Having a Wild Weekend

Director: John Boorman John Boorman

Overview

At one time, The Dave Clark Five were considered the Beatles' key rivals in international pop stardom, and so, when the Fab Four made a smash at the box office with A Hard Day's Night, Mr. Clark and his partners followed with Catch Us If You Can (also known as Having A Wild Weekend). Dinah (Barbara Ferris) is a famous model and actress who is getting tired of life in the limelight and wants to take a break. While shooting a commercial spot for meat, she meets Steve (Dave Clark), a stuntman. Dinah and Steve hit it off and decide to head to an island to get away from it all (bringing along four of Steve's friends, Mike Smith, Lenny Davidson, Denis West Payton, and Rick Huxley, who -- surprise! -- play music with him). Before long, Dinah is reported missing and everyone is looking for her, making their getaway anything but tranquil. While A Hard Day's Night launched director Richard Lester into international success, Catch Us If You Can was the feature debut for John Boorman, who similarly went on to bigger and better projects. Songs featured include "I Can't Stand It," "Catch Us If You Can," and "Having A Wild Weekend."

Product Details

Release Date:	08/07/2012
UPC:	0883316616918
Original Release:	1965
Source:	Warner Archives
Region Code:	A
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[monaural]
Language:	English
Time:	1:31:00
Sales rank:	39,768

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Barbara Ferris	Dinah
Clive Swift	Duffie
Hugh Walters	Grey
Lenny Davidson	Lenny
Rick Huxley	Rick
Mike Smith	Mike
Denis Payton	Denis
David Lodge	Louis
Robin Bailey	Guy
David De Keyser	Zissell
Yootha Joyce	Nan
Robert Lang	Whiting
Ronald Lacey	Beatnik
Michael Gwynn	Hardingford
Marianne Stone	Mrs. Stone
Michael Blakemore	Officer
Julian Holloway	Assistant Director
Susan Hanson	Laraine
Andrew Tyrrell	Louis' Son
Peter Nichols	Photographer
Edgar Harrison	Barman
John Jones	Drinker
Sheila Fearn	Shirley
Alan Lake	Cameraman
Ronald Cunliffe	Clapper Boy
Anthony Gardner	Director
Peter Eyre	Art Director
Donald Morley	Barker
Ronald Arblaster	Minor Role
Dave Clark	Steve,Composer

Technical Credits

Peter Nichols

John Boorman	Director
David Deutsch	Producer
Peter Nichols	Screenwriter

Editorial Reviews

Catch Us If You Can (better known in the USA as Having A Wild Weekend) is a better film than it seemingly has a right to be. Produced by Nat Cohen under the aegis of Anglo-Amalgamated Pictures, it was intended to exploit the fame of the Dave Clark Five who, at that time, were the second biggest selling British rock 'n' roll act after the Beatles, who had enjoyed such an unexpected hit with Richard Lester's A Hard Day's Night the previous year. And for all that the intended audience could have cared, Dave Clark and company could have just stood their miming their songs for an hour and it would have made a fortune. But screenwriter Peter Nichols (whose other credits include Georgy Girl and A Day In The Death of Joe Egg) delivered a much more serious script than anything than Lester or the Beatles ever thought of working with, and director John Boorman rose to the occasion. Catch Us If You Can does have some of the happy-go-lucky scenes one would expect of a juke-box movie of this era, and captures the mood of Swinging London before it became a tourist attraction (and could still be captured adequately and acceptably in black-and-white, courtesy of cinematographer Manny Wynne, whose other credits include The Luck Of Ginger Coffey and Smashing Time); but it also has a dark, serious edge amid its satire of the advertising and media industries, and the romantic flight of the two mismatched lovers (Dave Clark, Barbara Ferris); and a sinister side to several of the supporting characters, which left audiences at the time wondering precisely what it was that they'd seen. The ominous presence of water images, especially, anticipates some of Boorman's better-known later work (in Deliverance, particularly), whilst the bleak landscapes that Clark and Ferris's characters cross calls to mind the contemporary work of transplanted American stlyist Joseph Losey. The movie was probably too serious for most Dave Clark Five fans, assuming they even noticed the plot or images (and several of the songs -- especially the title track -- were excellent) amid the sight gags and frantic pacing of Gordon Pilkington's editing. But it's because of those very same dark tones that the movie retains its fascination 40+ years later, an attribute shared by precious few films in this genre.

All Movie Guide - Bruce Eder