Having a Wild Weekend

John Boorman in his first outing as a director, he does a reasonable job of capturing the media and fashion scene in 1965. He also presents some great shots of the handsome, iconic locations in London, Bath and then Devon. Filmgoers can clearly see the similarities of this film, with Dick Lester's Beatles 1964 film, 'Hard Days Night' by the frantic scurrying around by Dave and his group in an attempt to give the film energy. Nevertheless, under Boorman's direction the film has pace and tempo, hence never allowing scenes to drag. However, like all films with pop singers and groups, the acting is substandard. The problem for Boorman was to have the group hanging around locations while in the background, Dave Clark as Steve, is grabbing all the action as well as the beautiful model, played by Barbara Ferris. At times I felt sorry for them, as they were never more than shadows, gawping at Dave as he had all the lines. The storyline is thin and lacks sparkle. Ferris comes across as a bit of an airhead model and Dave Clark, as Steve, looks sullen, moody and plain miserable for most of the time. His acting is rather wooden and as he had the lead role, watching the film is heavy going. With a dull and melancholy storyline, I found the whole thing uninspiring and pretentious.

This movie could have been SO much better with less Dave Clark. Apparently Mr Clark was the Master of the Universe with all things DC5. He cast himself as one of the two leads in this movie and it suffers because of him.

He can't act, he speaks monotonously, his demeanor is dour and completely un-interesting. The young lady in the movie is good and so are the other members of the band.

Mike Smith has charisma and it shows. Rick Huxley is funny. He shows a natural talent for goofing at the right time. Unfortunately these two are not allowed to have larger parts in the film.

The script is ok. It's worth watching for the mid-sixties snapshot it presents.

But Dave Clark? Yeesh!

The Dave Clark Five are certainly no match for the Beatles, but this film is easily worthy of comparison with A Hard Day's Night and Help! A lot of the credit must go to director John Boorman (giving a taste of the visual pyrotechnics he later unleashed in Point Blank), and to the surprisingly melancholy screenplay by Peter Nichols. (Georgy Girl, Privates on Parade)

Two young people, a stuntman (Dave Clark) and a model (Barbara Ferris), go AWOL from a commercial shoot and embark on a trip across England. But their jaunt isn't all larky fun. They bicker and quarrel, they encounter a self-consciously hip and desperately unhappy married couple; they find that their exploits have been incorporated into the glitzy ad campaign they were trying to escape from in the first place.

A fun little rock and roll film that makes dark observations about the impermanence of youthful exuberance, the futility of youthful rebellion, and the commodification of youth culture. Overall, the tone is more in keeping with the manic depressive grunge rock aesthetic than with the go-Go-GO madcap vibe of other youth films of the 60s.

I remember what a big deal the city of Kenosha made when "A Hard Day's Night" played at the Orpheum downtown theater. "Having a Wild Weekend," on the hand, blew through the area before I had a chance to see it. I think I have watched the movie from start to finish maybe four times in forty years. I like the film but it's no "A Hard Days Night."

1) The Beatles were far superior to the Dave Clark Five musically by the time the two movies were released.

2) Ringo as a leading character is vastly more enjoyable than Dave Clark's moody Steve. 3) The Beatles played their film for comedy while the Dave Clark Five went for mood.

4) The 4 Beatles had distinctive characters while the Dave Clark Five had one leading man and 4 bland supporting actors.

5) A hard day's Night moves rapidly while "Having A Wild Weekend" drags much of the time.

However, I still like "Having a Wild Weekend." Dinah was a cute little number and Steve had James Bond-like qualities. The costume party scene was a rave. The hippies being rounded up by the British army was a foreshadowing of the near future.

At last a new film genre--'pop film noir'!.The whole film is so downbeat its untrue-Dave Clark is incredibly negative,downbeat & generally 'fed-up' throughout, thats its remarkable that it got released at all,considering its niche-i.e. 60's pop music cash-in.Dave's performance is brilliant conveying a media star rebelling against the media web,overshadowing Barbara Ferris excellent portrayal as a woman who succumbs to the media bullshit.The end scene is achingly sad as Dave & the band drive off across the beach leaving her to accept being engulfed by the media throng.Considering that the film is 40 years old it holds up very well.