macca

Hello

I've just joined the film forum, and i thought i'd enquire about a sixties movie i almost feel i've dreamed !

Sorry to be vague, but i was so young when i saw it. Where to start ? I suppose you could describe it as a "teen" movie, i seem to remember it was made around 67/68 but i'm not sure. The reason it stood out in my mind was because it seemed to give me a sense of the sixties in the most prosaic way possible, it was set in a new housing estate, possibly a new town, and it seemed kind of freaky to me as a kid to see the " sixties" in such a modern setting, as there were new estates all around my home in the eighties which looked just like the movie. Doesn't seem much, but it seemd strange and a little unsettling a the time. I remember it featured a main character, a young male teenager and various others around this estate, i can picture one scene featuring the main star in his bedroom being woken up by his mother and other shots of this housing estate - i hate to keep mentioning the estate, but it really did seem to be the " star" of the film, much as Gregory's Girl would be a good few years later. UNFORTUNATELY, this is all i can seem to remember, it's flashes of scenes at a sensory level that have stayed with me all these years, rather than any sense of the plot so to speak. It was inceredibly vivid for me as a child, but i have never saw or heard of it since. Has anyone any ideas ? Sorry it's so sketchy but it really is the lost sixties teen/mod/pop or whatever you may call it movie to me !

I'm sorry, i may have posted this in the wrong section originally

Rob Compton

Wild guess - Here we go round the Mulberry Bush?

rgds
Rob

Gibbie

Welcome to the Fourm Macca!

Could it be "The Family Way" from 1966?
The sound track was by another Macca.

Recent posting on The Family Way

Another option is Deux ou trois choses que je sais d'elle:
Deux ou trois choses que je sais d'elle

Also check with DB7, Deckard, Dylan or Aphra, as they have an encycolpedic and keed knowledge of that period.

Gibbie

lancethecook

ive just watched the first few minutes to be sure but this sounds very much like the opening of BILLY LIAR but then the rest of it dosent fit too well.

Genevieve's Mechanic

Could it be KES?
northern setting again.
story of a working class boy and his Kestrel (bird)
GM

macca

No unfortunately not Here We Go Round The Mullbery Bush or The Family Way guys no Though i like both.

It wasn't as stark as Kes, though it was filmed in colour, but this was kinda more lighthearted all about this 16/17 year old guy and his growing pains/girl troubles i think.think Gregorys Girl but sixties
And not Billy Liar, though i love that and have just added it to my Amazon basket :)

In terms of it's filmic look ( which is mostly what i can remember most vividly) it's not quite so sumptous as the first two and not nearly so bleak as the the third, which seems more like a seventies film to me, this was just an incredibly " clear" look at sixties modern housing estate living ( romanticised in terms of plot and dialogue no doubt), which must have just been built as the film was made, it's architecture and "planning" are far too contempary to being anything other. Almost all of it was filmed in this New Town enviroment, which may have been a subtext in the film. Not a northern film either, something from the south or midlands maybe ?

I'v spoken to a few people who think it must be an early seventies movie, but i remember the clothes and the teenagers bedroom, and it's definately 1967/68 but just amazingly " clean" visually !

...And not Deux ou trois choses que je sais d'elle
Gibbie ( thanks for the welcome) though this sounds fantastic having read the link, I've just joined and already been turned on to a great looking film thumbs_u

KavJack

The film "Billy Liar" was produced in 1963 and is set in Leeds, West Yorkshire. The steep streets that Billy climbs to his house are in South Leeds not too far from the Elland Road football ground.
I don't know if it is the film that the original questioner is thinking of but it could fit. The film has many moments where young Billy lies fantasising about a better life.

Barry M Jackson

deckard

Long shot..but could it be "The Knack...and how to get it"(1965)? If not I'll keep thinking....

"and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock"

Gibbie

I was also thinking it could be "The Knack" or "Billy Liar", but these are B&W and Macca said colour.

Now, it's time to suss out a BFI expert!

You're welcome, Macca! Hope you have sunshine today in Scotland!

My late-father was in TV and I remember early in life that as TV went from B&W to colour between 65-68 there was a strong palette used for colour in TV, but also in film - especially 67. 66 with "Revolver", The Who and "Blow Up" was a pop art year. 67 was Victoriana - remember the colour Emma Peel Avengers and The Saint and all the florals that your mother got. 68 was the Hendrix/hippie Acid year and that was when film tended to go more gritty and flat - The Easy Rider thing and that lasted way too long, almost into the 80s (regarding the quality of film used and style).

So, we have a colour film shot between say 66-68 and was primarily on an estate?

We can probably strike out a few top movies from that period - "To Sir With Love", "Casino Royale" or "Bedazzled" due to subject matter.

Long shots - Could it have been
"Up the Junction"

or

"If"

Gibbie

Genevieve's Mechanic

The nearest to "Gregory's girl" I remember from that period was "Swalk" ,"S.w.a.l.k." it had another title too.
I think It had Mark Lester and Jack Wilde?
The theme song was about Christmas trees being very tall. plot
posh boy and tearaway become friends ,posh boy meets girl. tearaway sulks,but helps them be together in the end.
last scene (I think )is a long helicopter pull back of them escaping on one of those railway inspection carts
any closer?
gm

Hugo

Could the film you are looking for be THE RACHEL PAPERS (GB 1989) ?
Although it was not filmed until 1989 it is based on a sixties novel about a teenage boy coming of age in South London.

mysteriesofedgarwallace

"Boston Kickout" (1996) springs to mind.

http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0112564/

I know it was filmed in the 90's, but was a 'coming of age' tale of a group of lads who lived on a housing estate in either Luton or Milton Keynes (forget which) and was full of the usual tales of teen angst.
Although filmed in the 90's, I believe it was mean't to be set in either the 60's or 70's.

DB7

Sounds more like an early Milton Keynes documentary than a film with a plot.

macca

Thanks for all the input fellas, but unfortuantely it's none of the above no

I understand why you say it might sound like a MK documentary, but it was definately a scripted movie. It's never remembered by anyone, guess it's just a forgotten film

I can't remember much apart from the the interior of his bedroom, his mother telling him to get up, one scene with him on a cycle, with a few girls standin around a roundabout/modern art utility ? ,in a cluster.

Ahh well, there might be other forums on British mvies i could find, but you guys seem reasonably knowledgeable, so i'm not sure i'd have much luck ! Definate sixties movie :mad: Thanks!

Oh one other thing i think i may remember, it was listed on the BBC1 TV blurb early eighties, as highly underrated and the director's debut ! That's how much it stuck in my mind since i guess 81/82

Rob Compton

Might it be a TV film or play, rather than a cinema release? Play for Today or something?

rgds
Rob