The Young Ones
It was at the start of the twentieth century that the term “teenager” first began to be used commonly but it was not until the fifties that teenagers became recognised as a specific and identifiable economic group to whom product could be marketed, and where there is money to be made business will surely follow, the entertainment industry targeting music and movies directly towards impressionable teens, the young ones eager to find and embrace their identity.
His career having launched in the fifties as a British rocker, towards the end of that decade Cliff Richard shifted his musical direction and broadened his career to include film, his first lead role in The Young Ones, released in America as Wonderful to be Young, directed by The Entity‘s Sidney J Furie from a script by Peter Myers and Ronald Cass with musical contributions from Stanley Black, Ronald Cass and of course The Shadows, Richard’s long time associates and backing band.
A prestigious and colourful production released in 1961 which opens with a panoramic view of the London skyline from a high rise building site on a Friday night, singer Nicky Black (Richard) and his friends Toni, Chris, Ernest, Jimmy and Barbara gather at the youth club to make music together only to find that the entire block is to be demolished to make way for a twenty storey office block.
Ernest working at a solicitors, he sets about checking the details of the lease to see if he can find a loophole to save them, while Nicky discusses the situation with pompous and crafty property developer Hamilton Black (Theatre of Blood’s Robert Morley), his own father, who has little interest in “a crowd of untidy adolescents milling around in their leather jackets, brandishing bicycle chains,” while Nicky plans a concert to raise funds to option the renewal clause and secure the future of the club.
Hamilton’s impression of the club more exciting than the reality, the musical numbers of The Young Ones looking back rather than forward, the conventional opening number Friday Night sets the scene before Nothing’s Impossible improves by virtue of cheeky staging, but the actual concert, at a deserted but conveniently well-equipped theatre, is dated, music hall and variety rather than rock and roll combined with dull choreography, the umbrella dance led by Carole Gray (Toni) the only standout.
Emulating the form of an American teen beach movie without the locations or the blessings of good genes, Richard O’Sullivan (Ernest) later growing into his face while Melvyn Hayes (Jimmy) never really did, The Young Ones got old, failing to capitalise on the unique vibrancy London had to offer, though in StudioCanal’s new edition Hayes says he has “nothing but good memories” of the shoot, while stunt double Rocky Taylor who would later work on The Avengers and The Champions gives his own recollections.
The Young Ones is available on Blu-ray from StudioCanal now
