Play It Cool Reviews

A lame rock 'n' roll movie, worthy of interest only because it provides a glimpse at pre-Beatlemania English pop-rock stars and stardom. Price stars as a stuffy British papa who sends his impressionable daughter Palk off to Europe in order to bust up her romance with worthless rock singer Kaufmann. The plan backfires at the airport, where Palk meets up with sexy rock idol Fury and his band, who are en route to a concert in Brussels. Finding their flight has been cancelled due to fog, Fury and his band take Palk out for a night on the town while searching for Kaufmann. Unfortunately the merry troupe find Kaufmann in the arms of a sleazy nightclub dancer, and Palk realizes her father was right after all. Palk then dumps the bum, bids adieu to Fury and his band, and returns to her daddy. For a youth-oriented film dealing with rock 'n' roll, the moral of this film feels like it was written by somebody's parents. Fury was one of several early English rockers whose images were self-consciously patterned after the tempestuous appeal of Elvis Presley but who actually conveyed a tamer presence that had more in common with boy-next-door pop crooners like Frankie Avalon and Bobby Vee (the latter plays it cool in this film). Director Winner was no stranger to rock 'n' roll, having done a stint as a writer for the British pop music magazine New Musical Express. Songs include: "Who Can Say" (sung by Danny Williams), "It's Gonna Take Magic" (sung by Shane Fenton and the Fentones), "Take It Easy" (sung by Jimmy Crawford), "Twist" (performed by Lionel Blair and His Dancers), "Cry My Heart Out," "But I Don't Care" (sung by Helen Shapiro), and "Play It Cool" (sung by Billy Fury).