Just for Fun (1963) User Reviews (5)

Lighthearted Revue of Contemporary Pop

[boblipton · 6/10 · 9 December 2014]

This 1963 pop revue is held together by a mixture of silly plot and blackout gags. The Labour and Conservative parties believe that if they give teenagers the vote, they will vote for them; instead they form their own political party to get more contemporary music on the BBC.

The point, of course, is to showcase what seems like dozens of popular performers, each of whom performs one song. The whole thing is directed stylishly by under-rated Gordon Flemyng and shot interestingly by chief cameraman Nicholas Roeg. Each song has its own set, so the effect is like looking at VH1 with a sense of humor. Even if none of the songs are classics, they are well performed and varied in genre.

For the other reviewers, who seem to have seen this half a century ago and are looking for a copy, it showed up this morning on America's GetTV cable channel.

Just for the avid fan!

[JohnHowardReid · 7/10 · 18 August 2016]

A companion piece to the Richard Lester film, "Ring-a-Ding Rhythm" (1962), also written and produced by Milton Subotsky, this one is not directed by Dick Lester but by a Gordon Flemyng who doesn't have quite the same verve and sparkle. A quick count gives Flemyng around seven theatrical features, compared with hundreds of TV episodes.

Nevertheless, the Subotsky script uses many of the same gimmicks and it too has an extended sequence at the BBC, in which some popular TV programs are gleefully sent up.

The songs themselves and the musical interludes will doubtless delight the fans, though to a non-fan like me, they seem a trifle monotonous, despite the appealing figures of some of the singers and dancers. The décor held some interest for me too.

Great film

[wozza24 · 31 January 2000]

I saw this film as a teenager in 1963. It was a load of nonsense as far as the story line goes but was the 60s version of todays video clips.

I thoroughly enjoyed the film about the takeover of England by a teenage political party and would like to get hold of a video copy if one is available.

I saw this film in 1963 and met Cherry Roland in 1984

[ericmilburn · 10/10 · 1 March 2003]

I saw this movie in 1963 on a school ship call the Dunera which sailed from Newcastle to the Channel Islands, Vigo in Spain, Lisbon in Portugal. I was 13yrs old. I was mad about pop music and although the storyline was poor the stars were the 'it' of the day. The movie had been well published in the Newcastle Journal and as a up and coming 'mod' I just had to see it and never forgot it ever. Then in 1984 I met Cherry Roland. We bought a shop from her and her partner, Mirelle Wright, this was a Lingerie and Beachwear shop in Southport Merseyside.

Cherry became a great friend of myself and my wife Sue. We lost touch with her but saw her by chance in a bar in Calpe Spain in 1990.

This is the last time we made contact. Does anyone know where she is today?

Vote for Mark Wynter- and sink Britain

[Oct · 26 April 2002]

Before Milton Subotsky went into low-budget horror, he made several Britpop exploitation titles including "Rock, Rock, Rock" as early as 1956 and "It's Trad, Dad" which came just too late to catch the traditional jazz revival in 1963. In the same year "Just for Fun" somewhat prophetically foresaw a Swinging Britain in which teens get the vote- it happened a few years later- and use it to take over the country, which at the finish is shown sinking beneath the waves. In the meantime, a gaggle of popsters trailing behind the Beatles, Cliff Richard or the Rolling Stones in popularity do their stuff: some are well worth preserving, such as Jet Harris & Tony Meehan and Ketty Lester. Reggie Beckwith, the camp fellow with the high-pitched voice, also figured in the most notorious Britpop entry, "Gonks Go Beat". And then he died.