Summer Holiday

Summer Holiday_720p(480P)

source: Summer Holiday

I remember queuing to watch this at the time and thought it was great, saw it on tv recently...hasn't stood the test of time well, cringing to watch to be honest, ho hum, times change I suppose.

Summer Holiday is directed by Peter Yates who also co-writes the story and screenplay with Ronald Cass. It stars Cliff Richard, Lauri Peters, Melvyn Hayes and Una Stubbs. Story sees Richard and three pals take a red London double decker bus into Europe for their summer holiday. On the way their adventure will see them pick up some girls and an assortment of characters. Fun, frolics and songs follow. Light on plot but big on heart, Summer Holiday is well dated and cheesy but still carries with it enough charm to entertain the undemanding musical fan. Some lively sequences dot themselves throughout, but it's with the foot tapping tunes that the picture remains most memorable. Stand outs include the title track, Batchelor Boy and The Next Time, while the presence of The Shadows is also a bonus. It's unlikely to make big fans of first timers who didn't have it as part of their childhood, but for many the nostalgia factor more than compensates for its 101 formula. And of course for fans of the ever amiable Cliff Richard, film remains essential. 6.5/10

I hate it when people review films like the "High School Musical" series as if they're supposed to be "Citizen Kane," so I'm happy to see that the reviewers here took "Summer Holiday" for what it was - teen fun in the sun with lots of music, dancing, color, and a plot so thin you could barely discern it. It stars that British phenomenon, Sir Cliff Richard, who has the distinction of having top ten hits in the U.K. for every decade through the '90s and today, in his seventies, is still touring and selling out venues. Yet he barely made a ripple here in the states, with the exception of "Devil Woman" and "We Don't Talk Anymore." The story concerns three lads who fix up a double decker tour bus and travel through Europe, picking up three young women whose car has been damaged, plus a runaway (Lauri Peters) and later a St. Bernard dog along the way. The runaway is actually a well-known American singer disguised as a boy, and her mother tries to make it look as if she's been kidnapped in order to get publicity. Strangely Lauri Peters is American and was the original Broadway Liesl in the Sound of Music - she sounded about as American as Queen Elizabeth. She is a wonderful singer and didn't get to show off her voice enough in this film. There's a nice exuberance in this film and some very upbeat musical numbers. Richard, a huge teen idol, was adorable and still looks great, in fact. For biggest selling musical artists in the UK, Richard ranks third behind the Beatles and Elvis. Supposedly the British Elvis, if one thinks of Richard that way, he comes in a poor second. There was only one Elvis, and Richard needs to be taken on his own abilities. He lacks the oozing sexuality in presence and voice of Elvis, though he considered Elvis his absolute inspiration. He could dance better than Elvis, and his singing is sweet and polished, with none of Elvis' passion. And had Elvis not been under the thumb of Colonel Parker, we would have seen more evidence of Elvis' ability as an actor, which was definitely there. Richard's? Handsome, magnetic, a wonderful presence, but acting, not so much. Had Elvis lived drug-free and lasted longer, he would have enjoyed Richard's amazing longevity. Strangely, Elvis had a spiritual bend, as does Richard, and Elvis was known for being a gentleman, as is Richard. However, all that being said, Richard's films Summer Holiday and Wonderful to be Young and Elvis' films have things in common, two things especially: they were geared to young audiences and they were megahits. Enjoy. Enough said.

Summer Holiday is an early example of the pop musical. It was a vehicle for Cliff Richard, who was at this stage a British rock 'n' roll superstar. He also had a squeaky clean image and Summer Holiday certainly does nothing to alter this view. It's about four friends who go on a continental European trip in a London double-decker bus they have converted into a mobile home. They pick up some girls along the way and a series of japes follows soon after. The story-line is pretty negligible and is a distant second to the scenic locations and songs. Of the latter, there are a few memorable ones but they're mostly not very good really, although the tune played by The Shadows in the nightclub was actually pretty great. Aside from this the movie is primarily made up of light-hearted comedy, with a little bit of romance thrown in for good measure. I guess you could describe it all as charming but I personally thought it to be a little too excessively twee for my tastes and found the comedy a bit wearing after a bit. But it's sort of hard to truly dislike and is kind of okay for what it is.

I like a good musical as much as the next person, and Summer Holiday was pretty good. The film is overlong, and I agree that the story is very slight and verging on the ridiculous side of things and that while there are some amusing and infectious bits of dialogue some of it sounds rather dated and cheesy(perhaps by today's standards). However, it was a very entertaining and colourful film. Despite the length, Summer Holiday is often bright and breezy in the pace, while the production values are terrific and the direction decent enough. The performances are very spirited, Cliff Richard heads the cast and does a great job, while Melvyn Hayes, Lauri Peters and Una Stubbs ably support him. The best part are the songs, all of them are good-natured and memorable with the cheery title song especially epitomising classic status. In conclusion, I liked it. It is a very slight film, but it is also fun and enjoyable thanks to the songs, production values and performances. 7/10 Bethany Cox

A follow up of sorts to "The Young Ones", this time Cliff is a London bus driver who manages to convince the company to lend him and his mates a bus so they can cruise around Europe. A likeable cast with some great music, while the plot hardly matters it involves the boys picking up some girls, one of whom is a runaway. Fabulous scenery and great fun on the sort of holiday everyone should have at 19.

Lovely Songs of 1960's ending in Greece where my Father was Born. I was in Greece in 1979 when Greece and the Islands where Inexpensive BackPacker's and Leonard Cohens Write Song Books. In contrast to "Guns of Navarone" which is about ww2. Pre Vietnam Protest Period. At that time the Young People Revolted against and mistrusted anybody Over 40 who took part in WW2. Lovely Color Photography in Colorfull Greece, Some of those period films were Black and White. like to have DVD. Plot from Wikipedia : The story concerns Don (Cliff Richard) and his friends (Hayes, Green and Bulloch) who are bus mechanics at the huge London Transport bus overhaul works in Aldenham, Hertfordshire. During a miserably wet British summer lunch break, Don arrives, having persuaded London Transport to lend him and his friends an AEC Regent "RT" double-decker bus (and not a later Routemaster as often quoted). This they convert into a holiday caravan, which they drive across continental Europe, intending to reach the South of France. However, their eventual destination is Athens. On the way, they are joined by a girl trio (Stubbs, Hart and Daryl) and a runaway singer (Lauri Peters), pursued by her mother (Ryan) and agent (Murton). The movie was a huge box-office hit, thus repeating the success of Cliff Richard's earlier film The Young Ones (1961). There are 16 song and musical numbers in the film: "Seven Days to a Holiday", "Let Us Take You for a Ride", "Stranger in Town", "Swinging Affair", "Really Waltzing", "Yugoslavian Wedding", "All At Once", "Summer Holiday", "Bachelor Boy", "Dancing Shoes", "Foot Tapper", "Big News", "The Next Time", "Les Girls", "Round and Round" and "Orlando's Mime".

Sir Cliff Richard has been called Britain's Elvis, so the impresarios decided to follow Elvis's footsteps by playing Cliff in a series of nondescript films. The difference is that Elvis had some acting talent that a good director could work with. This does not seem to be the case with Sir Cliff. He comes over as someone who is naive and bossy. As a musician, he is superb, as an actor...no. The plot is ridiculous. A Routemaster bus is requisitioned and converted into a double decker dormobile to pioneer magic-bus style tours to Mediterranean Europe. Of course, the film makers overlooked the fact that with the speeds these Routemasters travel at, the intrepid teenagers would be eligible for their pensioners' bus passes by the time they reached Athens, and the bus would be a hearse by the time it got back to London. With Cliff's last two films, The Young Ones and Expresso Bongo, they are worth watching just to see Cliff's backing group, The Shadows (formerly The Drifters) steal the show. In this film, however, with their new drummer and bassist, their visual and musical dynamism are gone, and The Shadows are pancake flat. There is also a young lady who dresses as a boy. She seems to have everybody fooled...except me. The theme song is the best part of the film. It would be easier and cheaper just to buy the record.