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Named after a Buddy Holly song and set to a score of early American rock hits, Claude
Whatham's story of a restless working-class lad in Britain the late 1950s (reportedly
inspired by the early life of John Lennon) is a portrait dissatisfaction and disaffection.
Real-life rocker David Essex (of the hit single "Rock On") stars as a Jim
MacLaine, a schoolboy who chucks it all in a spontaneous rebellion. Not so much an angry
young man as simply frustrated and directionless, he drifts through seasonal jobs,
scamming girls with his veteran carnival buddy (a cocky Ringo Starr with rocker sideburns)
and killing time in dance clubs. The overwhelming emptiness finally sends him wandering
back to his dreary hometown for a more respectable life, but it's no better fit. While
music is never the focus of the film, the nascent rock & roll scene simmers around the
edges through American records and British cover bands (Billy Fury and Keith Moon appear
in cameos). The drab small towns and chilly seaside holiday camps evoke a stifling sense
of conformity and social stagnation--think of it as a uniquely British take on Rebel
Without a Cause--that becomes the crucible for the rebellious British rock & roll
explosion around the corner. It's considered to be one of the great rock films, and it
spawned a sequel, Stardust. |
