Play It Cool

Its shameful how people can just write off Billy Fury OK the film itself wouldn't earn an Oscar for being original or clever but as a snapshot of what was going on in the British music screen it has an English charm OK the acting is not up to par ( although directed by the now acclaimed Michael Winner - his first feature film here ) however BILLY FURY at that stage in his career WAS NOT a copy of Elvis and definitely not a --SPASTIC BOBBY DARIN - NO WAY

he was an established artist a singer with great sounds / voice and stage presence and was just doing what every star of there day - including Elvis with his many a same plot film - going onto the big screen.

Helen Shapiro was OK ,and like Bobby Vee in 2006 still going strong .

the film PLAY IT COOL is a piece of little history and should not be dismissed neither disrespected of the late great BILLY FURY

keep on rockin

In 2003, I was responsible for having the one remaining print of this film repaired and shown in a full-scale, traditional cinema for the first time in about 35 years - appropriately the screen backed a stage on which Billy Fury actually performed twice. It is true that many very poor pop music films were produced in Britain in the early 1960s. Play It Cool is not, however, a poor film. It has a charm, drive and integrity that singles it out from the dross. Billy Fury never claimed to be a natural actor. In interviews, he said repeatedly that he was keen to take cameo roles that gave him the opportunity to focus with intensity on his character. However, Play It Cool placed on his shoulders the responsibility of accepting the entire focus of the plot, and he brought energy and imagination to the role. Michael Winner has often remarked on the respect he felt for Billy Fury in accepting a star role in a medium that was so foreign to him, and in delivering such an authoritative performance. I am more than happy to simply endorse Mr Winner's verdict.

With 1962 being a strange time for rock 'n' roll in both America and England, it's a wonder that "Play It Cool" is as entertaining as it is. British rock star Billy Fury plays an Elvis wannabee named Billy Universe who curls his lip and moans just like his hero, but exaggerates his hand movements to the point where he looks like a spastic Bobby Darin. When Billy and his wacky band members get stranded in London with an heiress who's looking for her no-good boyfriend, they make the rounds of the city's pubs and clubs, stumbling upon a place where a trio is singing the squarest music imaginable, then heading on to a spot called The Twist where everybody's twisting (the latest dance craze when "Play It Cool" was being filmed, but stone dead by the time the film was released), then dropping in on a Chinese-themed restaurant called the Lotus Club where pop star Helen Shapiro is crooning in front of a phalanx of violinists. A visit to another club finds American teen idol Bobby Vee (who began his career as a Buddy Holly sound-alike) spooning drivel in front of another bank of violins. Through it all, Billy Fury gets to sing a handful of songs, including a sappy ballad, a twist, an uptempo number called "I Think You're Swell" and a fairly good rocker called "Play It Cool." In other words, this movie is musically all over the place, because the producers were trying to please everybody at a time when the music was rapidly changing. To bind all the musical interludes together, there are lots of little subplots and shots of Billy and his boys running through Gatwick Airport and Houston Station (more than a year before the Beatles did the same thing in "A Hard Day's Night"), but in the end it doesn't add up to much simply because the music is so uniformly unmemorable. Billy Fury is a sympathetic presence, but perhaps the most intriguing artist in "Play It Cool," at least for Americans, is teenage star Helen Shapiro, who sings two numbers, including one of her singles, "I Don't Care." America never really had anything like this bouffant contralto, unless you combine Annette Funicello with the foghorn voice of Timi Yuro. Helen is one of the most awkward performers I've ever seen (more so here than in her film debut, "It's Trad, Dad"), and yet I couldn't take my eyes off her strange beauty. Her career was fading fast by the time she appeared in "Play It Cool," but she's probably the best reason to watch it.

I have watched Play it Cool and like ALL "Pop" movies including Elvis films, the plot is very weak............but Billy Fury makes up for the weak plot with his fantastic vocals throughout the film. Certainly a film to purchase as there aren't many films or footage around of Billy Fury singing. Billy Fury was not an Elvis copycat although he idolised him, he was the first Rock N Roll Star to ever pen his own songs and was the first ever person to produce an album completely written by himself, an album that is still today regarded as the greatest rock n roll album ever! The album's name.....The Sound Of Fury... need I say more!?! Play it cool,although "corny" is a part of British rock n roll history.

A must for all you Rock N Rollers and sixties fans!!!

One of Michael Winner's first films, he was 27 at the time, this is no great film but has charm and significance aplenty. The songs are not very strong, the acting even less so, but Winner keeps things moving along and if the story is weak, at least we don't hang about. Instead of this being a stage-bound, 'Let's put on a show' type effort it does give the impression of being something more exciting and 'happening'. Unfortunately for the makers not just the music world but the world itself was about to change. Six months after the release of this film The Beatles released their first single and within another three months they were a phenomenon and joined by The Rolling Stones and many others. The fifties would finally be over, even though this would be 1963 and the sixties would commence, a little late but with great voice. So this film represents a showcase for the last days of an old music and pretty tired it was becoming, too. Billy Fury does okay and all the performers do as well as they can be expected to with average material and are captured as excitingly as possible by the director.