Play It Cool

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.

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

To the critic of the film Play It Cool starring the One & Only Billy Fury - Billy was the British King Of Rock'n'Roll and this film was appreciated by thousands of his fans (and still is). The storyline may be weak by todays standards but to have Our Billy on film for posterity is BILLYant. Your comments are disrespectful to Billy and his many fans worldwide. You don't know what you are talking about....and who will remember you 23 years after you have died! By the way, he's not died - he's just stopped breathing and will live on in the hearts of so many. Take a look at www.billy fury.com (Billy Fury - The Story) and see just how popular Billy Fury still is and join his fans'n'friends on the message board - I dare you! Rock On Like Fury!

The final shots show a son "Gatwick Airport" - the control tower and hangars were clearly Luton Airport.

Shown this and Helen Shapiro's only other movie 'It's Trad Dad' side by side you'd be hard pressed to say which director was to prove the one to watch - and it's hard to remember now that fifty years ago Michael Winner seemed promising.

But that WAS a very long time ago, when beatniks rather than hippies were parodied (Marianne Stone had recently played a similar role for Stanley Kubrick in 'Lolita') and 7/6d seemed like an extortionate sum to be billed in a nightclub.

Winner seems to have been working with a bigger budget but an even triter script than Lester, and the heroine (Anna Palk) is that old cliche from thirty years earlier: a runaway heiress! Winner nevertheless breezes with gusto through all this nonsense and it's all pleasantly enjoyable to sit through.

"Well that's it everybody! Keep twisting!!"