Play It Cool

source: Play It Cool

Moviecut—Play It Cool

Oh all right then, the scriptwriter was never in any danger of having to cancel all other arrangements on Oscar night, but this is still a happy, exuberant snapshot of a time when young people could take life much less seriously. A testament to the talents of Billy Fury who had the difficult task of being the main focus with little acting experience, and not least to the remarkable Helen Shapiro with her resonant, clear voice. Highlight must be the number with Fury exhorting everyone to Twist Twist Twist in Max Bacon's nightclub. Is it possible to sit still watching that? Winner certainly made many worse pictures.

Marked down heavily for the very creepy way he sings at the poor women who are just minding their own business in cafes, on aeroplanes etc. A good who's who of sixties British cinema though.

One of Michael Winner's first films, he was 27 at the time, this is no great film but has charm and significance aplenty. The songs are not very strong, the acting even less so, but Winner keeps things moving along and if the story is weak, at least we don't hang about. Instead of this being a stage-bound, 'Let's put on a show' type effort it does give the impression of being something more exciting and 'happening'. Unfortunately for the makers not just the music world but the world itself was about to change. Six months after the release of this film The Beatles released their first single and within another three months they were a phenomenon and joined by The Rolling Stones and many others. The fifties would finally be over, even though this would be 1963 and the sixties would commence, a little late but with great voice. So this film represents a showcase for the last days of an old music and pretty tired it was becoming, too. Billy Fury does okay and all the performers do as well as they can be expected to with average material and are captured as excitingly as possible by the director.

Wafer thin story line, awful dialogue and totally forgettable songs! Billy Fury and other members of his rock group get involved in a contrived meeting at an airport with rich girl, Anna Palk, who try to stop her chasing after 'no good,' Maurice Kaufman. This gives Billy and his chums a chance to visit London's night clubs, where they meet pop singers on the way like Helen Shapiro and Bobby Vee, who add little or nothing to the story. Billy Fury deserved a much better showcase for his talents than this completely disjointed film made on the cheap, which looked tacky even when it was released! No one emerges from the debacle of a film with any credit! The only merit I can see in this film is it's curiosity value - a glimpse of the U.K. pop music scene in 1962, which was shaken to the core a year later with the arrival of the Beatles. 'Play it Cool' was really all about giving Billy Fury, a top recording artist at the time, a chance for fans to see their hero on the silver screen and possibly to provide him with a platform to launch his career as an actor. However, this film failed not only to raise Billy Fury's profile in the film world but merely served to confirm to the critics and the cinema industry as a whole that he couldn't really act.

I'd give this 9 out of ten of Bobby Vee sang a few more songs. Billy Fury and Helen Shapiro appear and sing adding much interest to this well made 1962 Brit nightclub musical with excellent images and music allowing more than a dream glimpse into London of the time. This is a good scrapbook/jukebox musical and I certainly encourage you to enjoy it. I find Bobby See astonishing. He died recently and equipped with looks and song talent he is a welcome addition to this movie. Helen Shapiro is gorgeous and very direct in her style. Billy Fury is an Elvis/Cliff Richard mix and I have no argument with his performance or style. I know the limp floppy look of Fury irritates some but it was his individual look and it worked for him. This is a well made musical and a bonus with the guest stars and the crafted musical sequences.

Michael Winner might well have felt like insuring his nascent directing career when he received the script for this pop exploitation flick. Feebly constructed as a vehicle for Billy Fury, the agenda underlying Play it Cool is painfully obvious from the outset – Fury was being groomed as a British Elvis and the movie career was just one more box to be ticked. There's no doubt he had the looks and the voice, if not, perhaps, songs of sufficiently high quality (there's only one truly memorable number on offer here). He just can't act. Not even a little, little bit. Fury fans should simply skip the plot and go straight to the musical numbers. Sorry, did I say 'plot'? My mistake. Fury's acting skills may be wanting, but worse by far is the sight of British comedy stalwart Richard Wattis mugging it up as Billy's ever-so-slightly camp manager. Good fortune intervenes and removes Wattis' utterly resistible character from the plot after about twenty minutes. By coincidence, that's the point at which the storyline seizes up. Ah yes, the storyline. That needn't detain us long. Fury (as the plausibly-named Billy Universe) and his band are en route to a pop music contest in Europe. They get no further than the airport where they become involved in some lightweight shenanigans involving an heiress who's aiming to give daddy (Dennis Price) the slip and marry no-good pop louse Larry Grainger (Maurice Kaufmann). That's about the sum of it. From Gatwick Airport, our heroes decamp to a barely recognisable Soho where begins an interminable run of sequences as Fury and co pursue Grainger through various nightclubs – a thinly disguised excuse for some mimed performances by the likes of Helen Shapiro, Shane Fenton and Bobby (Rubber Ball) Vee. And of course, Fury himself, whose best moments are when he's in his rock 'n' roll comfort zone. Badly executed though it may be, it's hard to cultivate any genuine dislike for this movie as it's all so well-intentioned, and Fury fans will rightly appreciate it as the best surviving film document of a true British rock and roll icon.

one of if not the best music movie's to come out of 60s Britain, staring billy fury who's amazing good looks made the film even more worth watching, billy's acting is on top form and his voice is better then ever.in fact i give it 10 out of 10, a must watch film for any fan of 60s music.the story is non stop action and songs that keep the viewer glued to the screen, nice cameo roles from bobby Vee and helen shapiro. and also shane fenton who later became alvin stardust, well worth viewing is billy's other movie I've gotta horse which was made in 1965 and also that'll be the day where billy has a cameo role as stormy tempest a singer at a holiday camp.all in all i think the music industry would have been a lot worse off without the talents of billy fury

A GREAT Movie for it's time and I still enjoy it now. As a teenager in the 60's I liked all the pop stars films .BILLY FURY, Elvis, Cliff .. I have been a life long FAN of BILLY and I am insulted by the needless comments by a gentleman from Hollywood, CA .. Billy Fury wrote his own songs and sang them to a packed audience and his Vocals and Acting in this Film are impeccable and so are his Co stars. His name lives because he was BRITAINS FIRST Rock'n'Roller. Yes it's true to say Billy Admired Elvis but Billy had his own style and was a big hit in Britain, it is documented that Elvis thought Billy was FANtastic. I have 3 granddaughters who enjoyed watching PLAY IT COOL in fact they play it quite a lot , so they can't be wrong as they are bought up with modern music. I loved the film , every part of it and I would Highly recommend anyone to watch it who will see it for what it is. A Legend Movie .. regards Cathy