KnotStronger
This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.
Hayleigh Joseph
This is ultimately a movie about the very bad things that can happen when we don't address our unease, when we just try to brush it off, whether that's to fit in or to preserve our self-image.
Payno
I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.
Quiet Muffin
This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.
christopher-underwood
One of Michael Winner's first films, he was 27 at the time, this is no great film but has charm and significance aplenty. The songs are not very strong, the acting even less so, but Winner keeps things moving along and if the story is weak, at least we don't hang about. Instead of this being a stage-bound, 'Let's put on a show' type effort it does give the impression of being something more exciting and 'happening'. Unfortunately for the makers not just the music world but the world itself was about to change. Six months after the release of this film The Beatles released their first single and within another three months they were a phenomenon and joined by The Rolling Stones and many others. The fifties would finally be over, even though this would be 1963 and the sixties would commence, a little late but with great voice. So this film represents a showcase for the last days of an old music and pretty tired it was becoming, too. Billy Fury does okay and all the performers do as well as they can be expected to with average material and are captured as excitingly as possible by the director.
Moya T.B.F.F.C.
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!
Harry Whitehouse
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.
didi-5
This early effort from Michael Winner should have been much better than it is. Like other films from the period it showcases popular music artistes and tries to give them something more to do than just sing their songs. So here, Billy Fury as 'Billy Universe' is supposed to be acting, and he's hopeless. I'm not saying he was a poor singer but he was certainly a poor actor.The guest appearances range from the curious (Bobby Vee, the man with a totally square-shaped head!), to the out-of-place (Helen Shapiro, far too good even as a kid for this rubbish), to the seriously scary (was there ever really a reason to inflict Lionel Blair on the cinema-going public?). Watching it all the way through takes some patience and there isn't really enough to it to interest a wider audience.