Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Holy street directory, Batman!! What's one of them SSMA thingies??

They used to call it a C.I.T.Y...

Can't remember now what it was an acronym for...

Gotcha, Dane! Some nerdy public servant probably spent weeks dreaming that one up....... think I'll stick with the common or garden term!

FERRY CROSS THE MERSEY-GERRY AND THE PACEMAKERS .... it finally came in the mail and I had a look.

Overall, fairly dissapointing. Basically a failed attempt at remaking A Hard Day's Night for Gerry Marsden.

Granted, that a HDN remake is a tall task and so perhaps they should have not even tried. All the basic themes of AHDN were there... the campy one-liners (not nearly as funny).... the lighthearted battles with the police (which was overdone in "enough already!" Keystone Cops style).... the elderly kurmudgeon (ala Pauly's grandfather).... the general theme of running around ... and the final climactic public performance (in this case a 'battle of the bands'). The guy who takes over as Pacemaker manager was obviously a copy of Brian Epstein.

Throughout the movie the Pacemakers absurdly break into studio quality song in the strangest of places (ala the boxcar scene from AHDN) ... and that part was fine since its pretty much what you expect... but even THAT was way overdone.

So all in all, the screenwriting was poor, the filming was basic at best (none of the great visuals as in AHDN), the acting was mediocre (despite Gerry's best efforts), the personalities somewhat boring, the storyline a blah, and the songwriting and performing (except for the title song) not all that interesting.... did NONE of the other Pacemakers have any singing ability?

The interesting parts were the scenes of Liverpool and the chance to see the other bands at the end (including Cilla Black who had a small speaking role). What stood out most to me was that the Pacemakers were by far the best band in the movie. AND that Gerry and the Pacemakers aren't even qualified to shine the Beatles' boots (ok, ok... I'm prepared for the onslaught). All in all it just highlighted how breat the Beatles were and how much they really stood out in that whole Mercyside scene.

Still, its worth buying and seeing it for its historical value alone.

Interesting you mention other bands Kent, I have not seen the movie but I have the soundtrack and only other band credited are The Fourmost who perform one number called I Love You Too, Cilla did one number called Is It Love which isn't bad though not a big Cilla Fan.

Perhaps you can confirm

I lent it to a friend, Roy... I'll get back to you on this. Yes, there were a few bands shown in the Battle of the Bands Segment (toward the end of the film). They only showed parts of these songs so perhaps they were not included on the soundtrack. Cilla's song was complete.

As the story went, as soon as they arrived at the venue, the Pacemaker's equipment was accidently sent off to the airport. As the lads chase off after their gear (this is the extended and very overdone keystone Cops chase scene) various band take the stage and the movie is constantly cutting back and forth between the chase and the performances. Cilla Black is scheduled to go last but to buy time the Pacemakers manager (the Brian Epstien-like character) persuades Cilla to go on earlier. Naturally the Pacemakers arrive back from the airport (instantanously it seems) in the nick of time to play their song and win the competition.

Wow. Sorta the "Apocalypse Now" of its day, eh?

Imagine Russ Meyers as the director and Quentin Tarentino as the screenwriter...

If QT had directed HDN he would have had the old curmudgeon kill off Paul near the end only to be resurrected as a vampire.

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned the film the All You Need Is Cash by the Rutles although filmed in 1975 it was definitely a parody of the 60's so it sort of qualifies?

sort of I guess.... the guy in the upper right of that pix looks like Billy from Dino Dezi & Billy.

The Rutles members in All You Need Is Cash were:

Ron Nasty -- John Lennon - played by Neil Innes
Dirk McQuickly -- Paul McCartney - played by Eric Idle (singing voice is primarily Ollie Halsall)
Stig O'Hara -- George Harrison - played by Ricky Fataar
Barry Wom (b. Barrington Womble) -- Ringo Starr - played by John Halsey
(Hamburg only) "Leppo, the fifth Rutle" -- Stu Sutcliffe - seen only in a still photograph in the film - the photo showed Ollie Halsall - who actually played and sang on the soundtrack.

So Kent that would be Ricky Fatar.

I have to point out that all Beatles fans should watch the Power Puff Girls cartoon "Meet the Beat Alls." It has so many Beatles references that you lose count. If you've never seen the show, it's too hard to explain. Let it be said that the villain in the cartoon is a monkey, Mojo Jojo, who in this particular episode is under the spell of a female monkey named Moko Jono, who just happens to do "performance art" that includes screaming and wailing while Mojo sings. Runs every so often on Cartoon Network in the U.S. and is available on video.

I've seen that cartoon. It's great for Beatle fans.
I understand two of the Rutles will be at the Matthew Street Fair in Liverpool, going on now.