This movie was made when this was what people were watching. Full of fun young people doing fun things. I love looking at the fashion and t he dancing. Cliff Richard was so cute back in the early days. The ketches on the stage are cute and there is enough of a plot to make it more than just another movie to star a famous band. Yes the shadows are awesome but they only add to it not steal they show. As for predictable...so what! Most movies today are predicable in some way. So don't let anyone sway you from not experiencing this movie, make you own opinion. Enjoy the movie for what it is and don't over examine it. The Young Ones was one of my faves when I was a teenager and still is today.

I should come out with a confession before I start to review this movie, and that is that until recently, I was pretty ignorant of Cliff Richard. All I knew until about a month ago was one or two of his songs, and I hadn't seen any of his movies. My explanation for that is that I live in North America, where Richard had nowhere the impact he had in England. But recently I rented "Summer Holiday", and now this movie.In this movie, Richard does come across as a kind of likable fellow, one you wouldn't mind meeting in real life (unlike a lot of music stars). However, he is lacking the edge that other musicians who went into movies had (like Elvis and the Beatles). He's pleasant but kind of forgettable. It doesn't help that the songs he sings here are as forgettable as his character here. The script is also very forgettable - it's the old "Let's put on a show!" story, and it unfolds VERY slowly. Had they made fun of this plot or added some memorable elements, things would have been livened up considerably. There's also the question as to why a millionaire's son doesn't have the money himself to pay off the relatively small sum the youth club needs... but I won't get into that.Far from the worst movie ever made, and not really a bad movie. But if you are interested in the cinematic doings of Richard, I suggest you rent "Summer Holiday" instead, which is somewhat more memorable.

"The Young Ones"seem to have been 30 years old at birth.Led by "The Mild One " himself - Mr C.Richard - they are clean,polite,and,apart from a token cockney or two,remarkably well - spoken.They all overact like mad and none of them can dance for toffee.Not surprisingly then,the movie is very bad.The dance numbers are a straight rip - off from "West Side Story"so blatant I swear I could see one or two of them blushing.The musical arrangements should have sent Mr L.Bernstein reaching for the phone to his lawyer,but somehow I doubt if he ever got around to watching this one. There is note a single note of rock 'n' roll to be heard in its whole length despite it often being described as a "Rock 'n' Roll Musical. The estimable Mr Stanley Black was the MD.Here was a man with the mindset - not surprisingly - of a Dance Band Leader.His orchestrations, no doubt played by moonlighting British jazzers,could have come from a Glenn Miller musical.Was this really the music young people danced to in 1961?No.They liked Trad Jazz,Acker Bilk,Chris Barber,or proper rock 'n' roll like Gene Vincent,Jerry Lee and Elvis.Cliff and the Shads were all right for smooching to but that was about it. I hesitate to mention Miss Cordeau whose main assetts were clearly displayed,but they didn't include acting or singing. Mr Melvyn Hayes with his Italian suit and one of those handkerchiefs that consisted of a small piece of linen sewed onto a card to be inserted in one's top pocket,looks fairly daring with his dyed hair and slightly camp persona,but,rather boringly turns out to be one of the boys after all. Mr Robert Morley gives full rein to his customary over - acting,treating each line like a polished gem from the pen of Oscar Wilde and generally behaving like a spoiled ageing fat baby wailing for its rusks. The movie is essentially a Mickey Rooney musical revamped.However,the downside that clearly never occurred to its producers ,was that Mr Rooney could sing and dance brilliantly,had energy and talent to spare and,if necessary,could carry a movie single - handedly. Unfortunately none of these attributes applied to Mr Richard who possessed a small,plaintive voice,a sweet innocent face and two left feet.Er,that's about it really. Unlike many films from my youth,"The young ones" has not got better with age.It really is that bad.

Years before Sidney J. Furie went on to direct bone fide screen epics such as the fantastic Ipcress File or the not so epic Iron Eagle movies, He directed Cliff Richard in a couple of his manufactured movie musicals simply designed to cash in on both Cliff's youthful good looks and his raw Rock n' Roll talent.Back in 1961 Cliff's clout with the record buying public was at it's peak. The Beatles were still a year or so away, and Cliff was our home grown British Rocker. (despite being born in Lucknow, India).Like Elvis, The movies saw potential in Cliff's box office appeal and immediately put him in the movies. The films didn't really have to be good or entertaining even, the fact that it starred Cliff Richard was enough to but the bums on the seats.His first two movies (Serious Charge and Expresso Bongo Both 1959), had done well, but neither really gave Cliff the starring vehicle his Godlike status with the teenagers required. However, all this was to change with The Young Ones. For the first time movie audiences were able to see him in both Technicolor and Cinemascope.Cliff plays Nicky Black a member of a local London youth club under threat of closure from a ruthless property developer, Hamilton Black (Robert Morley). Nicky and his friends become determined to stop this closure by any means necessary. This task is not made easy for Nicky as the aforementioned property developer is actually his own father.In order to raise £1500, (a HUGE amount of money then), to buy an extension of the lease to keep their club open, Nicky & Co decide to take a leaf out of Mickey Rooney's book, and PUT ON A SHOW. However, Hamilton Black is just as determined, and manages to scupper their plans as soon as they make them.The youth club gang then decide that they will use pirate radio broadcasts, in order to let their audience know when and where their show will take place so Hamilton Black cannot put yet another fly in yet another tub of ointment.The Shadows, appear here too, and over the previous two years, they had already emerged from being simply Cliff's backing band and become (and remain to this day), Britian's most successful instrumental band. Because of this, It's a shame that none of the Shadows actually get a speaking part in this movie, but are always on hand whenever a song needs to be performed. They do get their own shining hour though, when they perform their hit "The Savage".Carole Gray woodenly plays Cliff's love interest, yet her singing voice was dubbed by the ultra-talented Grazina Frame. Why did the producers go to all that trouble? Why did they not just cast Grazina straight from day one? In fact, when you compare Carole Gray and Grazina Frame, Grazina was not only the better singer but their better looking of the two.Robert Morley is quite amusing in his role, as are Melvyn Hayes, Richard O'Sullivan and Teddy Green in theirs, but it's Cliff & The Shadows that actually make this movie even remotely watchable.The reason being, is that the film, when viewed as a complete film, is pretty crap, but that is a failing of ALL British musicals dating back to Jessie Matthews time. With each generation since the 1930's, we Brits have tried to make a decent movie musical and have fallen flat on our faces every single time. (Did you ever see Spiceworld?). Our inability to make a decent musical might have something to do with those awful big 'Production Numbers' like the ones displayed in this movie.The Young Ones is a harmless way of spending a couple of hours, as there is nothing hear to shock or offend anyone, after all this is Cliff Richard we're talking about.Enjoy.