Wild for Kicks

BEAT GIRL is another film to explore the then-popular craze for Beatnik culture. Like THE PARTY'S OVER, it features Oliver Reed strutting his stuff in various dated dance scenes, and is interspersed with dialogue which sounds incredibly cheesy thanks to the way in which it has dated.

Unlike THE PARTY'S OVER, it's an attempt to provoke censors and audiences with plenty of 'sensation' drama, as in the American quickies. One of the main characters is a former stripper and indeed striptease sequences play a big part in the proceedings; one particular exotic dancer, all the way from Hawaii, perhaps one of the most explicit teases I've ever seen despite the lack of nudity. It must have been incredible for audiences back in 1960.

BEAT GIRL is actually a pretty decent little story. The youthful - and extremely attractive - Gillian Hills plays the girl who discovers her dad's new flame used to be a stripper, while at the same time she immerses herself in Beatnik culture. Most of the film is shot and set around a club in which Nigel Green and Christopher Lee play various sleazy characters. There's plenty of music here too, some of it courtesy of pop sensation Adam Faith, and despite the dating of the cultural material, it's never less than an engrossing - and surprisingly sexy - piece of film-making.

First and foremost, who is Gillian Hills? And second, why didn't she become a major star? After looking for this film for some time, I finally got a chance to check it out the other night. As JD films go, it wasn't a classic, yet it wasn't a clunker either. However, what compelled me to write a review of the film was the sexy young star of the film, Gillian Hills. Going by her bio, she was born in 1946, making her all of fourteen when she made Beat Girl. Well, this has got to be the sexiest fourteen year old ever! Brooke Shields, Jodie Foster, Sue Lyons, even Tuesday Weld can't hold a candle to Ms. Hills. Her performance is the glue which holds the bare thread plot together. Gillian plays Jennifer Linden, spoiled, rich teenager who, along with her beatnik friends, rebel against British society and it's rigid rules and traditions. If one thinks that Jennifer is being led astray by her friends, think again. If anything, it's Jennifer who is leading her friends down the dark and tawdry path. Jennifer is no one's puppet, and proves this in a game of "Chicken" on a railroad track. When her father brings home a much younger Parisian wife Nicole (Noelle Adams), Jennifer makes the woman's life a living hell. She tries to turn her father against Nicole when she finds out that the woman once danced as a stripper in Paris. Jennifer's scheme quickly turns against her and soon she finds herself being manipulated and lusted after by the sleazy strip club owner (played by the always villainous Christopher Lee). The ending to the film was a disappointment, wrapped up rather conveniently despite the fact a murder is committed. Still, Gillian Hills is a vamp on par with some of the best the screen has ever offered. I would assume that maybe it's her resemblance to Brigitte Bardot that may have stymied her career. I would love to see a film of her as an adult, and see if she still possessed that smoldering sexuality she displayed as a teen.

David Farrar has just remarried to Noëlle Adam. His beatnik daughter Gillian Hills doesn't like him or his values or his new wife. She prefers hanging out in coffee houses with her friends Adam Faith, Shirley Anne Field and Oliver Reed ... dancing to John Barry music and talking wacky jive talk. When she discovers that her new stepmom has a connection to a stripper, she becomes involved with strip club owner Christopher Lee. Although this film's depiction of beatnik culture is far from accurate (Adam Faith sings for his friends quite a bit and his faux rockabilly songs don't exactly sound like beatnik fair) it is delightfully over the top and has an amazing cast for such junky fare. I really kind of loved it.

This film is notable for two early appearances: John Barry's (James Bond) first film score and an early role for Oliver Reed as a teenage reveller. In some ways reminiscent of a pubescent La Dolce Vita, the film succeeds for one reason alone - Gillian Hills makes a truly seductive and formidable she-devil in the form of Jennifer.

Yes, the film is dripping in kitsch value, but one can't help but be absorbed the atmosphere, from the milk bar to the cave party, where English Elvis wannabe Adam Faith curls his lip to the drumming of an upturned guitar. Although before my time, I'm sure life in 1960 was never quite this with it, daddy-o.

It's not the greatest film ever made, but the wonderfully sleazy theme by Barry sets the tone nicely, and it rates as one of the best teenage exploitation movies to come out of the UK.

Beat Girl. When a middle aged architect brings home to England his new, young French wife his beatnik teenage daughter takes an instant dislike to her and attempts to wreck the marriage. To be honest this is not the type of film that I usually watch but I did so because it stars Christopher Lee (as a seedy strip club owner) and a very young Oliver Reed, two of my favourite actors. This British film is pretty much a tale of teenage rebellion against the older, stiff upper lipped generation & the then current popular music scene also plays a key part (Adam Faith stars). Much of the action takes plays in a strip club and features some very erotic dances with topless nudity, I guess pretty strong for 1960 and no doubt partly why it gained an X certificate. The real star of this movie for me was Gillian Hills, the incredibly stunning teenage daughter, who was only around 16 when she made this. Much of the dialogue - words such as jiving, teds, squares etc - do date this film and it is plodding at times but it's an interesting piece for it's time.