The Battersea Blue Line…. All Coppers Are... (1972)

 

A picture paints a thousand words, or does it? The truly awful cover on this Network DVD lengthens Julia Foster’s hair but also digitally inserted a new face for her and Nicky Henson based on a comparison with an earlier draft which looks far truer to the film. This, and the general consensus on IMDB and elsewhere, seems to indicate an issue with All Coppers Are’s “authenticity”; even the original images need airbrushing/photo-shopping to make up for the lack of Get Carter grit.

They should perhaps left well enough alone as a) there is nothing, at all, wrong with Ms Foster’s face – quite the contrary in fact - whilst the World doesn’t need a wax-work Nicky Henson. All Coppers Are is a decent enough film that perhaps left too much of a challenge for its cast to meet in terms of a “soft” script that is too much in collusion with the audience expectation of a gangster flick. But what buoys it aloft above the dangerous terrain of un-gritty is indeed the beautiful and expressive face of Julia Foster; she is the class act here and acts with a subtlety and nuanced grace that gives Coppers an emotional anchor it would otherwise lack.

*Dame* Julia Foster (or at least she should be!)

Now, full disclosure, I have had a crush on Ben Fogle’s Mum since I saw her in Mr. Axelford's Angel in 1974 when I was but a wee lad. She has an emotional openness as well as a perfectly proportioned face which made me, fall in love with her during the course of that play and every time I’ve seen her since, from Alfie, Half a Sixpence, The Small World of Sammy Lee, to the recent Dad’s Army film and Dr Who, she has never failed to impress. At this point she was 29, more than ten years into her career, and she gives the assurance you expect as Sue, a woman who has already known too much disappointment and is cautiously looking at all those around her not to fail her.

Chief among life’s disappointments has been her Mother (Sandra Dorne) who has shacked up with another freeloading boyfriend, Jock (Glynn Edwards) who, to say the least, is a little grabby when it comes to his “daughter in law”. But it’s her own relationships that cause Sue the most grief and more than once bitten she is very shy of new mistakes.

Julia Foster is in this film... and boy she can act!

The film opens with police constable Joe on patrol in his native Battersea – the films good location for Battersea and Clapham, still recognisable for any of us commuters who’ve had the daily pleasure of watching the old power station be turned into a modernistic mess by soulless developers. Back in the early 70s it was still working and, a few years before Floyd’s Pink Pig flew overhead, the area was charcoal grey, smothered in coal dust and exhaust fumes. Joe spots a young Robin Asquith attempting to steal a car and gives chase over to the slag heaps at the power station.

Martin Potter has a detachment which suits Joe’s vagueness and self-doubt and whilst these are characteristics well used by Federico Fellini, who cast him as Encolpius in his striking Satyricon, we’re in Battersea now and Potter seems a little lost even as he convinces with presence and skill. Joe is unformed and just about the only thing he is convinced about is his job, he has a young child with pretty wife Peg (Wendy Allnutt, once described by Dennis Potter as “paralyzingly beautiful”) who he married in haste after the unexpected result of their short relationship forced their hand. Yes, even in 1972.

Nicky Henson and Dame Julia

The third of our leads, small time hustler Barry (Nicky Henson along way from Charterhouse in this neck of the woods…) who is keeping a watch on a warehouse where he’s planning a robbery. He has a room in a house run by Mrs. Briggs (Carmel McSharry) who’s son, Ronnie is played by one David Essex whose next film would be That’ll be the Day. They invite Barry to a wedding reception where he meets and fancies Sue who meets and fancies Joe. After a few drinks they head off to the embankment for some larks and champagne, quickly bonding as friends as the triangle of affection solidifies.

Now, Joe, if you remember, because he’s forgetting… is married but he’s smitten with Sue and the two end up together for the night only for Joe’s conscience to finally kick in as he tries to brush her off. She turns her attention to Barry but the two run into Joe again in a pub run by the Malloys, Eddie Byrne and Queenie Watts - now there’s a surprise. Joe gets the cold shoulder as a copper but its only after administering first aid to a stricken pensioner that Sue and Barry discover his day job…

Martin Potter and the “paralyzingly beautiful” Wendy Allnut

That’s it for Barry, obviously, but Sue, so disappointed to discover his marital state, is more sympathetic… In the absence of anything better though she has ended up living with Barry and, against the odds believes he is a) honest and b) has work to take them away from SW11. This stretches credibility given her earlier reticence, especially after Sue joins Barry at the Odeon for ten pin bowling and a meet with some underworld contacts.

Time for Ian Hendry as sinister Sonny Wade, who brings the Get Carter grit with knowing menace enhanced by his friend Fancy Boy (David Baxter). Hendry’s radiates febrile threat with every quiver, a man of criminal passion who’s flawed ruthlessness presents Barry with a situation only a desperate man would accept, he has little to gain if he delivers the stolen goods to Sonny and everything to lose.

Cue, the finale and some unexpectedly dramatic twists and turns.

And pigs might fly...

Dusty verdict: Directed efficiently by Sidney Hayers and produced by Carry on’s Peter Rogers (there’s even a music score from Gerald Thomas!), the film certainly wanted to hit hard and even includes a well-realised sequence where Joe and his colleagues have to confront a protest march. It’s brutal stuff with truncheons flying before police horses arrive to kettle the ring leaders. Was this a comment on the political upset of the time – the nature of the protest is ill-defined, something about “fascists” and “student grants”, or just a means of showing how the Coppers, “bastards” though they may be, have a tough job to do. It could just be gratuitous of course, a tick of the “counterculture” box.

The script is uneven and the characters are a struggle for the performers to keep coherent. Julia Foster achieves this with ease – we believe in Sue, and her flawed judgement - but, despite a decent performance, I’m not entirely convinced by old-Carthusian Henson’s Battersea boy Barry. As for Joe, Martin Potter is sometimes absent without leave and at times magnetic given his conflicted existence. You care about these characters in the end even whilst feeling that there should have been more to care about…

If you buy the DVD for one thing only... it's Julia!

The film is available on Network DVD and you can buy direct or from Amazon etc. It’s well worth a watch especially for all those of us who love Julia Foster!

 

Hi-de-hi… That'll be the Day (1973)

A film about the late fifties that feels very much like the early seventies mostly down to the presence of David Essex a pretty boy of David Cassidy proportions who could also act – and still does in Walford and beyond.

Genuine rock ‘n roll credentials are provided by Ringo Starr who in his youth worked at Butlins and on the pier in Llandudno before joining Rory Storm and the Hurricanes and other, more successful, Scouse beat bands along with a Mr Keith Moon who I believe slapped the drum skins for the High Numbers.

Billy Fury in the Wondrous Place...

Outshining them both is Billy Fury, Liverpool’s own Elvis, who maintains an authentic aura of cool whenever he’s on screen and is every inch the part-time rock star, full-time legend (thanks Pete Wylie!) you’d expect from the man who sang Wondrous Place. In his gold suit and with his blonde DA he’s the man Martin Fry hoped to be and even in the reduced circumstances of the film’s holiday camp, he looks like he should be somewhere better: the Empire, the Palladium, Cesar’s Palace!?

I had written off That'll Be the Day as a vehicle for Essex rather than an attempt to connect with the youthful truth of rock ‘n roll transition. My early teen self was put off by the popstar and, now having finally got round to watching it, I can see that was unfair. At times the film feels like an updated Alfie with Essex’s character, Jim Maclaine, going through a series of uncommitted relationships with some of the prettiest actresses of the time without finding himself or a direction.

The brilliant James Booth

Unlike Alfie, we see Jim’s origins, as the story begins with his Jack the Lad, Dad (James Booth) returning home from the War and never quite settling before heading off leaving wife (the excellent Rosemary Leach) and child with a wink and a far-away smile. It’s a grin that says, sorry son but I’ve no choice… a man pathologically driven to run, away.

Jim dreams in class

What effect does that have on the son? He drifts through school always dreaming of more and never committing to hard work or limited horizons – optimistically he assumes that there’s always something better around the corner and even as he moves from ingénue to adult he’s still always looking over his lovers’ shoulders….

Jim can’t concentrate on school and spends his time doodling while his best mate, Terry (Robert Lindsay) focuses on his studies. Both are bright lads set on university but Jim throws his books and his chances into the stream and resolves to leave home looking for who knows what.

On the beach

So Jim leaves his mother behind – abandoned by both father and now son, and becomes a deckchair attendant in an un-named seaside town (somewhere on the Isle of Wight) where he starts to notice the ladies. He’s still unsure of exactly what to do until he meets rocker Mike (Ringo Starr in one of his better roles).

Dave, Ringo, Brenda and Deborah

The two are working as bar men in a holiday camp and Mike helps to set Jim up with a young lass called Sandra (Deborah Watling) whilst he cops off with her mate Doreen (Brenda Bruce) as they dance along to Stormy Tempest (Billy Fury) and his band including Nashville Teen John Hawken as well as J.D. Clover played by Keith Moon.

Back to Jim’s chalet they go and – momentarily distracted by a crying baby: the sound of parental responsibility – his performance debut goes without a hitch and rather too quickly for the more-experienced-than-she-lets-on, Sandra.

Deborah Watling

The lads get jobs at a fairground managed by Jack (the ever dependable Johnny Shannon) and Mike explains the rules of this new game: “one for them and one for us” a split of the takings based on judicious over-charging and short-changing the punters on the dodgems. Mike’s rules are simple and they include a golden one: above all don’t pick on gang members.

Sadly he fails to heed his own council and ends up badly beaten by members of a gang whilst Jim just slinks away into the darkness leaving him to his fate. Bad deeds are rewarded as Jim gets Mike’s plum job on the merry-go-round and swiftly becomes the cock of the waltzer.

David Essex and Sara Clee

There’s a poignant interlude as a pretty girl (Sara Clee – always excellent in everything I see and now a successful counsellor and therapist!) waits for him. There’s something deeper about this relationship and they make their way back to her house where Jim is appalled to find a baby sleeping in her room. It’s another reminder not only of family but also of the irresponsibility of his lifestyle and he runs away…

Sara Clee

Another reality check takes place when Terry comes to visit and after Jim shows him his new life, they agree to go to a dance at the former’s university. It’s a dose of what could have been for Jim as he tries and fails to establish contact with Terry’s female friends: he’s missed the beat and they’ve no common ground.

The likely lads... Robert Lindsay and David Essex

Jim returns home – perhaps it’s time to settle and stick to something. He rejuvenates his mother’s shop and even swaps his motorbike for a new van. He also starts seeing Terry’s Sister Jeanette (Rosalind Ayres of the lovely eyes who also never seems to disappoint) much to he and his mother’s concern.

Rosalind Ayres and makes eyes

Jim treats Jeanette with more respect than the women we’ve seen and he seems set on married life until celebrating his last night of bachelor-hood with Terry’s girlfriend…

There’s something reckless about Jim and it’s clear that history may be about to repeat itself…

Jimmy Dean?

Dusty verdict: That’ll be the Day falls short of the impact of classic kitchen sinks from the decade before even if it does have hard edges. Director Claude Whatham adapts Ray Connolly’s story well but there’s a light-heartedness that somehow undermines the impact.

Rosemary Leach and David Essex

There are some good performances from Rosemary Leach and Rosalind Ayres in particular and, for me, David Essex doesn’t quite have their chops. He’s perhaps too likeable to play Jim - a man driven by the spirit of rock and roll and the restlessness to seek another life.

There’s a follow-up – Stardust – that has a lesser reputation and which deals with Jim’s later music career. – maybe I should see that to put this in its full context.

Jim and his heroes

That’ll be the Day is available with Stardust on DVD from Amazon and all the usual places. In truth it’s worth the price of admission just for Billy Fury, Ringo and Moon. Rock On…