Customer Reviews

Having a Wild Weekend [VHS]

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This film, which is a cross between A Hard Days Night and the Marx Brothers, focuses almost completely on Dave Clark as stuntman (and alleged kidnapper) Steve and his relationship with meat poster girl Dinah. The other four members of the band are in the background, partying at their pad, attending a fancy dress ball, and keeping the authorities on a wild goose chase while Steve and Dinah experience one adventure after another on their way to Dinah's dream island. In fact, I don't think Lenny Davidson says one word throughout the picture. On their way they meet a group of half-stoned beatniks, an eccentric older couple, and other interesting folks. The film tries to bring depth to most of the characters, except the Dave Clark 4 who remain rather vacuous fun boys. At the time, the Dave Clark Five were promoted as a cleaner cut, non-smoking, drug-free and athletic alternative to the Beatles (probably only the latter was true, as the band members were former gymnists). Clark's character (strong silent type, serious and rather surly to the point of self righteous) portrays this image quite well. The film highlights two songs off their soundtrack beginning with the original movie title "Catch Us If You Can" and the U.S. title "Having A Wild Weekend". Two other songs are played from their previous album Coast To Coast: "I Can't Stand It," and the quite beautiful "When," which seemed to be the theme song of the film. Curiously, other tracks from the soundtrack that would have been very appropriate for the film ("Don't Be Taken In," in particular) were not used. The music, save for "When", isn't their best material, but it's not bad. The acting is also quite good. British comedy fans will no doubt recognize Clive Swift (Hyacinth's hen-pecked husband Richard in Keeping Up Appearances) as a bumbling detective out to find the "kidnapped" Meat For Go girl.

I have seen the movie several times and have enjoyed it but it falls short of the mark. There is too much Dave (character Steve) and not enough Mike, Lenny (who plays a mute), Denis, or Rick. The soundtrack has some good songs but only two from the LP of the movie. The rest of the supposedly original soundtrack is not there. Instead there is music from older albums. To me this is a great disappointment. I happen to think that the album is the best the group ever recorded and would have made the movie so much better. In fact at times the music in the movie adds nothing to the production of the film. In fact it takes away from the overall quality. For example, at the masquerade ball the song "I Can't Stand It" from the Epic LP "Coast To Coast" keeps repeating the same verse again and again. It became annoying. Why didn't the group put another song into the scene? It was a dance scene and they wanted the action to continue. They could have played the instrumental "On The Move" from the original soundtrack LP or if they had to could have chosen one of their many hits such as "Anyway You Want It" for example.

As mentioned Dave played a character known as Steve. The rest of the band was nameless. Yet when "Steve" and Barbara Ferris were at that couples house, the hostess clearly calls him David. Now you would think they would have reshot that sequence.

Still as a lifelong fan I get around all these flaws. I enjoy the time, early 1965, England, the weather and the group. They didn't appear as The Dave Clark Five and maybe that is why the movie is good. But when the movie was ending instead of playing "When" from the Epic LP "American Tour" Dave (Steve) should have taken Barbara Ferris in his arms, held her real tight, kissed her and the soundtrack should have played "Can't You See That She's Mine" and they should have run off together.

I was simply shocked at how good "Having A Wild Weekend" was after seeing it for the first time recently. ....The DC5's film borrows the fast pace, ingenious cuts, sense of sprightly enthusiasm and b&w artiness of its forebear, but matches it with a unique plot of its own. Rather than playing themselves, the group here are stuntmen, and the story revolves around one of them (Steve, played by the self-described saturnine Dave Clark) taking a model out for a "wild weekend". The press, egged on by her boss, turn it into a kidnapping story, and the rest of the film follows their attempt to recapture her before she gets to the island she's planning to buy. A suitably thin plot is thickened by scenes which are slightly ahead of their time in dramatic and cultural

content--Steve and his girl encounter a group of long-haired ex-beatniks who ask for grass and heroin, and quote Zen koans-- and all of this in 1965! A comically bickering couple who eventually takes them in also provides for a marvellous costume party sequence in which director John Boorman, in his first film, shines. The climax, in which the journey is compared to the final result, makes for an interesting discussion; the film's themes of youth vs. elders, people vs. the press/society and the resulting question of whether it was "worth it" or not would become the riding question of the 60s. It's almost like an "Easy Rider" before its time-- the big question then becomes why the DC5 faded soon after this film's release, not being known as counterculture heavies in the least...

I love classic movies like this one and A Hard Day's Night. It was simply a fun movie. One of my favorites.

Some pretty cool tunes..but not much of a plot..funny band scenes..but DAVE CLARK is way more a winey + proper = boring worth a watch for old times sake or maybe someone young after the bars are closed and you are prepped for this 60s gem...almost as bad as HOLD ON/Hermans Hermits..The Beatles movies were way better..

I just viewed the movie and simply could not get through it because it was very strange. My conclusion is that someone did not want to appear to be mimicking the Beatle movies, so they made this very slow-moving, did not focus at all on the fact that these are musicians, and did not want to merely appease their fans. Clearly it's meant to be an "arty" movie because there's a lot of brooding, scenery shots, strange conversations, and things that made me go "what?!" I felt like I was watching this in "real time" at times because it took so long for things to happen.

I love DC5 so I was disappointed by this movie. I suppose they succeeded on some level, but I would have preferred the usual fun, silliness, and music. [I actually laughed more reading these reviews than I did while watching the movie--eg. Lenny playing a mute *LOL*]

I was simply shocked at how good "Having A Wild Weekend" was after seeing it for the first time recently. The DC5's film borrows the fast pace, ingenious cuts, sense of sprightly enthusiasm and b&w artiness of "A Hard Day's Night", but matches it with a unique plot of its own. Rather than playing themselves, the group here are stuntmen, and the story revolves around one of them (Steve, played by the self-described saturnine Dave Clark) taking a model out for a "wild weekend". The press, egged on by her boss, turn it into a kidnapping story, and the rest of the film follows their attempt to recapture her before she gets to the island she's planning to buy. A suitably thin plot is thickened by scenes which are slightly ahead of their time in dramatic and cultural

content--Steve and his girl encounter a group of long-haired ex-beatniks who ask for grass and heroin, and quote Zen koans-- and all of this in 1965! A comically bickering couple who eventually takes them in also provides for a marvellous costume party sequence in which director John Boorman, in his first film, shines. The climax, in which the journey is compared to the final result, makes for an interesting discussion; the film's themes of youth vs. elders, people vs. the press/society and the resulting question of whether it was "worth it" or not would become the riding question of the 60s. It's almost like an "Easy Rider" before its time-- the big question then becomes why the DC5 faded soon after this film's release, not being known as counterculture heavies in the least...

I have always liked the DC5 and when I was given this video for a Christmas gift last year, I was estatic. I think that they were not only singers, they were good actors. And funny...a love story...

This is one of the most disappointing 'Rock' films I have ever seen. It should have been named 'Dave Clark And His Egocentric Wild Weekend'. There is way too much Dave Clark and not nearly enough Mike, Lenny, Rick or Denis. Another annoyance is, I hear some DC5 tunes between the boring incidental music but do not see a single DC5 performance. In fact they are not even musicians in the movie as they portray stunt men. Come on! All is not lost as the film does have it's moments. The party scene with the 'title' track 'Having A Wild Weekend' blaring is excellent and very 60's. The opening credits with the film's original title track 'Catch Us If You Can' is great. The scenes of traveling around England are very nice too. So buy the video- play it once, pack it away and remember just how much better the Beatles films are. No 'British Invasion' video collection is complete without it but be prepared to snooze off half way through this bomb.