I watched this film about 8 years ago, when they had a Glam Rock night on channel 4. I taped the film because of the music. Every comment I have seen on this film states it is set in the future. But it isn't, it is set in the mid seventies and it states at the beginning of the film, by the late seventies rock and roll will not be shown on T.V and it is up to the hero to prevent that, by enlisting the help of Mud, The Rubettes and The glitter Band. I wouldn't say the film is awful unless you hate seventies music and acting. The acting is not 100% but there are a few funny moments, but remember this is a music film and must only be watched for the music.
12 Reviews
This movie is only for fans of the Rubettes, Mud and the Glitter Band.
spacekid-125 August 2006
The first 80 minutes of the movie are very bad. Bad photography (always filmed on cloudy and rainy days)and bad editing (when the bands are playing, there are cuts to another scene in the middle of the song). But then come the last 20 minutes and they are really worth the waiting. The three bands (The Rubettes, Mud and the Glitter Band) each perform 2 of their hits on stage and here the photography and the editing is perfect. If you are a fan of these bands, you won't find better material from that period. So, skip the first 80 minutes and jump to the beginning of the concert. If you like these bands of the 70's you will enjoy it very much.
Fun!
BandSAboutMovies22 September 2020
Warning: Spoilers
In the future, music is banned from TV. That leads to Hero (Peter Denyer) and his driver Mr. Rockbottom (Freddie Jones, The Baron from Son of Dracula, as well as appearances in Goodbye Gemini, The Satanic Rites of Dracula, Krull and many others) turn an ice cream truck into a Group Detector Van that can find pop groups that they want to play at a big concert that will save rock and roll.
If you're a fan of the British glam scene of 1975 - including bands like Mud, Slik, Hello, The Glitter Band, Slide, The Rubettes, Scott Fitzgerald, Bob Kerr's Whoopee band and The Silver Band - then you're in the right place. In fact, Slik also has a very young Midge Ure before the days of Ultravox and Visage. Ure also wrote Thin Lizzy frontman Phil Lynott's song "Yellow Pearl," which was the theme for Top of the Pops, and co-wrote "Do They Know It's Christmas?"
Mud are pretty fun, what with their wacky trousers and dance moves. And you may not know Hello, but you definitely know their song "New York Groove," which was covered by Ace Frehley. The Glitter Band were also known as The Glittermen and were, of course, the back-up for Gary Glitter (the same creative team that made this movie also were behind Glitter's film Remember Me This Way). The Rubettes were a studio band that had two hits, "Sugar Baby Love" and "Your Baby Ain't Your Baby Anymore." Their keyboard player Bil Hurd was in Suzi Quatro's band. Bob Kerr's Whoopee Band was an offshoot of the Bonzo Dog Band. Finally, Scott Fitzgerald represented the UK in the 1988 Eurovision contest - alongside Jigsaw's Des Dyer, Julie Forsyth and her husband Dominic Grant - coming in second to Switzerland's winning entry, "Ne Partez Pas Sans Moi" performed by Celine Dion. He's best known for his song "If I Had Words," which is in the film Babe.
This is one of those movies where my mother-in-law walks in and says, "What weird movie are you watching now?" and I find myself explaining how amazing mid-70's British glam is to someone who has no idea what I'm talking about. Oh mama, weer all crazee now.
If you're a fan of the British glam scene of 1975 - including bands like Mud, Slik, Hello, The Glitter Band, Slide, The Rubettes, Scott Fitzgerald, Bob Kerr's Whoopee band and The Silver Band - then you're in the right place. In fact, Slik also has a very young Midge Ure before the days of Ultravox and Visage. Ure also wrote Thin Lizzy frontman Phil Lynott's song "Yellow Pearl," which was the theme for Top of the Pops, and co-wrote "Do They Know It's Christmas?"
Mud are pretty fun, what with their wacky trousers and dance moves. And you may not know Hello, but you definitely know their song "New York Groove," which was covered by Ace Frehley. The Glitter Band were also known as The Glittermen and were, of course, the back-up for Gary Glitter (the same creative team that made this movie also were behind Glitter's film Remember Me This Way). The Rubettes were a studio band that had two hits, "Sugar Baby Love" and "Your Baby Ain't Your Baby Anymore." Their keyboard player Bil Hurd was in Suzi Quatro's band. Bob Kerr's Whoopee Band was an offshoot of the Bonzo Dog Band. Finally, Scott Fitzgerald represented the UK in the 1988 Eurovision contest - alongside Jigsaw's Des Dyer, Julie Forsyth and her husband Dominic Grant - coming in second to Switzerland's winning entry, "Ne Partez Pas Sans Moi" performed by Celine Dion. He's best known for his song "If I Had Words," which is in the film Babe.
This is one of those movies where my mother-in-law walks in and says, "What weird movie are you watching now?" and I find myself explaining how amazing mid-70's British glam is to someone who has no idea what I'm talking about. Oh mama, weer all crazee now.
A Laugh
n-biddulph28 February 2004
all though i possibly agree that the acting was poor, i must say that i found the film to be a good laugh and as a teenager in the 70s it had some of the groups of the time in the film and it was entertaining. What made me think of this film is the sad loss of Les Gray who died recently I remember going to see the film and singing along with every one else to the songs, and yes the rubbetts on the back of a lorry is now reminded a site to behold. BUT i will say a film to watch if you are felling nostalgic for the 70s if only to wear.
A lets put on a show pop vehicle for UK 70's bands
mick-806 March 1999
This is a film set in the future, although you wouldn't notice, when all pop music across the land has been banned. For some strange reason two men in an ice cream van converted to detect pop performances, are searching the country for the latest pop talent in order to put on a show for the kids. This leads them to 70's popsters The Rubettes, the group with the red suits and white berets, performing on the back of a lorry. Mud,found in a truck drivers caff and the Glitter band. These groups united at the climax of the film for the rousing title song (oop's did I just give the end away)
This is an awful film, with awful acting (what was Freddie Jones thinking about) but I awarded it two points if only for The Rubettes on the lorry....
This is an awful film, with awful acting (what was Freddie Jones thinking about) but I awarded it two points if only for The Rubettes on the lorry....
Curiously depressing...
world_of_weird14 July 2005
This is a weird curio from the era of glam rock. A talent detector van scours the country looking for pop bands in order to put on a show, eventually locating Mud, the Glitter Band and the Rubettes. If you're a fan of these bands, there'll be some curiosity value here, other than that, forget it. The extreme low budget, flat direction, grainy photography and the can't-be-bothered-to-wait-for-a-sunny-day dullness of the location filming give the production a rather depressing tone, similar to an old public information film, and the laugh-free (to say nothing of confusing) screenplay doesn't help matters. Useless side note - the same production team made the repulsive Gary Glitter vehicle, REMEMBER ME THIS WAY, which I challenge any sentient being to sit through without screaming.
Dredged from the tar-pits of 1970s British cinema...
wadechurton17 June 2012
Warning: Spoilers
Glam rock had its heady heyday around 1972-73, and then subsided slowly and painfully over the next few years until disco, punk and new wave arose to prominence. As you can see however, this movie came out in mid-1976. Bowie had time to already have been a soul-singer and was then getting into Euro-funk. Marc Bolan was now another 'soul' singer and Gary Glitter had tried and failed at that and had 'retired'. The New York Dolls had split in 1975, Roxy Music too, Alice Cooper was doing ballads and booze in equal amounts and in general rock culture no longer viewed glam and its ideas as a going concern, not when you had the Sex Pistols currently tearing up the rules. 'NTYTR' is a cheap (honestly, the production values would have shamed 'On The Buses'), cheerful (well, there are a lot of silly noises and stuff when people have fights) and thoroughly exploitative effort which manages to make Britain look like the most miserable, cold, grimy, rain-sodden and permanently overcast hole on earth. The acting is strictly 'school pantomime', the script makes no sense and the direction of both 'story' and music is astonishingly poor. So then let us view the bands as the 'lucky dips' in a barrel of dank, decaying sawdust. There are some memorable pop tunes (albeit mostly a couple of years out of date by 1976), but the bands are a sorry lot All are 'off the boil' career-wise; in fact someone should have had a word with jowly, pudgy Mud vocalist Les Gray about maybe laying off the pies and chips before filming began so that your brightly coloured attention-seeking costumes don't look dangerously 'snug'. Look, 'YNTYTR' is confusing, slightly sad and actually somewhat depressing, and even if you were a fan of the third-rate acts (Slik? Who the bloody hell are they? Oh right; that's a game but evidently embarrassed pre-Ultravox Midge Ure on guitar), then rest assured that you will find something which will hit you in the pit of your stomach, somewhere. And not in a good way, either. In closing, the movie's title is a bit misleading, since I can't remember seeing anyone under 25 in the whole thing. Most professional glam musicians were holdovers from the 1960s who shrugged, sighed, put on glittery outfits and acted a little 'swish' to keep up with the times. Anyone with talent withdrew and moved on. These are the clock-punching guys who couldn't or wouldn't move on, gelled forever in the congealment at the bottom of the cinematic barrel that is 'YNTYTR'.
Weirdly brilliant
samanthadunphy5 March 2021
I got this for my 40th birthday and I love it. I first saw it when I was 12 and I absolutely fell in love with the Rubettes and thank this film for that. It is low a budget weird nonsense tongue in cheek film. Don't expect much, it's not the best but it's different yet captivating.
Glam Rock's last shout
chitara-691705 March 2022
Perhaps surprisingly, I only came across this film recently, & I watched it on YT.
It was made in 1975, and set in the late seventies, although it looks nothing like the late seventies, as those of us that were there at the time will tell you.
Early 1975 was a musical watershed. Glam Rock was old, and dying. Bowie had jumped ship & moved on, and Disco music was beginning to appear in the charts, from Europe, and from the USA. The rumblings of Punk were also being heard. One year later, Mud's shapeless hairstyles and pink Teddy Boy outfits, The Rubettes pseudo doo wop & white caps, and the Glitter Band's make up & platform shoes would all be naff & outdated. So this movie is the end of an era.
There is a storyline of sorts, although it does not matter that much, it's in the same vein as the sixties movie "Just for Fun", and the nineties movie "Spice World". The difference is that those other films were at least shot on decent film, the film quality here is grainy & poor, making the era look more gloomy than it actually was.
FTR the acting here is perhaps better than one would have expected, although the humour has gone out of fashion, for example it's unlikely that today's audiences would consider football hooligans to be amusing.
Watch it if you were in your late teens or early twenties in the mid seventies, it may bring back some good memories for you. But for others it's just a curiosity piece.
It was made in 1975, and set in the late seventies, although it looks nothing like the late seventies, as those of us that were there at the time will tell you.
Early 1975 was a musical watershed. Glam Rock was old, and dying. Bowie had jumped ship & moved on, and Disco music was beginning to appear in the charts, from Europe, and from the USA. The rumblings of Punk were also being heard. One year later, Mud's shapeless hairstyles and pink Teddy Boy outfits, The Rubettes pseudo doo wop & white caps, and the Glitter Band's make up & platform shoes would all be naff & outdated. So this movie is the end of an era.
There is a storyline of sorts, although it does not matter that much, it's in the same vein as the sixties movie "Just for Fun", and the nineties movie "Spice World". The difference is that those other films were at least shot on decent film, the film quality here is grainy & poor, making the era look more gloomy than it actually was.
FTR the acting here is perhaps better than one would have expected, although the humour has gone out of fashion, for example it's unlikely that today's audiences would consider football hooligans to be amusing.
Watch it if you were in your late teens or early twenties in the mid seventies, it may bring back some good memories for you. But for others it's just a curiosity piece.
Never Too Young to Rock
Prismark1023 March 2021
If ever there was a movie that had the words 'tax write off' stamped all over it.
This is the good, the bad and the glam.
In a dystopian future. A young man (Peter Denyer) and his van driver Mr Rockbottom (Freddie Jones) go round looking for some bands to play on a spectacular television show.
The enemies of pop music want it banned from television and some of them try to sabotage the van which can pick up the glamwaves.
Mud are the first ones who agree to go on, they are found in a roadside cafe with some football hooligans.
Along the way they meet The Glitter Band. Thankfully without the leader of the gang who was busy with a minor diversion.
It all ends up with a spectacular rock concert which also feature The Rubettes.
In many ways this is a low budget and badly produced drivel. The horror of glam rock.
How can you mess up Tiger Feet. Well the director does. A sweaty Les Gray sings his classic while a food fight breaks out led by a man called Nosher! People are talking all over the song. They could had at least reprised it at the concert.
Then there is some silly knockabout stuff inspired by The Beatles movies and Goon type humour. This includes Peter Noone in some army training scenes. The story is as clear as mud.
Mr Rockbottom does not even like modern rock music, he prefers a brass band.
Your mileage might depend on how much nostalgia you have of 1970s glam rock. If you remember the music you would enjoy it or else it will just be pretty absurd. I did dig the music and it was nice to see the bands in their pomp.
A young Midge Ure turns up with his band Slik. Strangely the bass player has a look that Midge would copy a few years later with Ultravox.
This is the good, the bad and the glam.
In a dystopian future. A young man (Peter Denyer) and his van driver Mr Rockbottom (Freddie Jones) go round looking for some bands to play on a spectacular television show.
The enemies of pop music want it banned from television and some of them try to sabotage the van which can pick up the glamwaves.
Mud are the first ones who agree to go on, they are found in a roadside cafe with some football hooligans.
Along the way they meet The Glitter Band. Thankfully without the leader of the gang who was busy with a minor diversion.
It all ends up with a spectacular rock concert which also feature The Rubettes.
In many ways this is a low budget and badly produced drivel. The horror of glam rock.
How can you mess up Tiger Feet. Well the director does. A sweaty Les Gray sings his classic while a food fight breaks out led by a man called Nosher! People are talking all over the song. They could had at least reprised it at the concert.
Then there is some silly knockabout stuff inspired by The Beatles movies and Goon type humour. This includes Peter Noone in some army training scenes. The story is as clear as mud.
Mr Rockbottom does not even like modern rock music, he prefers a brass band.
Your mileage might depend on how much nostalgia you have of 1970s glam rock. If you remember the music you would enjoy it or else it will just be pretty absurd. I did dig the music and it was nice to see the bands in their pomp.
A young Midge Ure turns up with his band Slik. Strangely the bass player has a look that Midge would copy a few years later with Ultravox.
Remember the music
carol.sandford@ntlworld.com1 May 2005
Purely for the music alone, this earned a 10 from me. Being a massive Glam Rock fan in the 70's, its a joy to watch. Of course, now with the deaths of Les Gray from Mud, and my own personal hero, Gerry Shephard from the Glitter Band, this film means much, much more to me now than it did way back then. I hope some mad person out there puts it on to DVD for the likes of us that never want to forget those fabulous times. As for the movie itself, I find pressing the fast-forward button through the most god-awful script helps it along. It is unbearably naff and so badly acted that is totally unwatchable. Still, just remember the music. Remember the music.
A Laurence Myers GTO Film of the 1974-1976 UK Rock/Pop Era
privatevault28 December 2019
Theme song written by Tony Macaulay (Anthony Instone) a one man song factory having written and co-written so many hit songs (look him up).
Laurence Myers the executive producer has a great history.. check out the Cherry Red Records Youtube Video interview with him.
GTO Records, Bell Records, Rak Records were the big pop labels of the time.
Not an expensive to produce movie but still a lot of fun and a good look back into what British Rock/Pop was like in the 1974-1976 era.
Laurence Myers the executive producer has a great history.. check out the Cherry Red Records Youtube Video interview with him.
GTO Records, Bell Records, Rak Records were the big pop labels of the time.
Not an expensive to produce movie but still a lot of fun and a good look back into what British Rock/Pop was like in the 1974-1976 era.
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