Hey, rock 'n roll… Three for All (1975)

 

Pop moved so fast in the 1970s, it was blink and you missed it for top trends and so many became so much Disc and Music Echo chip paper once the consensus had moved on. From T-rex, Slade and Sweet to tailenders like the Rollers in a little over 2-3 years, Glam Rock was a sparkling flash in the pop-pan but it is long overdue a more widespread re-evaluation as one of the great British musical movements. People like Jon Robb have argued that it was nothing less than the precursor of punk, a bridge between post-Beatles depression, blues and progressive rock to punk, some of the main players having already been in rootsy rock formations.

 

Cinematically the moment was pretty much missed, with even Slade in Flame (1975), coming just after the parade had passed and perhaps the less said about Never to Young (1975) the better although it features some good Mud action and the Glitter Band (without you-know-who). The same could also be said of Three for All which is a slightly jarring cultural relic, still full of energy and harder-edged Glam from Billy Beethoven (oh yes) led by future Rainbow front man Graham Bonnet who also wrote the songs. It’s a mix of Y viva Espana, the huge trend of Spanish holiday making, and the Billy B’s attempts to make it as a Cowboys and Indian glam rock band which would have been released just after the mascara and glitter had been replaced by tartan. Pop in general had just run out of steam by 1975, waiting for something, anything to happen… cue 1976, The Ramones, Sex Pistols and punk’s first single, New Rose by The Damned with dozens of bands punching through without the major record company marketing seen in this film.

Boys in the band: Robert, Graham, Paul and Christopher

 

Three for All has an anarchy of its own though and is produced by the team that brought us Eskimo Nell, with writer Michael Armstrong (who also cameos) and director Martin Campbell marshalling the chaos for this free-running farce which features a dozen high-profile cameos as well as a strong central cast. Campbell has had a highly successful career but it’s a long way from Torremolinos to the Planet Oa, home of the Green Lantern Corps but he’s made the journey having directed the early DC film after many hits on big and small screen, particularly with the ground-breaking Edge of Darkness, simply one of the finest television series of the Eighties and beyond.

 

Here the brief is simpler as we encounter three young women who are wandering through London traffic as the credits roll, on their way home to greet their boyfriends and to plan their holidays. There’s the vivacious Diane (Adrienne Posta), impulsive and ambitious with ideas slightly beyond her grasp, Pet (Cheryl Hall) more down to earth but still given to flights of fancy and Shelley (Lesley North), the quiet and possibly the most reliable one.

 

Their beaus form the majority of Billy Beethoven, Pet’s Tom (Robert Lindsay, who was married to Hall) is the drummer, Shelley’s Gary (Paul Nicholas) is on backing vocals and bass, whilst Diane’s Kook (Graham Bonnet, also dating his cinematic girlfriend at the time) is the vocalist. The odd man out is Ricky the guitarist (Christopher Neil) but three’s company, four’s a crowd. The band are managed by the long-sufferable "Jet" Bone (Richard Beckinsale) who has singularly failed to get the boys to the next level and they’re just about out of goodwill.

 

Hey Rock 'n Roll! Showaddywaddy

We do get to see them supporting Showaddywaddy, glam second-wavers who still look and sound a lot of fun performing The Party off their debut. The Billys(?) badly need an image as strong as the lads from Leicester and they also need a break which, as luck would have it, is just arriving as Jet has entered them into a competition run by marketer, Eddie Boyes (played with relentless energy by George Baker) who, with his assistant Harry (Simon Williams keeping some order), contact Jet to make their offer for the winners: an all expenses tour of Spain to promote it as a holiday destination – as if that was necessary in the golden era of the package tour. The only stipulations being that they dress up as glitter cowboys and Indian and leave their girls behind.

 

The girls are distraught and tearfully wave off their lads at the airport along with Ricky’s mum, played with effortless sauce and consequence by national treasure Diana Dors who fair makes Eddie’s eyes boggle as she sorts her hair, revealing just how well she fills the band’s t-shirt.

 

Back home the girls, led by Diane, decide to take matters into their own hands and book tickets to follow the lads to Spain. Kicking work into touch they set off on a coach where Diane meets an odd psychiatrist Dr Sparks (Jonathan Adams  ) who has written some very odd books and they first experience the lovably English of Ben and Rhoda (Arthur Mullard and Sheila Bernette). At the airport there’s a smashing short cameo from Hattie Jacques as a security officer along with Liz Fraser and David Kossoff as a mysterious couple… You wonder if Campbell and Armstrong just asked everyone to improvise?

 

The eternal Richard Beckinsale and George Baker

Arriving at their hotel in sunny Spain, “Torre” already lined up like a thin city of tower blocks against the Mediterranean, they catch the eye of an older gentlemen, Mr Gibbons (the genius, John Le Mesurier) viewing them with apparent suspicion. He demurs in the way that only John Le Mesurier can demure… such a class act.

 

OK, needless to say all does not go to plan – is there a plan? – as the band starts generating success on their relentless gigs across Spain and the girls just can’t keep out of mischief even when it’s not of their own making… Shelley has her purse stolen and is chased by a mob through the streets to be intercepted by a Spanish Policeman called Carlo (Ian Lavender) with Diane’s dodgy Spanglish making matters far worse until Uncle Arthur, Mr Gibbons stages the first of many interventions.

 

It's a riot of seventies silliness but the actors play their hearts out and there’s plenty of time for more high-impact cameos from Roy Kinnear as Hounslow Joe, Dandy Nichols, Anna Quayle and even Edward Woodward as an unlikely Road sweeper… maybe he was under-cover from another film?

 

Uncle Arthur... sorry, John Le Mesurier

Dusty Verdict: I can’t help myself with these films, there’s so much context and connection with the period and directors, writers and performers on professional journeys stopping off for this moment of commercial opportunity. I was thirteen when the film came out so maybe it’s on the cusp between my appreciation of glam-rock and the charts too? By this stage I was getting into Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd, far more serious than The Slade and Sweet… maybe I was the one moving too fast?

 

It also memorialises the Spanish holiday experience for the millions of Brits who hit the sunny sands in the seventies. I didn’t make it down there until the late 80s and by then there were plenty of pubs offering traditional fare like fish and chips and bangers and mash, with plenty of Hounslow Joes watching Eastenders on satellite TV too. A hotter home from home.

 

Looking at the dodgy copy on YouTube and other streaming sources, Three for All is an enjoyable time capsule, it’s not available on official DVD – there’s a two-fer with That’s Your Funeral on Amazon for £73! – but I’m pretty sure there’s enough of us out there to support a proper digital transfer.

 

You can also buy the original soundtrack LP on Discogs for a song… Graham Bonnet’s compositions may pull in a few Rainbow fans. Probably the worst cover of any album ever but it's fun!!

 

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…