dbdumonteil Sir Cliff Richard was then England 's biggest star ,and the thing George Martin had in mind was to surpass his success,which meant a lot! It's 1961 ,still in the pre- Beatles days ,but girls (see the scene in the theater) already scream when the "mystery " singer appears on stage.Nicky is a millionaire's son but he does not want to let the cat out of the bag ,for fear he may lose all his good pals (only his girlfriend knows);and,you would never believe it, daddy wants to destroy the youth club to build big buildings;and he is so wealthy he can buy everything ,"lock,stock and barrel " to be precise .Blackman Sr is played by highly talented Robert Morley,who makes his character nicer than ,say ,Uncle Scroodge ( both Dicken's and Barks/Disney's)Richard ,21,is good-looking ,and there's a good chemistry with Morley (who could easily have stolen most of the scenes he is in);his ballads are tuneful and pleasant ,particularly the title track;he is less at ease with pure rock and roll :Elvis Presley,he is definitely not.The talented Shadows have an instrumental and ,with hindsight,can be considered influential in the future of rock,which is not really the case with their singer.Too bad the movie tries so hard to emulate the American musicals in an interminable sequence ;the best scenes ,from that point of view,are to be found in the youth club :the scene in which a deadpan Sir Cliff dances with the "star" is worth the price of admission;the illegal TV advertisement is also a good moment.This is delightfully old -fashioned stuff,which retains a certain pristine charm.

jonesus I went to see this movie back in 1961 when it was first released, and I saw it at a special Midnight Matinée with Cliff Richard on stage in person at the end of the film. He was also in the lobby afterwards. A pleasant enough musical, the title song is sung at Ruisip Lido which was a popular summer venue in the 1960's. It is still there (2014)but swimming is no longer allowed. The theater where the young ones put on their show really was the Finsbury Park Empire which was designed by Frank Matcham a famous British theater architect,the building was standing empty having closed in 1960, the theater was demolished in 1965.So if you are into old theatres the movie serves as a reminder of that building. Some of the dance routines remind one of West Side Story. Although the film was in Cinemascope ratio it did not have stereo sound which is a pity for a musical. Robert Morley plays the part of Cliffs father well and it is fun to see Robert doing a dance routine near the end of the movie. If you like musicals you will probably enjoy this film as long as you do not expect it to be like a big Hollywood production.

ianlouisiana "The Young Ones"seem to have been 30 years old at birth.Led by "The Mild One " himself - Mr C.Richard - they are clean,polite,and,apart from a token cockney or two,remarkably well - spoken.They all overact like mad and none of them can dance for toffee.Not surprisingly then,the movie is very bad.The dance numbers are a straight rip - off from "West Side Story"so blatant I swear I could see one or two of them blushing.The musical arrangements should have sent Mr L.Bernstein reaching for the phone to his lawyer,but somehow I doubt if he ever got around to watching this one. There is note a single note of rock 'n' roll to be heard in its whole length despite it often being described as a "Rock 'n' Roll Musical. The estimable Mr Stanley Black was the MD.Here was a man with the mindset - not surprisingly - of a Dance Band Leader.His orchestrations, no doubt played by moonlighting British jazzers,could have come from a Glenn Miller musical.Was this really the music young people danced to in 1961?No.They liked Trad Jazz,Acker Bilk,Chris Barber,or proper rock 'n' roll like Gene Vincent,Jerry Lee and Elvis.Cliff and the Shads were all right for smooching to but that was about it. I hesitate to mention Miss Cordeau whose main assetts were clearly displayed,but they didn't include acting or singing. Mr Melvyn Hayes with his Italian suit and one of those handkerchiefs that consisted of a small piece of linen sewed onto a card to be inserted in one's top pocket,looks fairly daring with his dyed hair and slightly camp persona,but,rather boringly turns out to be one of the boys after all. Mr Robert Morley gives full rein to his customary over - acting,treating each line like a polished gem from the pen of Oscar Wilde and generally behaving like a spoiled ageing fat baby wailing for its rusks. The movie is essentially a Mickey Rooney musical revamped.However,the downside that clearly never occurred to its producers ,was that Mr Rooney could sing and dance brilliantly,had energy and talent to spare and,if necessary,could carry a movie single - handedly. Unfortunately none of these attributes applied to Mr Richard who possessed a small,plaintive voice,a sweet innocent face and two left feet.Er,that's about it really. Unlike many films from my youth,"The young ones" has not got better with age.It really is that bad.

olav-5 This is the kind of movie to spend your fee on when you were a British teenager in the early sixties. But there is hardly a story, and what there is is very predictable. The movie has two strong moments however: the first 10 minutes are really an example of how a musical can start at full-speed, and the part where Cliff Richard sings the title song, strolling along "the serpentine" in Hyde Park, London, with the lovely Carole Gray aside him. A little bit of a cult movie, and a very weak brother of West side story. But it has its place in history and millions have enjoyed it. Cliff's fans probably still do.