That'll Be the Day (1973) User Reviews

Second viewing ... 40 years since first viewing

[clive-richards63 · 7/10 · 30 October 2018]

The lead character is really a very unpleasant individual. In one scene forcing himself on an underage school girl, another he abandons his friend who is being beaten up by a gang, sleeps with his wife to be's best friend the night before his wedding and finally he leaves his wife and baby to try and become a pop star!

Superb film with great performance by Essex

[smiths-4 · 8/10 · 14 June 2003]

ITV have just shown the Jim Maclaine(David Essex) films of which this is the first and Stardust is the second and as an avid supporter and fan of sixties and seventies British cinema i thought i had to check it out.

It doesn't disappoint with its gritty evocation of a fifties childhood with a lack of a father figure. Jim then turns to the Rock and Roll world when he buys a guitar from a pawn shop at the end. His rise and fall is taken up in Stardust with Adam Faith taking the Ringo Starr role as Mike.

Great, forgotten film with superior performances from Essex and Ringo Starr and a good cameo from Keith Moon and Billy Fury.

start of a rocky road for Jim MacLaine

[didi-5 · 6/10 · 31 July 2004]

David Essex got the lead role, through two films, in this story of a wanabee pop star who leaves his family and home life for a shot at the big time. Abandoned by his father as a child, Jim lets history repeat itself simply for his ambition - through 'That'll Be The Day', which establishes him as a musical talent with room to grow, through to the bleak 'Stardust' which focuses on the ups and downs of fame.

Ray Connolly's script for TBTD is ironic and clever, and gives scope to a large number of characters you remember - Rosemary Leach and Rosalind Ayres good as Jim's mother and girlfriend, Ringo Starr much better than expected as Mike who works on the fairground and takes the impressionable and cocky Jim under his wing. Mike would develop into Jim's manager in 'Stardust', where he was played by Adam Faith.

Billy Fury plays TBTD's biggest concession to a 'real pop star' as the unlikeable Stormy Tempest, while Keith Moon and Karl Howman, both in the 'Stardust' band appear briefly. Also involved in the film was the great Bonzo vocalist Viv Stanshall.

'That'll Be The Day' is often cited as the better film of the two Jim MacLaine feature, but I personally prefer the overblown, stoned, egotistical character we see in the sequel. David Essex is excellent throughout the two movies, though. The soundtrack album - a huge four-sider groaning with 50s period hits and pastiches - is still well worth a listen, although precious little of it appears in this film.

That'll Be the Day (1973) ***

[JoeKarlosi · 7/10 · 11 November 2005]

David Essex takes on the lead role of Jimmy McLaine, a young man living in working class Britain during the late 1950s, when American rock 'n' roll was King of England. Growing up with a good deal of angst after his dad walked out on the family when Jimmy was still only a boy, McLaine finds himself fed up with school and the more conventional way of life and decides to abandon his struggling mother, striking out on his own. Settling for odd jobs here and there, Jim finds a sidekick in the humorous and more experienced Mike (played by ex-Beatle Ringo Starr) and the pair of delinquents engage in petty crime in between bedding down as many local ladies as they can get their hands on. When Jimmy begins to have a change of heart he returns home to mom and settles down, only to find that he must make the ultimate decision on whether to confront his responsibilities or indulge his passion for being a rock and roll star.

David Essex is good as Jim, and Ringo Starr gives maybe the finest performance of his occasional acting career as Mike, who becomes Jimmy's mentor and room mate. It's amazing how well the 33-year-old former Beatle pulls off the role of a young kid, and the same may be said for an over-aged Essex. The film perfectly captures the climate of England in the late 1950s and benefits from a huge array of classic American oldies on the music soundtrack, from artists like Ritchie Valens, Del Shannon, The Big Bopper, Bobby Darin and others.

After I saw this I read that it's been said that this story was patterned after a young John Lennon, and while I can agree (with the benefit of hindsight) that there are some similarities between John's life and the Essex character here, even as a die-hard Beatles fan I didn't pick up on this during my actual viewing of the film. It is loosely based on Lennon at best (John's dad also left him, he loved rock music, and he had a wreckless nature as a youth). *** out of ****

the not so John Lennon

[SnoopyStyle · 7/10 · 4 September 2021]

It's late 50's Britain. Jim MacLaine (David Essex) is a smart restless teen. His father came home after the war but left the family when he was a kid. He grew up with his mother (Rosemary Leach) and grandfather who has a small general store. He quits school and runs away to a nearby coastal vacation town. He works odd jobs and befriends fellow worker Mike (Ringo Starr). The aloft teenager becomes a lady's man working at the carnival.

Some considers this a fictional story inspired by pre-Beatles John Lennon. I think the involvement of Ringo Starr had led people to make that connection. I have to say that this is no John Lennon. He's a sad angry character. In fact, I wondered if the film was going to push him over the edge to become a serial killer. More than anything, he doesn't play an instrument until the last scene suggests it. He writes some poetry which could be song lyrics but I envision Lennon to be much more musical than this.

This is simply a dark coming-of-age story. His restlessness fits both the 50's and the 70's. There is something compelling about David Essex's performance and something off-putting. It's compelling. The story meanders but so does Jim. This is a fascinating British film.

Stormy Weather.

[morrison-dylan-fan · 7/10 · 13 October 2020]

After spending a busy day out with in Milton Keynes over the weekend, I decided to end the night by watching a movie on TV. Having seen the fun The Man Who Loved Redheads (1955-also reviewed) the last time I was in the city, I again tuned into Talking Pictures TV, and found a film was about to start that'll make my day.

View on the film:

Made when the lead actor was at the top of the charts with the hit single Rock On, director Claude Whatham & David Cronenberg's regular cinematographer Peter Suschitzky surprisingly avoid a glossy Pop shine with a dirt under the fingernails Kitchen Sink grit, with Whatham touring with MacLaine's restlessness in naturally dimly-lit bedrooms with a new lass each night,and long panning shots across the rising damp sinking into MacLaine's life in dour coloured, crumbling households.

Filmed on location in the Isle of Wight, Whatham soaks up the location with fluid hand-held camera moves trekking with MacLaine round the local shops, night clubs and sights, recording the period with the New Wave-style of "capturing the moment" in the movie being filmed around locals going about their day.

Hired by producer David Puttnam to write a script based on the Harry Nilsson's song "1941", the debut screenplay by Ray Connolly follows the verses of the song, but takes a welcomed turn by modelling MacLaine on the upbringing of John Lennon, most prominently in MacLaine's dad leaving the family home at a early age, which Connolly unveils in dissolving flashbacks as continuing to haunt MacLaine's outlook on life.

Isle of Wight period travelogue

[neil-476 · 7/10 · 28 March 2010]

David Essex takes the viewer on a trip around picturesque Isle of Wight locations, including Shanklin beach, Sandown High School, the bridge over the river round the back of Sandown Waterworks, Pontins Little Canada Holiday Camp. Shanklin Theatre, and outside the Rex at Ventnor which isn't there any more.

Big excitement down here on the Isle of Wight back in 1970 when this was going on, actually. I'd recently left school, but my Dad still taught there and it was his classroom which was used as the location (later to become the music room, where my daughter did her music A level). I helped at lunchtime at Shanklin Liberal Club, where the cast and crew were fed and watered at lunchtime during the Shanklin Theatre filming (no-one famous, though!). And assorted school friends pop up as extras - hi there, Sudsy and Hoof!

So the local connection means I always regard this movie with fondness, but I also like it for two other reasons. One it is an atmospheric evocation of an era important to me personally and, two, it showed Ringo that there was life after The Beatles.

Keep rockin' and rollin'! Speaking of which, why isn't the sequel available on DVD?

[lee_eisenberg · 10/10 · 13 January 2006]

Probably the best portrayal of the '50s rebel culture has working-class Brit Jim MacLaine (David Essex) with a chip on his shoulder - due to his father abandoning the family - and doesn't care about school; he's into rock 'n' roll. His friend Mike (Ringo Starr) is no more responsible but gets Jim some jobs. But after everything, Jim sees fit only - and I mean ONLY - to play music.

Aside from the fact that this was a really good movie, I should identify that there was a sequel called "Stardust". I've never seen that one, as it's never been released on DVD. WHY NOT?! Considering how good this one was, why can't the latter get released on DVD?!

I agree absolutely -

[rghunt57 · 18 April 2006]

especially about "Stardust" As much as I admire "That'll be the Day", the sequel is even better, one of the finest movies about rock music ever made, yet it has never been released on video in any form (at least in the US). It's on my "most wanted list".For those who haven't seen it, it plays on the rock star mythology only hinted at by the final scene of "That'l be the day" and shows Jim's hedonistic rise as a musician, his career encapsulating both the ambitions and the pretensions of the period. Surprisingly - oh, I guess this counts as a "spoiler' - Connolly and crew didn't leave much room for a trilogy here.

Rock on...

[Lejink · 7/10 · 19 June 2008]

Some might say the British equivalent of "American Graffiti", but actually released earlier, this is an altogether grittier and to these British eyes and ears superior take on the teenage experience at the birth of rock and roll, covering a time span from the bleak post-war period to the arrival of the nascent 60's beat boom, from where of course the sequel "Stardust" takes up. Written by the well-known UK music journalist Ray Connolly, one of John Lennon's many biographers, it's obvious to see reference points taken and adapted from the Beatle's early life, from his early abandonment by his father, to his predilection for writing and sketching, harmonica-playing and most obviously his casual marriage to his young blonde "safe" local sweetheart, whom he selfishly abandons at the end leaving behind his new-born child to boot (although Lennon of course didn't get round to that until he was at the height of his celebrity). The story is episodic and as with most rock-music films unavoidably clichéd at times, resembling an abridged beat-version of "Tom Jones" as Essex, here playing his first lead role as the anti-hero Jim McLaine, influenced sub-consciously by his wandering absent-father and naturally rebellious of conformity (personified here by his friendship with his best friend, an ever-so-straight, trad-jazz loving university student, played by a young Robert Lindsay) drops out to a life of debauchery on the fairground, where he learns the ropes and soon outstrips his older, more experienced chum on the Waltzers, Ringo Starr. The evocation of place is very well conveyed, from the bleak two-up, two-down post-war accommodation, the downbeat charm of an off-season holiday resort and of course all the fun (and seediness) of the fair, which Essex the recording artist later revisited in probably his best known album, called, in fact "All The Fun Of The Fair". The performances are uniformly good although the less experienced acting abilities of Essex and Starr take a little time to become properly natural as the film develops. Essex's playing is pivotal naturally and he bears up very well, using his good-looking "Romany"-type features to advantage as the lovable rogue with whom we naturally identify, although latter day viewers might be offended by his casual approach to women, demonstrated not only by his easy stag-night seduction of his fiancée's best friend and his ingratitude to his admittedly strict and chiding mother but particularly an at least mildly offensive scene where he gloats about his forced conquest of a presumably underage schoolgirl to a censorious Starr. The young Essex around this time was firing artistically on all cylinders with success on the West End ("Godspell") as well as early blossoming acting and musical careers. It's rather a pity that all three of these strands appear to have fizzled out for him after some early high-spots (especially his acting, from this evidence), although he still does the rounds profitably enough as an establishment-type entertainer. The support playing is solidly characterised and I also enjoyed the cameos played effectively by the late Billy Fury and Keith Moon. Beatles addicts will cotton onto the in-joke reference to Starr's pre-Beatles band "Rory Storm and The Tempests", here inverted to Fury's character "Stormy Tempest". It's a much quoted truism that US rock and roll from the late 50's and early 60's beats its British equivalent hands down and while there is some truth in that, here at least on the cinematic front, is a British riposte which definitely cuts the mustard, although it probably helps if you're from this island to relate to the background places and sounds on display here.

Never Had It So Good

[JamesHitchcock · 5/10 · 10 July 2008]

This British film came out in 1973, the same year as the better-known American film "American Graffiti". There was evidently a fashion in the seventies for looking back at the late fifties and early sixties, even though only about 10-15 years separated the two eras. The qualifying period for nostalgia seems to have got longer in recent years: I cannot imagine a film made today looking back in the same way at 1998 or even 1993.

We first meet the main character, Jim MacLaine, as a grammar school boy in the late fifties. Jim's working-class background might today be called "disadvantaged", especially as he comes from a single-parent family, something rarer then than today. We learn how Jim's father walked out on the family when he was a child, but Jim's mother has worked hard to keep the family together, and hopes that her son, who is academically able if lazy, will go to university.

Jim, however, has other ideas. A life of study is not for him. On a whim, he drops out of school and runs away from home, not knowing what he wants to do with his life. He finds work on the Isle of Wight as a deckchair attendant, at an amusement arcade and a holiday camp. (The island is known for its holiday resorts, but in the early seventies it was best known for pop festivals, which gained it a reputation as the British Woodstock. This may explain why it was chosen as a setting for a film in which rock music plays an important part). Although Jim dreams of becoming a rock star he does not attempt to realise that dream until the final scene where we see him buying a guitar. (The story of his subsequent musical career is told in the sequel, "Stardust").

Jim's main preoccupation during his life on the Island is casual sex; his good looks make him attractive to women, and he has a number of one-night stands. He eventually returns home and gets married, without giving up his womanising ways; on the night before his wedding he cheats on his fiancée, Jeannette, with the girlfriend of his best friend, and best man, Terry. Terry, a university student who prefers trad jazz to rock, represents the steady, middle-class lifestyle which Jim has rejected.

I note that one reviewer refers to the film's "wonderfully nostalgic timeline" whereas another calls it "defiantly anti-nostalgic". Both descriptions are, in a way, correct. In one sense the film is anti-nostalgic. In 1973 there were certainly some people who looked back at the Macmillan years as the "never had it so good" era, but the makers of this film were not among them. The look of the film, although it is in colour rather than black-and-white, is deliberately based on the "kitchen sink" realist films of the late fifties and early sixties such as "Woman in a Dressing Gown" or "Saturday Night and Sunday Morning". The emphasis is on drabness and seediness with much of the action taking place in cramped, squalid, badly-furnished and ill-lit houses and lodgings. (Another British film from this period, Richard Fleischer's "10 Rillington Place" from two years earlier, achieves a similar look).

In another sense, however, the film does look back nostalgically at the fifties. Those like Terry who hoped that rock would prove no more than a passing fad and that jazz would make a comeback were to be disappointed. By the seventies rock and pop were the dominant element in popular music, especially among the young; jazz had become a minority interest. The film can be seen as a celebration of the early years of rock-and-roll, a time which saw the birth of a new, exuberant youth culture as young people started to assert tastes in music and fashion which were quite different to those of their elders. In that sense at least, the teenagers of the late fifties had "never had it so good". We seem to hear just about every well-known pop single from the period on the soundtrack; the title is, of course, taken from the Buddy Holly song. David Essex plays Jim, and several other musicians, including Ringo Starr, Billy Fury and Keith Moon, have supporting roles.

Ringo, like his fellow Beatles, never made a serious attempt at an acting career, but does enough here, as Jim's friend Mike, to suggest that he might have had a good chance of success had he done so. Rosemary Leach is also good as Jim's strong-minded mother. The film as a whole, however, never really works for me, for two reasons. The first is that the plot tends to become dull and repetitive, little more than a catalogue of Jim's sexual conquests. The second reason is the miscasting of the main role. Essex was one of Britain's top pop stars of the seventies, but had little previous acting experience, so seemed an odd choice for a film where he was not required to sing. Moreover, he seems to misunderstand his character, relying heavily on looks and charm and playing Jim as a likable Jack-the-lad, whereas in reality he is a complete bastard.

There are similarities between Jim and another heartless cinema Lothario, Michael Caine's Alfie, but at least the latter is never guilty of rape, unlike Jim who forces a schoolgirl to have sex after she has made it clear that she is unwilling. (Even the normally cynical Mike is shocked by this episode). Whereas Alfie finally comes to have doubts about his lifestyle ("What's it all about?"), Jim remains an unrepentant cad to the end, abandoning Jeannette and their young child to take up his new pop career. Caine, a much more accomplished actor, is able to make us understand Alfie, even if we do not exactly like him. Essex is never able to do the same for Jim. 5/10

One of the best British films of the 1970's

[chris-42 · 8/10 · 23 March 2001]

Set in post austerity Britain of the 1950's,this film brings alive the feeling and the vibe of that time vividly to to the screen.David Essex plays( or underplays )the laconic hero Jim Mclean.Jim's a bright boy but stepping on to the career ladder holds no interest for him.Rock'n'roll has broken through and for Jim there's only one vocation in life.To rock'n'roll.

The film perfectly captures the staid,constraint and carefree days of Britain in the 1950's.Along with a great soundtrack Jim makes the break from home and sets out to find his dream.

He finds it a tough world out there but eventually finds work in a holiday camp.Here he meets Mike (brilliantly played by Ringo Starr) who's been there, seen it,done it or so he claims.Mike introduces Jim to the ways of the adult world,so therefore throwing of the constrictions of the social strait-jacket that was '50's Britain.

The strong point of the film is it's realism.Why have I never heard of it's directors' other work? One of the best British films of the 1970's;this is a must see for film fans and rock'n'roll fans alike.It's sequel 'Stardust' which charts Jims rise to fame should not be mentioned in the same breath.

The road to stardom(dust) begins here.

[hitchcockthelegend · 7/10 · 15 March 2020]

That'll Be the Day is directed by Claude Whatham and written by Ray Connolly. It stars David Essex, Ringo Starr, Rosemary Leach, Rosalind Ayres and Robert Lindsay. Cinematography is by Peter Suschitzky.

It's 1958 Britain and Jim MacLaine (Essex), fed up with school and his home life, leaves home and takes a series of dead-end jobs and is introduced to crime and sex. Even this isn't enough to off set his feeling of a hum-drum existence, could the upcoming Rock "N" Roll boom be his saviour?.

With perfect cast decisions, including rock star cameo's, a top grade music soundtrack - and director Whatham having a brilliant sense of teenage life in late 50s Britain, there's plenty to enjoy here.

Said to be based on the early life of John Lennon, it's important to note that this is actually not a rock movie. This is more of a kitchen sinker than anything else, which is ok of course, just be prepared if you haven't seen it before. 6.5/10

Has not aged well!

[nicholls_les · 3/10 · 6 January 2020]

This could have been a great movie, the subject is a good one and it had enough real pop stars to make it work, but it didn't. David Essex looks the part but his acting is wooden and unconvincing. Ringo Starr was much better and could have had a career in acting. What is disturbing is the distasteful content that others have mentioned. The lead character is not a nice person but maybe he reflects how some ambitious would be pop stars are? Having watched this over 40 years ago and watching it now, it shows how tolerant society was back then regarding some very distasteful issues. Showing the films lead character raping an underage girl with no consequences would be unthinkable today, and quite rightly so.

David Essex shines

[fostrhod · 7/10 · 29 October 2018]

Classic tail of adolescent male on leaving school refusing to get stuck in a dead end job, working in a corner shop if I recall rightly. Picks up a guitar and works his way to stardom. Rejecting his family, childhood girlfriend anc baby on route. David Essex is great as Jim MacLaine as is Ringo Starr his partner in crime when working the waltzers and Wong man when pulling the birds. The 50's soundtrack original songs produced by David Edmunds.

Overall it's a great taste of life in the early 60s.

Rock 'n' Roll rescues a 1950s Brit.

[michaelRokeefe · 6/10 · 9 June 2008]

Coming of age with the aid of the essence of rock 'n' roll. Jim MacLaine(David Essex)is a working class British teen going through the pressures of school, home and parental expectations much like his American counterparts. The latest tunes from a jukebox, your own record player or live from a bandstand brings solace and often eases the angst. Jim pals around with his friend Mike(Ringo Starr)and goes from a shy lad to a man-of-the-world in the ways of women. He finally gives up being the gadabout and goes make home to help his mom(Rosemary Leach)run the family store. He even finally settles down to marry and have a child. All the while, rock 'n' roll fills his mind as he fancies writing songs and idolizing rock stars like Elvis and local singer Stormy Tempest(Billy Fury)and his band. Faded memories of his own dad causes Jim to leave family and home...and a stop at a music shop to purchase a guitar. The soundtrack is full of Stateside rock tunes and well as music by Billy Fury, Eugene Wallace and Wishful Thinking. Also in the cast: Rosalind Ayers, Keith Moon, Robert Lindsay, Deborah Watling and Brenda Bruce. Being an American growing up in this time period doesn't stop me from digging this flick.

It's Okay

[Holly2468 · 6 August 2021]

Saw this a few nights ago. It's okay. I got bored very quickly. A bit of a "hangout" movie, like Tarantino.

Ringo Starr is surprisingly a good actor.

Give this a go. Make your own mind up.

A bit of British kitchen sink drama with a hint of a disguised biography attached.

[mark.waltz · 6/10 · 17 August 2022]

Tired of his boring life as a college student, young David Essex runs away (literally dumping all his school supplies in a running brook before he bolts), leaving his long-suffering mother with something more to worry about and his classmates gossiping. At the sea shore, he rents a cheap room and gets a job working cleaning up the beach, making new friends and trying to jumpstart a music career. It's not easy, but with a new girlfriend and none other than Ringo Starr advising him, it's a synch he'll make it.

While Essex and Starr are good, it's Leach who gets the best part as his mother, giving him tough love one moment and being soft and understanding the next. There's lots of music in the background, yet outside of the title song as performed by Essex, there's not enough performed music to call this a musical. The seashore setting is quite realistic with its grittiness and lower class visitors providing local color, even though outside the joy they find at the beach, their lives are colorless. Slow and tedious at times, it's still a well written coming of age film that sparked a sequel and follows some of the events of John Lennon's life before he became a Beatle.

That'll Be the Day

[CinemaSerf · 6/10 · 10 November 2022]

'Jim MacLaine" (David Essex) is a restless teenager in 1950s Britain. He leaves home and best friend "Terry" (Robert Lindsay) and gets a cheap room at a seaside resort when he makes a living renting out deck chairs - not the most fulfilling job as the rain pours down! He's quite a bright lad, though, and despite his increasing penchant for one-night-stands, he realises that he must sort out his future - and with a bit of help from new-found friend "Mike" (Ringo Starr) a career in music becomes his goal. It's not very realistic, no - serendipity plays an unlikely hand all too often as this young man manages to swim against the tide of mediocrity just a little too successfully, but as a piece of social commentary set against a backdrop of limited post-war opportunities for young folk it has some resonance, Essex is an handsome man and plays the cheeky, troubled, character well and, of course, we get to see Mr. Starr's posterior tattoo! This film is not great, indeed it's not really very good - but it moves along well enough and features a soundtrack that gets your toes tapping too.

Wonderfully Nostalgic Timeline.

[CosmicDwellings · 9/10 · 31 May 2006]

A very enjoyable piece of good ol' British cinema at it's best with a mighty fine cast, story and soundtrack.

David Essex in his first big screen role portrays delinquent Jim Maclaine who holds a deep passion for Rock 'n' Roll music and a care-free lifestyle in 1950's England. After he drops out of school and heads to the seaside he eventually ends up working in a holiday camp where he experiences the many temptations on offer to him including girls...and more girls...as well as soaking up the sounds of the time.

Jim, along with his friend Mike (Ringo Starr), heads for all the fun of the Fair - literally. Unfortunately, things go somewhat awry for Mike as he is badly beaten-up by some local thugs and Jim can only watch helplessly. Soon after, the boss of the Fairground offers Jim the prestige position of working one of the main ride attractions of the fair, but a meeting with old school friend Terry (Robert Lindsay) and an encounter with a young Mother suddenly make Jim question his current lifestyle.

Things are about to change for Jim as the prospect of family life beckons, but his passion for music still shines bright within him and he is now faced with a terrible dilemma in his life.

The end of the 1950's sets the scene beautifully for this film's thoroughly insightful sequel not to be missed, which is a very rare example of a second movie being just as good, if not better, than the original.

Do not miss the continuing story of Jim Maclaine in "Stardust"...'Look what they've done to the Rock 'n' Roll clown...'

Okay. A bit boring

[StanMadden67 · 6/10 · 11 July 2022]

The film was okay. David Essex was quite old when he did this, playing a young lad.

A character we're supposed to be invested in does many questionable things, which makes us uncertain whether we should be invested at all (especially one scene in particular. If you know, you know!).

The music was great, and Ringo held himself well. I wasn't keen on the pacing of the film. It seemed to drag a bit from time to time.

Give it a watch by all means.

26 year old Essex plays a 16 year of teenager,badly

[malcolmgsw · 5/10 · 28 February 2020]

David Essexs acting skills are very limited and do not extend to convincing me that he is 16,or that a teenager would run away from school or home.The story meanders around getting nowhere fast.It includes a totally gratuitous and unnecessary underage rape scene.Any sympathy one might have for the main character is totally lst..

An enjoyable wallow for those who wish it was still 1958........

[ianlouisiana · 8/10 · 18 October 2009]

Rock 'n' Roll,Jazz and Skiffle.They were the musical choices facing teenage boys in the mid 1950s.The ones who spent a lot of time in their rooms reading quietly and listening to the wireless tended towards jazz,tortured intellectuals who who wanted to ban the bomb and carry washboards beneath their duffel coats preferred skiffle,and those with a healthy interest in sex picked up their Hofners and tried to knock out "Be -bop a Lula". Jim Mclaine certainly falls within the latter category and is a "Bad Boy" before his time.With an over - protective single mother,he drops out from his Grammar School and drifts around the south coast before taking up with a Funfair.Here he cements the reputation of fairworkers as careless Lotharios. Altrhough capable of charm when necessary,he is in fact rather an unpleasant boy whose rejection of his mother is reflected in his conduct towards his sexual conquests. Mr D.Essex manages the difficult task of portraying both sides of his character and making them seem convincing. The movie rather sweetly captures the era of Post - Suez optimism when we could ride our bicycles around the streets without being shot at by warring gangs and hang around town centres without being watched warily by policemen in full body armour carrying gas spray cans. Jim wants to be a rock'n'roll star and makes the irrevocable step in the last scene of the movie where he goes into a music shop and is handed a guitar. Of course it turned out that rock'n'roll was not here to stay after all and only ageing ex - Teds and OAP bikers listen to Jim's kind of music any more as it proceeded to morph into "Rock" and all its sub - divisions of guitar widdle. To see how Jim coped (or failed to cope) with that you must watch "Stardust",the brilliant follow - up to this movie,but "That'll be the day" - in its own right - is a highly enjoyable movie and a wallow in nostalgia for those of us who wish it was still 1958.

Okay but it didn't really work for me

[dbborroughs · 5/10 · 10 May 2009]

David Essex stars in the first of two films about Jimmy Maclaine, a young man who wants to be a rock star. Here we follow Maclaine as his father comes home from the war, leaves his family and Maclaine grows up, running away from home as a teen to make his future in the world, first by the sea, then at a holiday camp and finally in a carnival. Eventually he returns home to start his own family. Slice of life in late 50's early 60's as rock music was shaking everything up and the post war kids were looking for a way out. I had always heard this was the better of the two Maclaine films (Stardust being the second) but I wasn't really impressed. For what ever reason I couldn't really connect with what was happening on screen. Perhaps I was waiting for something the film isn't, the sequel charts Maclaine's rise and fall as a pop star, so I was waiting for a music film instead of a family drama and character study (come on you have Ringo Starr, Keith Moon and Dave Edmunds in the cast don't you think it'll be a music film?). On some level it made watching the sequel better, but ultimately it wasn't something I need to see again. You may feel differently since the film isn't bad, just one that I didn't connect to.

A bleak & gritty, yet solid & engrossing British kitchen sink drama

[Woodyanders · 8/10 · 7 July 2006]

Set in a plausibly dreary and defiantly anti-nostalgic late 50's era Britian, this grimly serious kitchen sink drama relates the turbulent up and down tale of one Jim MacLaine (superbly played by David Essex of "Rock On" fame), a discontent working class bloke who wants to be a rock star so he can successfully transcend the dismally unrewarding banality of plain old normal bourgeoisie existence and live a free, spontaneous, not attached to any heavy responsibility life. Jim drops out of school and moves out of his mother's house. He winds up going nowhere slowly, selling beach chairs on the arid shore in order to scrape by, until a shrewd smoothie busboy (Ringo Starr in a surprisingly excellent performance) takes the shy, naive Jim under his wing and teaches the heretofore sweet, guileless lad the fine art of picking up girls and gypping patrons at the local carnival of their spare change. Pretty soon Jim degenerates into a cold, heartless womanizing cad who's incapable of commitment and, as long as he refuses to settle down, just a few steps away from the fame he seeks.

Loosely based on John Lennon's actual early exploits, with an outstanding golden oldies soundtrack and a rough, seedy, marvelously unglamorous and unromanticized depiction of the 50's, "That'll Be the Day" offers an engrossingly seamy and minutely detailed evocation of drab blue collar life, chiefly centering on the pertinent role rock music plays in serving as an outlet for overcoming the horrid ordinariness of said average lifestyle. Claude Whatham's astutely observant direction delivers a striking wealth of piquant incidental touches -- the ghastly shabbiness of Jim's cheap apartment, the faulty, out-of-tune speakers at a rundown dance hall, the grungy sleaziness of the fairground Jim works at, an incredibly cheerless wedding reception -- which in turn brings a splendidly gritty, lived-in conviction to Ray Connelly's meticulous, unsparingly downbeat script. Moreover, the acting is uniformly top-notch (Essex's finely underplayed characterization is especially strong), with commendable work turned in by Rosemary Leach as Jim's doting, concerned mother, James Booth as Jim's restless and unreliable absentee deadbeat dad, and Billy Fury as hotshot lounge singer extraordinaire Stormy Tempest. A sterling cinematic testament to rock music's undying allure and magical ability to create hope in an otherwise bleak and thankless world.