring Dusty) performing 'Little Boat'.
Click here for The Tornados performing 'All The Stars In The Sky'.
Finally: to view a complete chronological listing of all of my Shuker In MovieLand blog's other film reviews and articles (each one instantly accessible via a direct clickable link), please click HERE, and please click HERE to view a complete fully-clickable alphabetical listing of them.
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