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That'll Be the Day (film)

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That'll Be The Day
DVD cover
Directed byClaude Whatham
Written byRay Connolly
Produced bySanford Lieberson
David Puttnam
StarringDavid Essex
Ringo Starr
Keith Moon
Billy Fury
Deborah Watling
Distributed byAnglo-EMI Film Distribution
Release dates
United Kingdom 12 April 1973
United States 29 October 1973
Running time
91 minutes
LanguageEnglish

That'll Be the Day is a 1973 British film starring David Essex and Ringo Starr, written by Ray Connolly and directed by Claude Whatham. It is set in the late '50s/early '60s and was partially filmed on the Isle of Wight. A sequel, Stardust, was released in 1974.

Plot summary

Jim MacLaine's (David Essex) mother was abandoned by his father when he was young. Later, as a suburban school dropout, Jim leaves home and drifts through a succession of dead-end jobs until he finds an outlet for his frustration in rock 'n' roll. Tossing away the chance of a university education much to the consternation of his mother, alienated MacLaine becomes a lowly deckchair attendant before streetwise friend Mike (Ringo Starr) gets him a job firstly as a barman and then with the fun fair. The initially shy MacLaine quickly becomes a heartless fairground Romeo leaving a trail of broken hearts in his wake. Eventually the prodigal son returns home to run the family store and marry his girlfriend, but despite the birth of a son, restless Jim feels the lure of rock’n’roll again.

Characters

The film was praised at the time [by whom?] for its gritty realism, capturing the influence of the early Liverpool days of The Quarrymen/The Beatles and Rory Storm & The Hurricanes, said to be the inspiration for the group in the movie lead by character.

Many of the characters were played by musicians who had lived through the era portrayed in the film including Ringo Starr of The Hurricanes and The Beatles, Billy Fury of The Hurricanes, Keith Moon of The Who, and John Hawken of The Nashville Teens.

The film was produced by David Puttnam and is loosely based on the Harry Nilsson song "1941."

Critic Anne Billson was less enthusiastic, calling it "Hugely overrated dip into the rock'n'roll nostalgia bucket, ... " and "Youth culture my eye: they're all at least a decade too old. But good tunes, and worth catching for Bill Fury's gold lamé act." [1]

Cast

Soundtrack

Both That'll Be the Day and the sequel Stardust:

Chart positions

Chart Year Peak
position
UK Albums Chart[2] 1973 1
Preceded by
Pure Gold by Various artists
 UK Albums Chart number-one album
30 June 1973 - 18 August 1973 		Succeeded by

Award Nominations

BAFTA Best Supporting Actress: Rosemary Leach.

BAFTA Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles: David Essex.

Spin-off

An independent Radio Drama recording project was completed in 2008 entitled 'That'll be the Stardust!' which continues the story of Jimmy Maclaine jr. (son of Jim Maclaine). The website featuring the complete drama is now online (see external link below).

References

  1. ^ The TimeOut Film Guide, third edition, 1993, p. 706
  2. ^ "Number 1 Albums – 1970s". The Official Charts Company. Archived from the original on 9 February 2008. Retrieved 14 June 2011.
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