JUST FOR FUN

 

American publicity poster for Just For Fun (© Gordon Flemyng/Amicus Productions/Columbia Pictures – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

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.

 

Australian publicity poster for Just For Fun (© Gordon Flemyng/Amicus Productions/Columbia Pictures – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

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.

 

Colourised still from Bobby Vee's performance of 'The Night Has A Thousand Eyes' on Just For Fun (© Gordon Flemyng/Amicus Productions/Columbia Pictures – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

 

CATCH US IF YOU CAN & WHAT A CRAZY WORLD - A COUPLE OF CULT BRITISH ROCK 'N' ROLL MOVIES FROM THE 1960S

The official DVDs that I own for Catch Us If You Can and What A Crazy World (© John Boorman/Anglo-Amalgamated/Warner Bros. Pictures / (© Michael Carreras/Capricorn/Warner-Pathé Distributors – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

I returned to my childhood last weekend by watching a couple of cult b/w British teen/rock'n'roll movies from the 1960s on DVD.

The first of these was Catch Us If You Can (retitled Having A Wild Weekend in the USA), which was the first movie directed by John Boorman, and was released in 1965. It stars one of my all-time favourite British bands, London's totally awesome Dave Clark Five, who were also exceedingly popular across the pond in the States (hence this movie's release there too). However, expecting a light-hearted romp akin to some of the Beatles movies and containing a sizeable number of their very popular hits, I was disappointed at how few DC5 songs actually appear in it (other than its two title songs), as well as by how oh-so-serious and deep this movie tries so hard to be, only to come across instead, at least imho, as frequently po-faced and pretentious.

Its plot sees the boys play TV stuntmen who become disenchanted with their unrewarding, unappreciated jobs, resulting in Dave's character Steve going awol in a stylish E-Type Jaguar with Dinah, a TV meat advertisement's beautiful starlet (played by Barbara Ferris), followed by the other boys, with Dinah's agency in hot pursuit of all of them, and everyone becoming entangled in all manner of unexpected situations en route to a small island that Dinah is thinking of purchasing. True, there are a few attempts here and there to inject some much-needed comedy into the proceedings (especially the scenes featuring Robin Bailey and the always-wonderful Yootha Joyce as a pair of unhappily-married, constantly-bickering socialites who become temporary hosts to absconding Steve and Dinah). Yet in my view even these often seem half-hearted or laboured.

Knowing how jovial and genial the DC5 always appeared (most especially their very personable lead singer Mike Smith) in their many interviews and guest appearances on numerous TV shows during their 1960s heyday, however, I certainly do not believe that the fault for such perceived shortcomings in Catch Us If You Can lay in any way with them. Instead, I personally feel that it stemmed from this movie's basic concept – apparently striving to be highbrow, rather than simply settling for humorous, like most movies in this particular genre tend to be.

Nevertheless, it's still great to know that this superb band are forever preserved in feature-length movie format at the height of their much-deserved fame and popularity, during the exciting decade of the Swinging 60s that I grew up in and which they so extensively helped to define musically. Moreover, Dave Clark himself is unquestionably one of the most influential figures of all time in British music.

The official DVD for Catch Us If You Can that I own (© John Boorman/ Anglo-Amalgamated/Warner Bros. Pictures – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

The other movie was What A Crazy World, directed by Michael Carreras, released in 1963, and set in London's East End. Adapted for the big screen from an earlier stage play by Alan Klein, it stars British rockers Joe Brown and Marty Wilde in their heyday, alongside Susan 'Bobby's Girl' Maughan as well as Freddie and the Dreamers, plus a number of familiar British character actors – most notably Michael Ripper who plays multiple characters, all of whom are put upon somewhat amusingly by the unruly local youth contingent.

Thankfully, this film follows the much more traditional comedy-propelled course for such flicks, and also features a sizeable selection of specially-written songs. Unfortunately, however, with the sole exception of the very catchy title song (which was a minor hit in the UK singles chart for Joe and his backing band the Bruvvers), they are all instantly forgettable, as indeed, sadly, is the film itself to a large extent.

The plot revolves around working-class family the Hitchenses, with likeable if feckless youth Alf Hitchens (played by Joe Brown) very much an initially work-shy Jack the Lad figure, much to the disgust of his belligerent father (Harry H. Corbett), and made even worse by the hero-worship that Alf receives from his younger brother Joey (Michael Goodman). Alf's friends are equally irresponsible, especially the ostensibly loveable but invariably troublemaking layabout Herbie (Marty Wilde), none of which pleases Alf's on-off girlfriend Marilyn (Susan Maughan). Needless to say, however, after a few spills (and fewer thrills), it all turns out right for these Cockney salt-of-the-earth geezers and birds.

What A Crazy World is certainly a pleasant enough film for whiling away 85 minutes, but, as noted earlier, is mostly unmemorable, except for the scenes featuring Marty Wilde, and only then because of how huge he appears, towering over all of the other stars like a latter-day Lemuel Gulliver in a London-based Lilliput! Although I've always been a fan of his music, I had no idea that he was so tall!

In summary: although I'm glad to have watched both of these movies hailing from my very distant past, the ineluctable truth revealed from having done so is that nostalgia's simply not what it used to be! But don't let that stop you from checking them out for yourself, by clicking here to view and listen to the title credits scene and track for Catch Us If You Can, and here for a What A Crazy World trailer.

And to view a complete 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! 

The official DVD for What A Crazy World that I own (© Michael Carreras/Capricorn/Warner-Pathé Distributors – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)