That Summer!

I was in this Film. As a youth looking for fame and fortune I was surprised to see an ad in the Job Centre window (then just round the corner from the Pickwick pub) requesting Extras for the film. The working title was "Freestyle" and it was to be made by Columbia Pictures and directed by the unfortunately named Harley Cockliss. Anyway I signed up and waited for the call. It eventually came and I was summoned to the pool hall under the multi storey car park in Union street where I stood by a pin ball machine (extreme foreground) while the camera tracked passed me. By now the film was called That Summer. I thought that had been my 15 minutes but, on my way out I was asked by the second AD if I minded late nights. Without thinking I said no. A week or so later I was contacted by the production company and told to report to the model village in Babbacome at 10pm. I duly attended and spent most of the night talking to Jon Morrison in a crew bus. He was an extremely amiable guy, chatting freely to the extras and crew.

My big moment came when I was picked to be pushed out of the way by Morrison and his cronies as he attempted to throw a can of beer at a model football pitch. I was on screen for all of 4 seconds (that's me with the glasses and the "what do I do now" look on my face) but it was a fantastic experience. I taped the film when it was shown on TV in the early 80's. I've still got the tape, and bore my friends with the claim - "I was in a film with him" every time Ray Winstone appears on screen. Sadly Ray Winstone was less amiable Than Jon Morrison during the shooting and chose to spend most of the down time holed up in his caravan rather than chatting to the extras and crew, so I never actually got to meet him. I was hoping that the film would be my passport to Hollywood. Sadly I only got as far as Basingstoke!

... but the soundtrack ROCKS! Basically a snap shot of the best of British and American power pop and poppy punk, circa 1978: the Undertones' "Teenage Kicks," Patti Smith's "Before the Night," Elvis Costello's "Chelsea," Richard Hell and the Voidoids' "Blank Generation," the Boomtown Rats' "She's So Modern" and "Kicks," Wreckless Eric's "Whole Wide World," the Only Ones' "Another Girl, Another Planet," Zones' "New Life," the Ramones' "Rockaway Beach"....it's perfectly sequenced and keeps up from start to finish.

Unfortunately, the album's long out of print and the movie just isn't available on VHS or DVD anywhere as far as I can tell.

I like these old British movies. I wasn't even born when this was out but it makes me reminisce about a time that's long gone and imagine what life was like for my mum, Aunty and father. I love Ray's films but this one didn't have the wow factor. I enjoyed it but don't think I'd go back to it. Other reviewers are right though, the soundtrack is quality and I'm going straight to Discogs to find a copy!

First saw this film in 1989 when I taped it. Unfortunately it got taped over about five years ago and I have spent the last five years looking for another copy. Luckily, I now have it on DVD. Although the acting isn't really anything to speak of, the soundtrack is really good. It's also nice to see how things have changed in the area since 1978. I recently visited the Pickwick which is where Steve worked. It's changed quite a bit, different colour with some building work done. One thing that always makes me chuckle about the film is the continuity errors. Didn't the director realise you can't see Torquay Harbour out of the window of the Pickwick.

I saw the film in the cinema of SS Canberra on the way back from the Falklands in 82. The most memorable bit of the film is when the lead man is trying to get into the drawers of the lead girl. She stops him at the critical moment and asks: "You do love me don't you?" With that and in unison with Ray Winstone the entire audience of now Falkland Veterans chorused "Of course I do!" Brilliant! This film is a classic of the era, although filmed in 78 it captured the early 80s and the quoted lines above remind of my escapades before departing for the unknown in the South Atlantic. Ray Winstone certainly cut his teeth on films like this and archetypal the great Brit actor.