''The Music Machine'' is a 1979 British

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), charac ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by

Ian Sharp James Ian Sharp (born 13 November 1946, Clitheroe, Lancashire) is an English film and television director. He is best known for directing the SAS action thriller '' Who Dares Wins'' (1982) and directing the action sequences of the James Bond ...

and starring

Gerry Sundquist Gerald Christopher Sundquist (6 October 1955 – 1 August 1993) was an English actor. Early life Sundquist was born in Chorlton and grew up there with his older brother and younger sister. He developed an interest in acting at primary schoo ...

Patti Boulaye Patricia Ngozi Komlosy OBE (née Ebigwei; born 3 May 1954), known professionally as Patti Boulaye, is a British-Nigerian singer, actress and artist who rose to prominence after winning ''New Faces'' in 1978 and was among the leading black Briti ...

and

David Easter David Easter (born 11 November 1959) is an English actor. He is best known for his roles as Pat Hancock in ''Brookside'', Pete Callan in ''Family Affairs'', Gil Keane in ''Emmerdale'', Mac Nightingale in ''Hollyoaks'' and Frank Fisher in '' ...

. It was called the first all-British disco film.

Plot summary

In a north London music hall, local kids dance at the disco, where the DJ is Laurie. A contest is held by an impresario (Hector Woodville) to find two dancers to star in a film. Gerry is a club regular who lives with his mum and dad (a projectionist). Gerry wants to impress another dancer (Mandy Perryment) and winds up dancing with Claire. He is double-crossed by manager Nick Dryden.

Cast

... Gerry Pearson *

... Claire *

... Howard *Mandy Perryment *Hector Woodville *

Michael Feast Michael Feast (born 25 November 1946) is an English actor of stage and screen. Early life Feast was born in Brighton, and trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama. Career He performed in the original 1968 London production of ''Hair ...

... Nick Dryden *

Ferdy Mayne Ferdy Mayne or Ferdie Mayne (born Ferdinand Philip Mayer-Horckel; 11 March 1916 – 30 January 1998) was a German-British stage and screen actor. Born in Mainz, he emigrated to the United Kingdom in the early 1930s to escape the Nazi regime. ...

... Basil Silverman *

Clarke Peters Peter Clarke (born April 7, 1952), known professionally as Clarke Peters, is an American actor, writer, and director, who has spent much of his adult life in the United Kingdom. He is best known for his roles as Lester Freamon in the television ...

... Laurie *

Richard LeParmentier Richard LeParmentier (July 16, 1946 – April 15, 2013) was an American actor who lived and worked primarily in the United Kingdom, best known for his role as Admiral Motti in '' Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope'' (1977) and the acerbic police of ...

... Jay Reltano *

Johnnie Wade Johnnie Wade (born 30 March 1932, Bethnal Green, London) is a retired British film and television actor. His played the put upon handyman 'Roger' in the ITV Yorkshire TV comedy series ''You're Only Young Twice'' between 1977 and 1981. Born in B ...

... Mr. Pearson *

Gary Shail Gary Shail (born 10 November 1959) is an English actor, director, producer and musician. Career Gary Shail began work in TV and film in 1977 and is best known for his roles as Spider in the 1979 film ''Quadrophenia'' and as Steve, the punky tee ...

... Aldo *

Brenda Fricker Brenda Fricker (born 17 February 1945) is an Irish actress, whose career has spanned six decades on stage and screen. She has appeared in more than 30 films and television roles. In 1990, she became the first Irish actress to win an Academy Awar ...

... Mrs. Pearson *

Thomas Baptiste Thomas Baptiste (17 March 1929 – 6 December 2018) was a Guyanese-born British actor and opera singer. Biography Baptiste was born in British Guiana (now Guyana) as the son of a wealthy landowner. He moved to Britain in the late 1940s. His on ...

... Claire's father * John Gorman ... Newsagent *Christopher Pichaeli ... Dancer

Production

Director Ian Sharp was working at the BBC as a documentary filmmaker. They gave him a three-month sabbatical to make the movie, which Sharp says ignited his interest in working in drama. The film's star

was best known for his work in the National Theatre and was cast even though he could not dance. "It all happened so quickly," he later said. "I couldn't believe it. I was a bit worried at first - it's not exactly ''Richard the Third'' is it?... It's about a boy who is really untogether at the beginning. He's got lots of energy and zitz and he wants to be the greatest in a dance competition. But he's like me - he's got two left feet." Sunquist did intensive training to be able to dance. The film was shot over three weeks.

Reception

''The Guardian'' said the film "limps a bit" but "does have some life about it. It isn't as atrocious as it could have been... The trouble is the dancing is actually pretty awful." The ''Observer'' criticised the "poor music and the truly terrible dancing" but thought "several things combine to make it

he film He or HE may refer to: Language * He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads * He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English * He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana) * Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter cal ...

oddly likeable - the unglamorous view of teenage camaraderie, the unforced affection of Gerry's relationship with his parents, and some odd quirky scenes here and there."The sound of Buddy: Cinema French, Philip. The Observer 17 June 1979: 14.

References

External links

*
''The Music Machine''
at Letterbox DVD
''The Music Machine''
at

TCMDB Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie-oriented pay-TV network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasting campus in the Midtown business district of ...

1979 films British musical drama films Films directed by Ian Sharp 1970s musical drama films 1979 drama films 1970s English-language films 1970s British films English-language musical drama films 1979 musical films {{musical-drama-film-stub