Warner Bros, 1965
Starring Dave Clark, Barbara Ferris, Yootha Joyce, and David Lodge
Directed by John Boorman
Music by Dave Clark; Lyrics by Lenny Davidson and Denis Peyton
This week, we rock the British Invasion with two movies featuring popular bands from overseas. The success of the first two Beatles films suddenly made rock bands from England all the rage. One of the most popular on both sides of the Atlantic was The Dave Clark 5. In fact, they were the second biggest band in England during the mid-late 60's, with 12 top 40 hits in the UK and 17 in the US. Warners, seeing their success and that of Hard Day's Night, contracted them to make their own rock-based movie. How does their film debut look today? Let's begin with stuntman Steve (Clark) and his buddies as they begin their day to the title song and find out...
The Story: Steve is tired of doing stunts for a series of TV meat commercials with his friends, but he does enjoy working alongside "The Butcher Girl" Dinah (Ferris), the campaign's spokeswoman. She too has had enough of fame and joins Steve when he steals a Jaguar being used as a prop. Dinah wants to see an island she's purchased and convinces Steve to take her across a lovely wintry English landscape to see it.
They end up among hippies squatting in a bombed-out abandoned town, spend time with a wealthy couple in the upper-class Royal Crescent housing row in Bath, and frolic at a party with Steve's buddies and at a costume ball. The police and Dinah's manager Zissell (David De Keyser) believing that Steve's kidnapped her and chases them across England. Steve already has a crush on lovely Dinah, but it may turn out that, despite her complaints, she loves her time in the spotlight more.
The Song and Dance: This didn't end up at all like I expected. I figured we'd get a goofy comic romp, like the Beatles movies or the Beach Party films made in the US around the same time. What we got was a charmingly bittersweet romance between two people who are tired of the fame machine and just want peace and quiet.
As with the Beatles films, having a genuinely good director who was in tune with the material made all the difference. John Boorman would later go on to direct classics like Deliverance and the original Point Break, and he brings his darker sensibilities to this teen romance. Some of the cinematography is breathtaking, and Boorman shoots it in a way that shows its majesty and plays up the darker edges in the script.
The Numbers: We open with the Dave Clark Five giving us their daily morning work out to the tune of the original title song, "Catch Us If You Can." An instrumental montage shows us the meat ads that feature the Five and made Delilah famous popping up all over London. A second instrumental montage shows Delilah and Steve stealing the car and wrecking havoc around London, including painting glasses and beards on Delilah's ads. "Having a Wild Weekend," the title song for the US release, provides the background for the actual wild party as Dinah borrows clothes from a friend of hers.
The hippies play a short, moody guitar-and-harmonica piece as Delilah and Steve arrive. "Catch Us If You Can" returns during the big masquerade ball where Dinah and Steve hide with the help of his friends. We also hear the moody ballad "Sweet Memories" and the wild "I Can't Stand It" after the police arrive. "On the Move" provides the backdrop for the wild chase through the baths that end with half the guests in the swimming pool. "When" is the background music as Dinah and Steve hike and chase each other across the frozen English landscape. The movie ends with "Sweet Memories" as the others drive Steve away, leaving Dinah to her real love - the spotlight.
Trivia: Dinah would be happy to know that the abandoned hotel on her sandbar Burgh Island has since been restored and is now in operation as Bigbury-By-the-Sea.
In real life, British military training and target areas are fenced off with clear signage indicating what they are. There's no way Dinah, Steve, or the hippies would end up there. If nothing else, the military would have checked for trespassers before they opened fire anyway.
Dave Clark 5 member Lenny Davidson is the only one with no lines in the film.
What I Don't Like: There's a lot of negative reviews for this online, and I suspect most of them were expecting this to be more like the upbeat Beatles films or a feature-length Monkees episode. It works best when it stands out from the crowd as a gentle, moody, meandering romance. The attempts to ape Hard Day's Night, including the party at the guys' apartment, the opening title song sequence, and the goofy masquerade party, don't work nearly as well and come off as trying too hard to be funny. There's also that "meandering" thing. Dinah and Steve's wandering all over England can get kind of dull, especially in the second half and for people expecting a more linear and traditional musical.
There's also the problem of Clark himself. He's handsome and clearly knows how to play to the camera, but he's also not much of an actor and has the personality of a dead fish. Ferris does somewhat better as flighty Dinah, and the rest of the Dave Clark Five have their moments, but there isn't nearly enough of them. I kind of wish Clark had relinquished a little of the spotlight and allowed them to do more with the guys and Dinah as a group.
The Big Finale: This may not be the wildest weekend ever, but it is a surprisingly sweet and moody romance that deserves to be far better-known. Highly recommended for fans of European cinema in the 60's or British Invasion rock.
Home Media: Easily found on streaming and DVD, the latter from the Warner Archives.
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