Finders Keepers

This is the Cliff Richard & the Shadows movie that was made at the time when the Beatles & their ilk were all the rage.

In response, this film has Cliff Richard with his hair combed forward and moves The Shadows to a more prominent role as songwriters, actors, and singers.

The movie is very colorful and beautiful to look at, has the vintage mid sixties madcap feel, mid sixties styling, and is clean cut & wholesome.

Those looking for deep meanings & complicated plot lines had better stick to other movie genres. This is teenybopper stuff.

What's secretly special about this film is The Shadows' vocal contributions which are in league with those on their excellent SHADOW MUSIC album.

This film was lame and I should have known it would be a drag from the opening scene. The band is on a hay wagon railroad car and the footage and special effects are horrible. None of songs by the band stand out and the plot is weak. Robert Morley is one of those actors who always seems to always find his way into bad films.

Yes, the plot is so thin you could floss your teeth with it. Yes, the pop idols can't act and the songs aren't the best. But if you accept the fact that this is a silly movie from the silliest decade of all, you'll waste an enjoyable 90 minutes on this film. Especially if you're a fan of Cliff Richard, the Shadows, and/or spy spoofs. Come on, who wouldn't want to see the boys gallavanting around a Spanish fiesta disguised (for no good reason) as a roving guitar troupe?

Cliff Movies (like any pop star's big screen cash-ins) aren't cinematic highlights. They're not meant to be. But they can be a bit of fun. This one has an older Cliff, slightly more mature story, and all the best Songs. Summer Holiday's the "classic" but here you will find Time Drags By, Oh Seniorita, This Day, and Pealla, amongst others.

Big international pop star and his backing band forgoes the fast travel jet life and concert halls in favour of hitchhiking and backroom bars. (Can you imagine Coldplay touring the US in a VW Camper and playing only village halls!?!)

US Plane accidentally drops bomb near backwater town that is supposed to be big star Cliffs next appearance. This sets the back drop for some classic sing song.

I caught FINDERS KEEPERS on The Mystery Channel, of all things. Well, spies and a missing mini atom bomb *do* figure in the plot, so I guess it's not *totally* out of place on the Mystery Channel lineup... :-) I have sort of a chart for rock 'n' roll comedies, with the following ratings: A HARD DAY'S NIGHT is my "Excellent" rating, HELP! is "Very Good," Elvis Presley's DOUBLE TROUBLE is "Good," THE GHOST GOES GEAR is "Fair," and CATALINA CAPER is "Poor." I place FINDERS KEEPERS somewhere between DOUBLE TROUBLE and THE GHOST GOES GEAR! :-) As screen presences, Cliff Richard and the Shadows don't quite have the sparkle of The Beatles, but they're still pretty cute and amiable, and they're surrounded by such fine British character actors as Robert Morley and Graham Stark. Also, it's sort of oddly endearing to see a film from such an innocent era that an A-bomb can be used as a comic McGuffin (unlike in the recent unfairly underrated BIG TROUBLE; most audiences are too spooked to appreciate the satiric possibilities in their cynically funny, Billy Wilder-esque treatment of atomic bombs and laissez faire airport security...but I digress...). And the use of paella as a love song cue is one of the most hilariously hokey rock movie song cues outside of a typical Elvis Presley flick! If you like Cliff Richard and/or the kind of cheerful lighthearted, lightheaded pop music movies they cranked out in the 1950s and '60s, FINDERS KEEPERS is pleasant fare for a lazy afternoon if you happen to stumble across it on cable.