Its shameful how people can just write off Billy Fury OK the film itself wouldn't earn an Oscar for being original or clever but as a snapshot of what was going on in the British music screen it has an English charm OK the acting is not up to par ( although directed by the now acclaimed Michael Winner - his first feature film here ) however BILLY FURY at that stage in his career WAS NOT a copy of Elvis and definitely not a --SPASTIC BOBBY DARIN - NO WAYhe was an established artist a singer with great sounds / voice and stage presence and was just doing what every star of there day - including Elvis with his many a same plot film - going onto the big screen.Helen Shapiro was OK ,and like Bobby Vee in 2006 still going strong . the film PLAY IT COOL is a piece of little history and should not be dismissed neither disrespected of the late great BILLY FURYkeep on rockin

I have watched Play it Cool and like ALL "Pop" movies including Elvis films, the plot is very weak............but Billy Fury makes up for the weak plot with his fantastic vocals throughout the film. Certainly a film to purchase as there aren't many films or footage around of Billy Fury singing. Billy Fury was not an Elvis copycat although he idolised him, he was the first Rock N Roll Star to ever pen his own songs and was the first ever person to produce an album completely written by himself, an album that is still today regarded as the greatest rock n roll album ever! The album's name.....The Sound Of Fury... need I say more!?! Play it cool,although "corny" is a part of British rock n roll history.A must for all you Rock N Rollers and sixties fans!!!

one of if not the best music movie's to come out of 60s Britain, staring billy fury who's amazing good looks made the film even more worth watching, billy's acting is on top form and his voice is better then ever.in fact i give it 10 out of 10, a must watch film for any fan of 60s music.the story is non stop action and songs that keep the viewer glued to the screen, nice cameo roles from bobby Vee and helen shapiro. and also shane fenton who later became alvin stardust, well worth viewing is billy's other movie I've gotta horse which was made in 1965 and also that'll be the day where billy has a cameo role as stormy tempest a singer at a holiday camp.all in all i think the music industry would have been a lot worse off without the talents of billy fury

With 1962 being a strange time for rock 'n' roll in both America and England, it's a wonder that "Play It Cool" is as entertaining as it is. British rock star Billy Fury plays an Elvis wannabee named Billy Universe who curls his lip and moans just like his hero, but exaggerates his hand movements to the point where he looks like a spastic Bobby Darin. When Billy and his wacky band members get stranded in London with an heiress who's looking for her no-good boyfriend, they make the rounds of the city's pubs and clubs, stumbling upon a place where a trio is singing the squarest music imaginable, then heading on to a spot called The Twist where everybody's twisting (the latest dance craze when "Play It Cool" was being filmed, but stone dead by the time the film was released), then dropping in on a Chinese-themed restaurant called the Lotus Club where pop star Helen Shapiro is crooning in front of a phalanx of violinists. A visit to another club finds American teen idol Bobby Vee (who began his career as a Buddy Holly sound-alike) spooning drivel in front of another bank of violins. Through it all, Billy Fury gets to sing a handful of songs, including a sappy ballad, a twist, an uptempo number called "I Think You're Swell" and a fairly good rocker called "Play It Cool." In other words, this movie is musically all over the place, because the producers were trying to please everybody at a time when the music was rapidly changing. To bind all the musical interludes together, there are lots of little subplots and shots of Billy and his boys running through Gatwick Airport and Houston Station (more than a year before the Beatles did the same thing in "A Hard Day's Night"), but in the end it doesn't add up to much simply because the music is so uniformly unmemorable. Billy Fury is a sympathetic presence, but perhaps the most intriguing artist in "Play It Cool," at least for Americans, is teenage star Helen Shapiro, who sings two numbers, including one of her singles, "I Don't Care." America never really had anything like this bouffant contralto, unless you combine Annette Funicello with the foghorn voice of Timi Yuro. Helen is one of the most awkward performers I've ever seen (more so here than in her film debut, "It's Trad, Dad"), and yet I couldn't take my eyes off her strange beauty. Her career was fading fast by the time she appeared in "Play It Cool," but she's probably the best reason to watch it.