Wild for Kicks (1960) User Reviews

The Days of the Million Dollar Movie

[laura-6 · 7/10 · 3 March 2006]

Once upon a time, Channel 9 in New York featured the Million DollarMovie, which ran one movie all day long for a full day, a programming technique that has been copied by modern cable and satellite TV's in their endless repeats of movies and shows.

But in the early 70's, before the invention of the VCR, Channel 9 was a film student's dream in that he or she could watch a movie over and over for one day and really study it.

Beat Girl arrived on Channel 9, a few years after its run in British and, presumably, American theaters. I watched about eight hours of Beat Girl, in the generous, endless loop provided by Channel 9. This movie fascinated the 13-yr.-old me who had never encountered such rebellion and hostility on the part of a school-aged daughter towards her father, who has returned from a trip with a step mother for whom the daughter is unprepared.

At 13, rebellious, unhappy, and edgy, I needed a "bad-girl" paradigm, and this movie supplied me with her. I loved the heroine and despised anyone who would stand in her way. She left such an impression on me that I have been fascinated by "bad girls" ever since.

However, the film is so bad -- or good, depending on your point of view of gritty, early 60s "To Sir, With Love" England -- that you might want to stick around to see what happens to this sullen chick who's accompanied by some stoner boys to some bad jazz music. Or not: this is one low budget film with fairly terrible acting but there is a gritty earnestness to this film.

Look for Oliver Reed, John McHenery, and Adam Faith in secondary roles. As in all of 50/60 flicks. look for a moral -- but look for the moments of rebellion, too. And dig that crazy music.

A genuinely sexy piece of filmmaking

[Leofwine_draca · 6/10 · 4 May 2016]

BEAT GIRL is another film to explore the then-popular craze for Beatnik culture. Like THE PARTY'S OVER, it features Oliver Reed strutting his stuff in various dated dance scenes, and is interspersed with dialogue which sounds incredibly cheesy thanks to the way in which it has dated.

Unlike THE PARTY'S OVER, it's an attempt to provoke censors and audiences with plenty of 'sensation' drama, as in the American quickies. One of the main characters is a former stripper and indeed striptease sequences play a big part in the proceedings; one particular exotic dancer, all the way from Hawaii, perhaps one of the most explicit teases I've ever seen despite the lack of nudity. It must have been incredible for audiences back in 1960.

BEAT GIRL is actually a pretty decent little story. The youthful - and extremely attractive - Gillian Hills plays the girl who discovers her dad's new flame used to be a stripper, while at the same time she immerses herself in Beatnik culture. Most of the film is shot and set around a club in which Nigel Green and Christopher Lee play various sleazy characters. There's plenty of music here too, some of it courtesy of pop sensation Adam Faith, and despite the dating of the cultural material, it's never less than an engrossing - and surprisingly sexy - piece of film-making.

tries to capture the truth about British post war youth

[kidboots · 7/10 · 23 June 2009]

Before I had even seen this film, I was reading quotes like "possibly the best J.D. drama U. K. has ever produced". I still think "Violent Playground" could be the best (U.K.'s answer to "Blackboard Jungle") but I was really looking forward to this film. It is okay, more like "Dragstrip Girl" meets "Escort Girl" with a lot of gritty British realism thrown in for good measure. Adam Faith wasn't that famous in America but in England he was a huge star. He had an unusual style of singing, similar to Buddy Holly and "Beat Girl" was supposed to showcase his singing after his first few recordings flopped. Because of his collaboration with John Barry, after "Beat Girl" he was on his way. "I Did What You Told Me" is one of several rock and roll numbers sung by Adam Faith in this film.

Paul Linden (David Farrar) is just back from the Continent with a new wife, Nicolle (Noelle Adam) - his 16 year old daughter Jennifer (the beautiful and voluptuous Gillian Hills) is not happy. She is a "poor little rich girl" who is looking for love and affection, but instead has a bedroom full of clothes and the latest fads from her often absent father. Her new stepmother is determined to give her a proper home life. Jennifer, an art student, hangs with a beatnik crowd at the "Off Beat" - a local hang out for teenagers. Most have a home life they are running away from. Parents that are reliving the War and can't understand "Jazz". The kids want to feel different from their parents, they "live for kicks" and want to be a person in their own right. They all have bad memories of the War and use phrases such as "square", "kook", "he sends me over and out" to build up a barrier between themselves and anyone who is not hip. Towards the end the gentle "beatniks" are superseded by the young and violent "teddy boys".

Nicolle meets Jennifer for lunch and she also bumps into an old friend, Rita, who is a stripper. Jennifer, now taunts Nicolle, every chance she gets with a song "take it off, take it off", and begins to haunt "Les Girls" the strip club where Rita works. She also catches the eye of the sleazy manager Kenny King (Christopher Lee) who has dishonourable designs on her. Jennifer throws a party that gets out of hand - she performs a provocative strip tease but is stopped by the appearance of Nicolle. Nicolle reveals her childhood was similar to what Jennifer has experienced. Jennifer, who is really a frightened little girl is involved in a murder and things come full circle when Dave (Adam Faith) declares (after having his car trashed by some teddy boys) "Only squares know where to go"!!!

Shirley Anne Field, who actually had her best year in 1960, with roles in "Peeping Tom", "The Entertainer" and "Saturday Night and Sunday Morning", had the small role of "Dodo", one of Jennifer's friends (she even sings a song - "It's Legal". Oliver Reed has an extremely small role of "Plaid Shirt", a juiced up beatnik. The very catchy song played over the credits and through the movie is "The Beat Girl Song".

Recommended.

Certainly worth seeing

[lazarillo · 5 June 2010]

Here's an odd little number. The title suggests that this is one of those 50's JD films focusing on "beatniks". There were any number of films like this in America, none of which gave an especially accurate depiction of the "Beat Generation" (as represented by individuals like Jack Kerouac, Alan Ginsberg, and William Burroughs). Well, this is a kind of British version of one of those, and it turns out that lines like, "I'm over and out dadd-i-o," manage to sound even more ridiculous when delivered in a crisp British accent.

But aside from hanging out in coffee houses and dancing to jazz-style music, there's nothing particularly "beat" about the characters in this movie. Rather than a wild rebel, the lead girl (Gillian Hills) is more of a childish, bratty daddy's girl who is less than thrilled when her globe-trotting architect father brings home a much younger new bride from France. When she finds out her new stepmother was once acquainted with a stripper who works across the street from a coffee shop where she and her friends hang out, the younger girl decides to expose the French woman, but instead she gets HERSELF mixed up with the slimy owner of the strip club (played by Christopher Lee). By modern standards, of course, this is not very racy (even compared to similar movies in late 60's and 70's like "Daddy, Darling" and "So Young, So Lovely, So Vicious" where jealous teenage girls deal with unwanted stepmothers by seducing them into lesbian affairs!). But it was no doubt quite risqué for its time.

It's odd to see Christopher Lee in a role like this since he had just hit it big with "The Curse of Frankenstein" and "Horror of Dracula", but those were still pretty disreputable items back then too. And he's good as always. Gillian Hill was kind of like the British Tuesday Weld in that she managed to play a teenager for about fifteen years. Her most famous role though was as one of a pair of young models who shag David Hemmings rotten in "Blow Up". She's not bad either. And in the supporting cast are a young Oliver Reed and Shirley Ann Field, who later appeared together as brother and sister delinquents in the interesting Hammer sci-fi film "These Are the Damned". This is certainly worth seeing.

A junky masterpiece of sorts

[rdoyle29 · 7/10 · 6 November 2017]

David Farrar has just remarried to Noëlle Adam. His beatnik daughter Gillian Hills doesn't like him or his values or his new wife. She prefers hanging out in coffee houses with her friends Adam Faith, Shirley Anne Field and Oliver Reed ... dancing to John Barry music and talking wacky jive talk. When she discovers that her new stepmom has a connection to a stripper, she becomes involved with strip club owner Christopher Lee. Although this film's depiction of beatnik culture is far from accurate (Adam Faith sings for his friends quite a bit and his faux rockabilly songs don't exactly sound like beatnik fair) it is delightfully over the top and has an amazing cast for such junky fare. I really kind of loved it.

Will her dreams of becoming a stripper be realized?

[bletcherstonerson · 6/10 · 10 September 2015]

The music, is great. I actually have the music on my mp, but the story is your standard " rebel without a clue" story line. The actress pulls it off and makes it believable until the end, where her limitations show on the screen The heroine,is a confused young girl that hates her parents and is looking for a way to detach herself from the culture of their generation . She starts dreaming of escaping her life of comfort by planning to work as a stripper in the club across from coffee house she hangs out at. The fantasy of working in an atmosphere of stale beer, thick smoke and sweaty men who have a cornucopia of sexual proclivities is an uncontrollable sirens call to her soul. It is worth watching and the lead actress showed great promise but never really did much after this film. I did like the shooting locations and sets, the cinematography is above par, it has many attributes for a "B" Brit teen exploitation flick.

Fun and surprisingly raunchy juvenile drama bogged down by off-putting melodrama

[tomgillespie2002 · 6/10 · 30 August 2017]

Beat Girl, known as Wild for Kicks in the U.S., was another entry in the juvenile delinquent sub-genre started by the likes of High School Hell Cats and Teenage-Age Crime Wave, which took a look at the 'troubled' youth of the post-World War II generation when rock 'n' roll was moulding the clean-cut teenagers into misanthropic tearaways. Directed by Edmond T. Greville, Beat Girl is far too silly and melodramatic to leave any lasting impact, but there is a joy to be had with watching a bunch of pretty 1960's teenagers mope and complain in what would likely be classed as acceptable rebellious behaviour nowadays, and to see Swinging 60's London in all its glory.

The story concerns Jennifer (Gillian Hills), the 'beat girl' of the title, and her struggle to accept a new addition to the household. Her rich and rather liberal father Paul (Black Narcissus' David Farrar) dotes on his young, beautiful daughter, but remains concerned about her late night partying and dead-beat friends. Her behaviour takes a downturn when he brings home his new young and gorgeous French wife Nichole (Noelle Adam), who Jennifer takes an instant disliking to, as most children of divorce do. Nichole makes all the effort to bond with her new step-daughter, but Jennifer would rather be hanging out at the local jazz dive with her friends (including real-life musician and teen idol Adam Faith). After a chance encounter reveals Nichole's past life, Jennifer becomes intent on revealing the big secret to her work-obsessed father.

My main issue with Beat Girl is that it isn't totally clear whose side we're meant to be on. On one hand, the parents are shown as forward-thinking and modern while the youngsters (including a baby- faced Oliver Reed) squabble on a dusty floor over a half-drunk bottle of gin. On the other, the apparently misguided youth act out for good reason, and ultimately pose no actual threat ("Fighting's for squares, man!"). The film improves when it dabbles in the sleazy side of London, particularly as Jennifer's curiosity over strip joint Les Girls leads to shady club owner Kenny (Christopher Lee) trying to recruit the jailbait as one of his main attractions, which also leads to the sight of some surprisingly revealing routines. This is exploitation after all, and there's a wonderful sense of grime in these moments. Ultimately, Beat Girl suffers from long periods of off-putting melodrama and silly dancing, but there is a tremendous raunchiness to the film also.

Campy movie about bad girl who wants to be a stripper as her sexy step-mother was!

[cricket-14 · 5/10 · 18 May 1999]

Fun movie proves that even British film makers could do a trashy juvenile delinquent film - with added bonus of cool, jazzy, rock'n'roll sound track.

Sixteen-year old beatnik art student rebels when her "square" middle-aged dad brings home a "French poodle" 24-year-old stepmom. She and her beatnik pals discover that her blonde bombshell step-mommy was once a Parisian stipper!

A few hysterical scenes later the girl realizes the error of her ways and returns to her architect dad and step-mother.

A must-see for any camp, bad movie film buffs!

Very lurid and highly entertaining.

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 2 June 2012]

This film is also known as "Beat Girl" and that's the name on the DVD release. It's from a VERY popular theme of the era--out of control teenagers in films. In this case, however, it's a British version of the old American genre--and it's frankly a lot better.

A totally clueless divorced father arrives home after being on a three-month business trip. Surprise, surprise...he also brings home a brand-new (and relatively hot) French wife! Now his teenage daughter, Jenny, is a total insolent brat...but at least you can't blame her for not accepting New Mom! Only Mr. Potatohead would think bringing home a new mother would work out seamlessly.

Later, Jenny sneaks out to hang with the young beatniks at the local club--and it's dancing and listening to jazz and rock 'n roll all night long. Apparently, she's a regular there but clueless dad doesn't know, as he's so wrapped up in his work. However, New Mom decides to try to help and tries to befriend Jenny. Jenny's friends like New Mom, but Jenny is surly and refuses to give her a chance. When Jenny learns that New Mom used to be a stripper--then she thinks she has a chance to split up her new family. But, as it turns out, New Mom has MUCH more to hide than stripping! And Jenny has MUCH more insane behavior that you can see--if you get a copy of this film.

The film is silly and good for a laugh. But compared to the average film of the genre, it's actually very good. Part of it is that in MOST crazed teen films of the era, the kids in this one really are bad and really are living on the edge. Try comparing this to the incredibly tame "Wild One" (with Marlon Brando)--you'll see what I mean. It also has very catchy music and lots of crazy stuff to keep your attention. Subtle, it ain't! A lurid and exciting soap opera with an extra helping of sleaze--this isn't the recipe for a good film but it sure is for an entertaining one.

By the way, Christopher Lee plays a small part as the vicious owner of a strip club. He's cold and hateful--exactly what his part demanded. Although he's only in the film a bit here and there, he was terrific.

Look for the bad scene about 47 minutes into the film. Jenny tells her boyfriend to play a song. Although another song is playing and he doesn't prepare in any way, the other song immediately stops AND you his ELECTRIC guitar begins playing a neat tune--although it's NOT plugged in to an amplifier! Also, background accompaniment suddenly appears from no where! Cool, daddy.

Falls Between Three Stools

[JamesHitchcock · 5/10 · 15 September 2015]

"Beat Girl" (released in the United States as "Wild for Kicks") is a "Swinging Sixties" film made during the fifties. (Although it is listed on here as dating from 1960, the year it was released, the opening titles state "copyright MCMLIX"). It is one of the earliest British films to document the growth of youth culture, and is set against the background of the world of jazz clubs and coffee bars celebrated in Colin MacInnes's novel "Absolute Beginners", also from 1959. (The novel was itself to be made into a film, very different in style to this one, in the eighties). The teenagers we see here are described by the American term "beatnik", although they formed part of what was later to become the characteristically British "Mod" subculture. Two features of this subculture were preferences for jazz music over rock, which was associated with their hated "Rocker" rivals, and for coffee over alcohol. Although many teenagers would have been too young to drink legally, this latter preference owed less to a strict regard for the law than to an association of alcohol with an older generation they looked down upon. As one young man says here, "Drinking is for squares!"

Scenes of young people listening to and dancing to music are set against a family melodrama. Paul Linden, a successful London architect, has recently remarried; his first marriage appears to have ended in divorce some time ago. His rebellious teenage daughter Jennifer, an art student, takes a strong dislike to her new French stepmother Nichole, who at 24 is much younger than her husband. Paul is a modernist in terms of his architectural practice, but in terms of just about everything else he appears to be highly conservative and disapproves of Jennifer hanging out with the local beatnik community. (From the viewpoint of 2015, Paul's designs for his pet project, "City 2000", seem almost ludicrously dystopian, but in the fifties and sixties we were probably supposed to take this sort of concrete brutalism seriously).

Paul would be even more disapproving if he knew about some of Jennifer's other extra-curricular activities. The Soho coffee club where she and her friends meet is across the street from a strip club, something for which Soho was notorious around this period. She befriends Greta, one of the strippers at the club, who knew Nichole when they worked together in Paris. It turns out that Nichole was herself a stripper in her youth, a fact of which Paul is blissfully unaware, and Jennifer resolves to find some way to use this information against her stepmother. Her involvement with Greta brings her to the notice of Kenny, the sleazy manager of the strip club.

Because of its adult themes, the film was highly controversial in its day. It is strongly implied that Nichole and Greta were not merely strippers in Paris but also prostitutes, although the dreaded P-word is never used. We actually see some of the performances in the strip joint, and although there is no nudity some of them are highly suggestive. It is therefore unsurprising that the film-makers had difficulty getting it accepted by the British Board of Film Censors. Delays in getting it certified explain why it was made in 1959 but not released until 1960; in the end it was given an X-certificate, meaning that it could only be seen by adults and thereby excluding many of the teenagers who must have been its intended audience.

The film is notable for the remarkable performance of Gillian Hills as Jennifer. She was only 14 or 15 when the film was made, younger than her character who is supposed to be 16, but even at that age was able to project a disturbing mixture of innocence and sensuality, similar to that of Sue Lyon in "Lolita". Gillian possessed the looks of a young Brigitte Bardot, with a touch of Jane Fonda thrown in, and it has always surprised me that she never went on to have a bigger acting career, although she did become a successful singer in France. (Two actors seen here in smaller roles, Shirley Anne Field and Oliver Reed, did indeed go on to be major stars). The film's other attractive feature is John Barry's score, his first film commission. I had always associated Barry with the quasi-classical music he wrote for films like "Out of Africa" and some of the Bonds, but here he shows that he could also turn his hand to jazz, with a bit of rock thrown in.

Despite the contributions of Hills and Barry, and David Farrar as Paul, "Beat Girl" is not a very good film. It can never decide whether it wants to be a youth musical (the X-certificate probably scuppered that ambition), or an adult film in the sense of a serious drama for grown- ups or an "adult" film in the sense of "as close to soft-core porn as the censors would allow in 1959". It might have worked as a teenage film had the sex content been toned down, or as a serious drama if more attention had been paid to the relationships within the Linden household and if we could believe in the too-decorous Noëlle Adam as a lady with a shady past. In the event, however, it tries to do all three, and ends up falling between three stools. 5/10

A goof. When Jennifer and her friends travel from Soho to her home in Kensington we see their car travelling through open countryside. Both Soho and Kensington are in central London and no conceivable route would have taken them outside the London conurbation.

Teenage rampage

[xmullet · 9/10 · 17 May 2002]

This film is notable for two early appearances: John Barry's (James Bond) first film score and an early role for Oliver Reed as a teenage reveller. In some ways reminiscent of a pubescent La Dolce Vita, the film succeeds for one reason alone - Gillian Hills makes a truly seductive and formidable she-devil in the form of Jennifer.

Yes, the film is dripping in kitsch value, but one can't help but be absorbed the atmosphere, from the milk bar to the cave party, where English Elvis wannabe Adam Faith curls his lip to the drumming of an upturned guitar. Although before my time, I'm sure life in 1960 was never quite this with it, daddy-o.

It's not the greatest film ever made, but the wonderfully sleazy theme by Barry sets the tone nicely, and it rates as one of the best teenage exploitation movies to come out of the UK.

Well worth seeing but......

[christopher-underwood · 7/10 · 3 May 2016]

Barely stands up as a film worth much attention on its own but is interesting for various reasons. There is a point about halfway through when two lads are speaking of their childhood, born down in the underground during the war and playing on the bomb sites that makes it perfectly clear this is about the generation immediately before the post war baby boomers. There are rockers, well teds but no mods as yet and big no-no of the day was striptease and games of 'chicken' the big thrill. Gillian Hills really was only 15 when she starred in this. Probably her greatest claims to fame were appearing in Clockwork Orange and being 'The Brunette' opposite Jane Birkin's 'The Blonde' in Blow-Up. Shirley Anne Field is great but is lumbered with a terrible song miming sequence towards the end. She would make Peeping Tom and Saturday Night and Sunday Morning the same year being quite 'the look' for several years. Christopher Lee is still on a very slow journey to stardom and not wonderful in this while a 19 year old Oliver reed almost ruins his career with some incredible over acting in a near nothing part. The Chislehurst Caves sequence is probably the best but there are some decent Soho scenes even if most of them are studio bound. Well worth seeing but more from an historical point of view than a dramatic one.

Not quite as bad as it might have been.

[MOscarbradley · 4/10 · 11 March 2016]

Hard to believe that this tale of beat girls, beat boys and sundry strippers was once considered scandalous and had an 'X' certificate slapped on it when it first appeared. It's another warning on what can happen when you let your teenage daughter listen to jazz or worse still, jive music! Of course, it's mostly terrible but it has built up something of a reputation as a cult movie in recent years. (The club scenes and a chicken run stolen from "Rebel Without a Cause" are surprisingly good).

David Farrar is the rich architect who remarries; his new wife is Noelle Adam and she has a shady past and newcomer Gillian Hills is his pouty teenage daughter who resents her. The cast also includes Christopher Lee, Adam Faith, (not at all bad), Peter McEnery and a young Oliver Reed, (billed here as Plaid Shirt). The director was Edmond T Greville who brought a middle-aged man's disapproving eye to bear on the proceedings.

Dated and slightly trashy but still very cool and enjoyable for what it is

[bob the moo · 25 May 2008]

Architect Paul Linden has been travelling away in Europe for over three months and returns with new, much younger French wife Nicole in tow. Nicole's first challenge is Paul's sixteen year old daughter Jennifer, who is going through a typically teenage difficult period of being rebellious as she discovers her new sexuality and has places where her and her friends can hang out away from adults and squares. When Nicole starts trying to get to know her better, Jennifer reacts by digging for dirt on her stepmother.

This film got a rare screening on BBC4 recently so I watched it out of retro-curiosity. For my money Beat Girl turned out to be a surprising good film, partly because I was watching it on its own terms. What I mean by this is that I quickly accepted that this was not going to be a sharp examination of teenage alienation but rather a bit of an exploitative b-movie of rebellion, beatniks, stripping and jive music. In this area it works really well and is actually one of the better "troubled youth" b-movies that I've seen. Sadly this is not because it gets the adult characters right – because where it matters, it doesn't. The parents are clunky authority figures and Nicole is little more than a plot device.

No, where Beat Girl works is in creating an enjoyable sense of grimy rebellion and sass that is what these films is supposed to be all about. The locations and music are a large part of this because it does give the film an authentic feel to be in seedy strip-clubs and laidback coffee houses, while the music is roundly cool and of the period. One of the main things that the film is worth seeing for is a wonderful turn from Gillian Hills in her debut film role. She is sexy with genuine fire behind her eyes and a great attitude – I'm not really into bad girls but I fell in love right here! Only marginally sexier is dancer Pascaline who does a strip so hot that I had to check two things: the first being that this was made in 1960, the second being my watch, to confirm that, yes, BBC4 were screening it before the watershed! Anyway, back on Hills, she is great and drives the film with her harsh and convincing teenage girl. Alongside her Adam and Farrar are a bit clunky while her various peers seem quite clichéd and dated in a way that Hills' fire prevents. Lee has a real sleazy menace and there are appearances from Reed and Faith to increase the "oh look its" count. Overall Beat Girl is a dated and slightly trashy rebellious teen b-movie. In terms of message and plot it is not great but it is worth a look due to the cool points that the locations, direction, music and very hot Hills give it.

Beware the cave of the beatniks!

[AaronIgay · 6/10 · 18 March 2015]

The lively opening tacked-on credits scene with kids showing off how cool and rebellious they are while dancing to the John Barry groovy crime jazz theme will drag you in, and there is just about enough in here to keep you watching, but really only just enough. Don't worry if you miss any of the opening credits scene, it will be repeated later, and even that great theme song grows tired by the end of the film. The highlight is young minx Gillian Hills whose great performance makes me wonder why her career after this film consists of small parts and the odd TV show. I have a strange feeling the story of her life would make a much better film than this one. It's impossible to miss Oliver Reed as the non-speaking "Plaid Shirt" beatnik, and it's historically interesting to see just how much the British censors would let slide back then.

"Drink's for squares man!"

[Stevieboy666 · 6/10 · 15 April 2018]

Beat Girl. When a middle aged architect brings home to England his new, young French wife his beatnik teenage daughter takes an instant dislike to her and attempts to wreck the marriage. To be honest this is not the type of film that I usually watch but I did so because it stars Christopher Lee (as a seedy strip club owner) and a very young Oliver Reed, two of my favourite actors. This British film is pretty much a tale of teenage rebellion against the older, stiff upper lipped generation & the then current popular music scene also plays a key part (Adam Faith stars). Much of the action takes plays in a strip club and features some very erotic dances with topless nudity, I guess pretty strong for 1960 and no doubt partly why it gained an X certificate. The real star of this movie for me was Gillian Hills, the incredibly stunning teenage daughter, who was only around 16 when she made this. Much of the dialogue - words such as jiving, teds, squares etc - do date this film and it is plodding at times but it's an interesting piece for it's time.

Lurid & Spicy...Brit JD...A 14 Yr Old "Lolita" Like Gillian Hills Stars

[LeonLouisRicci · 7/10 · 22 October 2021]

Part of the JD Trend of the Mid 50's, this one From Britain.

It Includes Soft-Core Strip-Tease (something American Movies of this type never came close).

It's a much More Serious Tone with Teen-Age Rock n' Roll Antics are Mixed with a Sub-Plot Focusing on a Strip-Club, Run by Christopher Lee, that Includes some Semi-Nudity.

Gillian Hill was Only 14 when She Starred in this and Actually Does a Strip Herself at a Wild House Party.

Her Dramatics are Mature and She Holds Her Own with the Older Thespians.

Noelle Adam as the French Step-Mom is a Beauty, but a Bit Stiff.

Brit Pop-Star Adam Faith does a Few Tunes (imitating Elvis), Oliver Reed's First Picture. Composer John Barry's Debut.

There's a Game of Chicken on the Rail-Road Tracks that Caused Quite a Stir. Actually the Whole Film Caused Quite a Stir.

It Was Considered "Absolute Trash", Slapped with an X-Certificate and Ignored by the "Ruling Class".

A Pretty Sexy and Dramatic Take on the "Youth" of the Day, the Rebels, and Kicks Generation.

Above Average in the Genre.

Definitely Worth a Watch.

Good exploitation drama film

[DavidYZ · 7/10 · 2 July 2017]

This is an exploitation drama film that's well-written and well-acted. It's about rebellious, middle-class teenage girl Jennifer and her friends. She lives in Kensington with her father and new young French stepmother. She goes to a strip club in Soho and finds out that her stepmother used to be a stripper. The manager of the club wants to take Jennifer to Paris. Another stripper at the club becomes jealous and stabs the manager to death.

One Star on the way down ,others on the way up

[malcolmgsw · 4/10 · 18 April 2015]

This film is quite a contrast.On the one hand you have David Farrar who is almost at the end of his film career,on the other you have Oliver Reed ,Adam Faith,Christopher Lee,Shirley Ann Field and Nigel Green on the way up.So there is a great contrast on acting styles,which don't really reflect well on the actors concerned.Gillian Hills as the teenage daughter,Nicolle Adams and Adam faith seem to have immobile faces and monotone delivery.Farrar was a lot older than Adams and there is no chemistry whatsoever between the two.From a dramatic point of view their inability to register any emotion kills this film stone dead.Just compare Adams performance with that of Simone Signoret in "Room At The Top" and you will see what I mean.This film was clearly meant for the exploitation market and earned itself an X certificate,now days it would probably warrant no more than a PG.No doubt this still fondly remembering this era and its music will be most interested in it.

Alcohol is for squares !

[leavymusic-2 · 6/10 · 26 June 2019]

Hmm, strange that a bunch of 20's kids would think booze was for squares and some rather funny songs played live without amps and guitars not plugged in. It's a bit backward for that, interesting period piece and 1960's grooves that's been well filmed with a mediocre story line overall it's a bit square, good for 1960's nostalgia and fans of Oliver Reed can witness his first performance on film.

So bad you can't turn your head away...

[riseley · 1/10 · 22 April 2006]

We don't have a television. We live better without the invading stream of swill. But there are times when I have a few free moments and my brain feels like jello and I just want to get passive and watch something stupid. It is when I want to watch something stupid that I miss the television just a little. Enter LikeTelevision.com – it streams old drivel from T.V.for free – and this morning I was really in need of some old drivel and even though I knew it was going to be stupid and frustrate me with its vapidness, I clicked on Beat Girl.

Oh man, you can see this one coming from a mile away – from the very first shot of the lovely Gillian Hill, who plays Jennifer, wayward adolescent, you can see the "cautionary tale of the bad sixteen year old girl who gets in trouble because of sex" steaming your way like a rusty old tank. But, well, like I said, the brain is shot this morning (only got three hours of sleep – silly me) and I had nothing better to do and so I stayed with it. Part of what kept me with it is the fact the Gillian Hill is quite the beautiful young lady and I believe she is in every scene of this movie, it being the story of a rebellious adolescent.

But please, even though this movie is from 1960, and about rebellious teens, do not confuse it as being anything like Rebel Without A Cause – which manages to hold up under the ravages of time. Beat Girl just manages to get sillier and sillier. I do not believe for one moment that a girl in the basement of a jazz club ever quipped to her boyfriend, "Oh, fade out." Hearing it actually made me laugh. It is exactly the kind of thing that a very stupid screenwriter from say, 1960, would include in a movie about rebellious teens. If there is any pleasure in this movie, it is in listening to these forced quips the kids make to one another. Some may have actually been genuine slang like "cool, man" but others like, "he's the hotdog daddy-o" I just don't buy. What we get from this movie is not what kids were actually like in 1960, but what a few creepy adult filmmakers thought they were like. Or perhaps the filmmakers knew they were not "actually" like this and they portrayed them like this to titillate the audience. Does that sound likely? Yes. Very.

So, there I was, enjoying some of the little quips in the jazz club and the coffee bar when Beat Girl's hideous attempt at a plot rears its horrible head. Watch out, spoiler coming. I'm going to wreck the ending. Avert your eyes. You never would have guessed this: Beat Girl Jeniffer's rich architect daddy brings home a new twenty-four year old, dignified, French wife that Jennifer immediately despises. Attempting to connect with her new step daughter the new French mom, Nicole, intrudes into the coffee bar & jazz club scene. Jennifer is outraged and digs up this French woman's past which includes... yes... stretch for this... come on... prostitution! Oooh, daddy is not going to stand it. He married a whore.

Yes... it really is that bad.

The only face you might recognize in this movie is the face of a very young Christopher Lee, who plays a strip club owner who would like nothing more than to corrupt our lovely Gillian Hill and lead her into a good decade of stripping on stage before dumping her like used trash. If you don't know who Christopher Lee is then you never saw many great and creepy Dracula movies from the 1970s.

So... hmmm... let me recap: crummy acting, no script, ridiculous characterization, no plot... what's left? Ahh Cinematography... um, think Ed Wood. How about the score and soundtrack? How about not. Stupid. Maybe there were a couple rockabilly knockoffs in there but at that point in the movie I was shoving my cat into my ear to stop the pain of listening.

Dumbest gag in the movie: a kid falls asleep while drumming "to set the world record" and the last girl watching him walks off, quipping, "Well, not this time." What? Everything about this movie is stupid. Oh, and here's the ending I promised to wreck: It's a happy ending in which Jennifer is hugging the French woman and daddy and they are all one big happy family after the wicked Christopher Lee gets stabbed by some tramp.

I am pleased to be recording my thoughts about this movie because in five minutes I will have no recollection of it.

The history in my web browser will show trace signs that I watched it. I did a Google search for Gillian Hill and found out that she labored in the shadow of Bridgette Bardot but never achieved real stardom. Gillian made five albums that are remembered by French websites. No hits. In the 80s she disappeared due to an illness and when she reappeared she was married to the manager of the Scorpions. There is no Wikipedia entry for her and I believe there should be because she is a stunning little vixen in Beat Girl—and the only good thing about this movie—and I do NOT mean her acting.

I'm far gone, daddio!

[johne23-1 · 9/10 · 20 December 2008]

What we've all been waiting for... Yes! It's another Christopher Lee strip-club!Hooray!Hurrah! But there's much more here. We have a (actually) 14 year-old Gillian Hills (later in Blow Up, when she'd reached the ripe age of 21), Jon Barry (and his Seven) doing the music and dreaming of James Bond, Adam Faith playing a beatnik-type-coffee bar-teenage-dreamboat... Everyone goes around saying "Daddio" and "Go, man, go" and "I'm real gone, man" and "Get out, you drivelling, jiving, beatnik scum" (honestly!), and not much happens... ..so they all go and play by having a drag race and then lying on a railway line and playing chicken...

And Then!

Someone called Laya Raki does an unbelievable striptease that will make your eyes water, (hers obviously did)...

And Then!!

Oliver Reed Starts Dancing!!...

Sorry, I need to go and lie down for a bit...

A Most Freudian turn of the plot

[bkoganbing · 3/10 · 30 December 2011]

Beat Girl is the United Kingdom's answer to some of the American made teen flicks that were popular drive-in movie fare at this time on our side of the pond. The Beat Girl here is Gillian Hills who is very upset that her dad David Farrar has married this knockout of a young bride in Noelle Adam. She's French, she could be a Brigitte Bardot clone and in a most Freudian turn of the plot the daughter is in a jealous rage over Adam who is only about seven years older than her.

But when Adam comes down to the coffee bar that Hills and her friends hang out at, she finds an old friend who works at a nearby strip joint who knew her when. It seems that Farrar has not been told the whole story of wife's background and now Hills has something on Adam.

What she doesn't count on is the sleazy owner of the strip joint who has a taste for jail-bait. Christopher Lee in a little time out from Hammer horror films is the best thing about Beat Girl. Also in small roles are Oliver Reed and Nigel Green.

British pop star Adam Faith and Peter McEnery and Shirley Anne Field play Gillian Hills's disaffected youthful companions. Faith has a couple of songs in the film which are the other main feature.

Beat Girl was trashy when it was first out and age hasn't improved it any. In the final analysis Hills just proves to be a spoiled brat and the London bobby's advice to Farrar about her needing a good walloping is long overdue.

Sexy Gillian Hills Makes This JD Film Worth Watching!

[DarylKMiddlebrook · 18 January 2006]

First and foremost, who is Gillian Hills? And second, why didn't she become a major star? After looking for this film for some time, I finally got a chance to check it out the other night. As JD films go, it wasn't a classic, yet it wasn't a clunker either. However, what compelled me to write a review of the film was the sexy young star of the film, Gillian Hills. Going by her bio, she was born in 1946, making her all of fourteen when she made Beat Girl. Well, this has got to be the sexiest fourteen year old ever! Brooke Shields, Jodie Foster, Sue Lyons, even Tuesday Weld can't hold a candle to Ms. Hills. Her performance is the glue which holds the bare thread plot together. Gillian plays Jennifer Linden, spoiled, rich teenager who, along with her beatnik friends, rebel against British society and it's rigid rules and traditions. If one thinks that Jennifer is being led astray by her friends, think again. If anything, it's Jennifer who is leading her friends down the dark and tawdry path. Jennifer is no one's puppet, and proves this in a game of "Chicken" on a railroad track. When her father brings home a much younger Parisian wife Nicole (Noelle Adams), Jennifer makes the woman's life a living hell. She tries to turn her father against Nicole when she finds out that the woman once danced as a stripper in Paris. Jennifer's scheme quickly turns against her and soon she finds herself being manipulated and lusted after by the sleazy strip club owner (played by the always villainous Christopher Lee). The ending to the film was a disappointment, wrapped up rather conveniently despite the fact a murder is committed. Still, Gillian Hills is a vamp on par with some of the best the screen has ever offered. I would assume that maybe it's her resemblance to Brigitte Bardot that may have stymied her career. I would love to see a film of her as an adult, and see if she still possessed that smoldering sexuality she displayed as a teen.