Alan Freeman Movies

The rise of teen culture in 1950s Britain provides the backdrop for Julien Temple's unconventional rock musical Absolute Beginners. The film centers on Colin, an 18-year-old with a talent for photography and a fondness for the neon nightlife of British jazz clubs. He also is in love with Crepe Suzette, an impulsive, ambitious young beauty who abandons him after attracting the attention of a powerful fashion designer. Depressed and aimless, Colin turns for help to a flashy ad executive (David Bowie) who promises to make him a star photographer. The former lovers take parallel paths to success, capitalizing on the youth mania gripping the nation. The film's nostalgic yet gently satirical look at teen culture is tempered by a recognition of the era's social tension, particularly a disturbing rise in racism. Despite these serious undertones, however, the film tells its story with a colorful vibrancy reminiscent of both MTV and old Hollywood musicals, filled with such show-stopping numbers as a memorable sequence in which Bowie dances on a giant typewriter. Critical reception was mixed, with some hailing the film's spectacular cinematography and ambitious scope, while others found the mixture of tones and style too inconsistent. The film also drew lukewarm response at the box office, with the memorable soundtrack receiving more attention than the film itself. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide

Sebastian (Dirk Bogarde) is an undisciplined mathematics genius who works in the "cipher bureau" of the British government. While cracking enemy codes, Sebastian finds time to romance co-worker Susannah York. The film dwells upon Sebastian's rather lax morals (even by 1968 standards), culminating in his refusal to commit himself to York once he's rendered her pregnant. This aspect of the story is frankly more fascinating than the main espionage plotline. Keep an eye out for Canadian actor Donald Sutherland in a bit as an American. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Although sold as a feature film, Go Go Big Beat was actually comprised of three short features: Swinging UK, UK Swings Again, and Mods and Rockers. The first two were 26-minute jukebox shorts, both directed by Frank Gilpin and consisted of mimed clips of then-current (and a few very obscure) British acts lip-syncing to their then-current singles -- these included the Hollies, Brian Poole & the Tremeloes, the Merseybeats, the Animals, Millie Small, the Migil Five, the Honeycombs, the Applejacks, the Four Pennies, the Wackers, the Tornados, and the Swinging Blue Jeans. Introducing the various acts were then-popular British DJs Alan Freeman, Brian Matthew, and Kent Walton. If the third film had been similarly structured, the resulting movie might have turned a modest profit and left some fond memories behind, but the third section of the original movie was a short entitled Mods and Rockers, directed and produced by Kenneth Hume, presenting a modern dance piece of the same name. The problem was that Mods and Rockers as a dance work and setting was decidedly homoerotic in nature -- which was a big problem in 1964 -- and it was scored to the songs of John Lennon and Paul McCartney, as recorded here by a band called the Cheynes, which included Mick Fleetwood on drums. The proper clearances for the songs and their use in a film as accompaniment may well have been overlooked; that was the view at the time, as threats of court action quickly followed the premiere. In any case, lawsuits followed over the marketing of the movie (the Beatles' name was larger than that of the Cheynes) and the use of the songs, and Go Go Big Beat disappeared soon after its release. It resurfaced, first on videotape from Rhino in the early '80s and later, in a much better mastered (if somewhat sloppily assembled) version, on DVD in 2004. In both instances, it was shorn of Hume's Mods and Rockers, containing only the two performance clip films directed by Frank Gilpin. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide