The Blog by Numbers: Special "Nepotism a Go Go" Edition

[In which we catch up with a bunch of brief and/or dumb stuff that I've been meaning to post for a while, but hadn't gotten around to for whatever reasons.]

1. You Know, Some Days I Really Love PhotoShop

Granted, they spelled Keith's name wrong, but hey -- the dinosaur is just soooooo cute...

2. Your Tuesday Moment of Cahiers du Cinema

As I mentioned last week, my younger brother now weighs in with a review of what looks like an absolutely cool early 60s youth culture flick.

Take it away, Drew!!!

In 1962, some three months before "Love Me Do," the first single by the Beatles, began to be played on U.K.radio and sold in Brit record stores, a movie debuted in British theaters called Some People. I cite the Beatles single because if you watch this movie, I'm certain that you'll figure out that people in the British movie industry were paying attention to what teenagers were doing in their spare time. That has everything to do with the details of the plot.

Some People focuses on a group of teenagers -- 18 or 19 years old, in my estimation -- in Bristol, England, a city on a river near the country's west coast. Bill (David Andrews), Johnnie (Ray Brooks), and Bert (David Hemmings) are friends who, when not at their jobs, get together for fun and adventure. Bill and Johnie work at a local lumber retail company and it's never clear what Bert does.

One late afternoon after work, the three characters, riding their motorcycles, are joined by a friend of Bill's named Terry (Angela Douglas), and meet up at a local motorcyclist hangout. Bert suggests that they go to a local pub where Johnnie can sit down and play a piano. The trip to the pub turns into a race, with all three motorcyclists testing each other.

A truck attempts to pull into the street on which the group is traveling. They have to make a quick decision, a quick change; they have to swerve. Bill and Bert lose control of their bikes and skid off to the side of the road, while Johnnie, with Terry holding onto him as a passenger, comes to a complete stop (Johnnie was behind his two friends when the truck moved into the street.) All of them are brought to Court; lhe three-judge panel hands down a hefty fine and rules that they cannot drive for six months or ride as motorcycle passengers during that time.

The Court's ruling heavily affects the three characters. On the first evening after the verdict, Bill, Bert, and Johnnie get together; they all need to let off steam, and the viewer soon learns that, without their motorcycles, their next choice for having fun is playing music.

In looking for a way to play music, the three friends almost get into more trouble -- first, at the North Bristol Youth Club, and, then, at a nearby Church where Johnnie sits down and plays the Church organ.

The Church's Vicar storms in, demanding an explanation, and is in the midst of roundly berating the three young adults, when a new character is introduced, Mr. Smith (Kenneth More), the Church's Organist and Choir master. On his own, Mr. Smith talks to Bill, Bert, and Johnnie and, on the spot, invites them to the Church Hall (a separate building) on Choir rehearsal nights, at which time they can bring their musical instruments and practice.

To go into detail about how this plays out would truly spoil one's enjoyment of Some People, a movie that should be better known. The reason I say this is because the movie was created to present the divide between the two generations as real and to show that the problems between the generations could be solved.

Three songs written for the movie are performed as part of the plot; the first is an instrumental (in the style of Cliff Richards' backing band The Shadows) and the other two have vocals. The scenes where the music is performed, all in the Church Hall, undoubtedly inspired many teens who watched the movie when it was first in theaters to find musical instruments and learn to play.

Some People, shot in color on location in Bristol, has a running time of 93 minutes. I recommend it to all movie lovers at Power Pop. -- Drew Simels

I haven't seen Some People yet, but I just ordered a disc version (from what Drew assures me is an absolutely terrific print/transfer) over at DVD Lady HERE. As they used to say at Mad Magazine -- $12.95 cheap!!!

3. I Know the Feeling

Heh.

4. Art Imitates Life, or Vice Versa

Me, my aforementioned younger brother (that makes two mentions of him today), a school chum, and a cousin -- at Boy Scout camp in New Jersey, circa late 1950s. Who knew we were the inspiration for the film Stand By Me?

5. Cruel and Unusual

Okay, I like banjos, but yeah -- I get the point.