Whatever Happened to Harold Smith?

This film is absolutey delightful, a combination of a well-written and hilarious script, and some amazing art direction. Every scene in this movie presents its audience with an eyeful of imaginative staging. If you liked the movie The Royal Tennenbaums, see this... its more funny and even more visually rich.

There are a lot of negatives written about this film. I think people get upset over things that, let's face it, don't really matter much. Who cares if punks are not portrayed very well, or cars arn't painted as perhaps they should be? Tom Courtney is brilliant in this, It's a bit of fun for goodness sake. No boys with their toys, no posing hard guys, no f***k me when you're ready females, there just for decoration. Hey! no wonder a lot of guys don't like it much, how dare somebody make a film that deviates from the same tired old formula!! Myself? I enjoyed it. Of course it's not 'art,' just entertainment, and all the better for it in my view.

This is one of the best movies I've ever seen! The acting is amazing, and the story is laugh-out-loud funny! What a great sense of humor, especially if you're British and into punk! Fantastic music too! I loved it. Someone had a truly hilarious time writing this movie!

The best parts? Well the last scene, definitely!Punk meets John Travolta...a marriage made in...???!! I loved the professors home life, been there, done that...thanks dad!! And what a treat to see all those blasts from the past...High Karate aftershave, the Queens speech and Urei Geller. What more could a person ask for apart from the 'Vision On' music! And does anybody know how they got Angela Rippon, Alan Whicker and John Craven in this movie! Then there was Keith Chegwin. Go Cheggers Go!! But I think you had to be there! For those who were born too late to live the punk/new wave dream....sorry guys! It was the best of times, it was the ...well you get the picture.

So In summary, punk rules, but disco dancing is cool too...but punk still rules! I'm not sure about the tortoise vote but the last glimpse of Harold was just perfect!Oh! And how is it that Lulu never seems to age?

I also had the opportunity of seeing this film at the London Film Festival, but not having grown up in the 70s approached it with few expectations and even less knowledge of what the period was like. The actors all turned in good performances, with Tom Courtenay especially memorable. The direction was slick and the film consequently flowed smoothly. Some jokes were hilarious and reflected the overall strength of the screenplay, which was packed with novel ideas and witticisms. All in all a very friendly and fun film that I would highly recommend.

If you want to see what the seventies where really like, check this out and avoid TV dramas like Days Like These! An enjoyable film though not as funny as it thinks it is,or could have been. Still nice to know that reasonable British films can be made without obviously appearing to the American market. Worth a look