''Beat Girl'' is a 1960

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

teen exploitation

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 Edmond T. Gréville. The film was released in the United States under the title ''Wild for Kicks''. The title character of ''Beat Girl'' was played by starlet

Gillian Hills Gillian Hills (born 5 June 1944) is a British actress and singer. She first came to notice as a teenager in the 1960s in the British films ''Beat Girl'' (1960) and ''Blowup'' (1966). She also spent several years living in France, where she emb ...

, who later went on to have numerous small roles in 1960s and 1970s films, such as ''

Blowup ''Blowup'' (also styled ''Blow-Up'') is a 1966 Psychological thriller, psychological Mystery film, mystery film directed by Michelangelo Antonioni, co-written by Antonioni, Tonino Guerra and Edward Bond and produced by Carlo Ponti. It is Antoni ...

'' (1966) and '' A Clockwork Orange'' (1971), and became a successful ''" ye-ye"'' singer in France. ''Beat Girl'' marked the first film roles of British pop idol

Adam Faith Terence Nelhams Wright (23 June 1940 – 8 March 2003), known as Adam Faith, was an English singer, actor, and financial journalist. As a British rock and roll teen idol, he scored consecutive No. 1 hits on the UK singles chart with " What ...

and actor

Peter McEnery Peter Robert McEnery (born 21 February 1940) is a retired English stage and film actor. Early life McEnery was born in Walsall, Staffordshire, to Charles and Ada Mary (née Brinson) McEnery. He was educated at Ellesmere College, Shropshire. Hi ...

, although it was not released until after other films featuring Faith ('' Never Let Go'' (1960))Glynn, Stephen. ''The British Pop Music Film: The Beatles and Beyond.''
Palgrave MacMillan, 2013, p. 40. . and McEnery ('' Tunes of Glory'' (1960)) had already come out. The film also features Christopher Lee and Nigel Green as strip joint operators, and

Oliver Reed Robert Oliver Reed (13 February 1938 – 2 May 1999) was an English actor, known for his upper-middle class, macho image and his heavy-drinking, "hellraiser" lifestyle. His screen career spanned over 40 years, between 1955 and 1999. At the ...

in a small role as one of the "beat" youth. The original music was composer John Barry's first film commission, and was performed by the John Barry Seven and Orchestra, Adam Faith, and

Shirley Anne Field Shirley Anne Field (born Shirley Broomfield; 27 June 1936 – 10 December 2023) was an English actress who performed on stage, film and television from 1955 until her death. She was prominent during the British New Wave. Early life Shirley Bro ...

.Fiegel, Eddi. ''John Barry: A Sixties Theme: From James Bond to Midnight Cowboy.''
Faber & Faber, 2012, pp. 71–72. The ''Beat Girl''

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

was the first British soundtrack to be released on a vinyl LP. It reached number 11 on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...

, paving the way for the release of other film soundtrack albums.

Plot

Paul Linden, a wealthy, middle-aged

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

, returns home to

Kensington Kensington is an area of London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, around west of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up by Kensingt ...

, London. Previously divorced, he brings his new wife: 24-year-old Nichole, whom he just married in Paris. Paul's teenage daughter Jennifer is resentful of his remarriage and rejects Nichole's friendly overtures. After Paul and Nichole go to bed, Jennifer sneaks out to the Off-Beat café in

Soho SoHo, short for "South of Houston Street, Houston Street", is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Since the 1970s, the neighborhood has been the location of many artists' lofts and art galleries, art installations such as The Wall ...

for an evening of

rock music Rock is a Music genre, genre of popular music that originated in the United States as "rock and roll" in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of styles from the mid-1960s, primarily in the United States and the United Kingdo ...

and dancing with her friends. The next day, Nichole plans to meet Jennifer at

Saint Martin's School of Art Saint Martin's School of Art was an art school, art college in London, England. It offered foundation and degree level courses. It was established in 1854, initially under the aegis of the church of St Martin-in-the-Fields. Saint Martin's beca ...

, where the latter studies, so they can have lunch together. At lunchtime, Nichole arrives at St Martin's, but learns that Jennifer has gone to the Off-Beat. There, Nicole confronts Jennifer in front of her friends and reminds her to be home for Paul's important business dinner that night. While leaving, Nichole passes Greta, the star performer at the strip club across the street. Greta recognises Nichole and greets her by name. However, Nichole ignores her. Jennifer suspects that Nichole was also a stripper before meeting Paul. At Paul's business dinner, Jennifer tries to embarrass Nichole in front of the guests by bringing up the encounter with the

stripper A stripper or exotic dancer is a person whose occupation involves performing striptease in a public adult entertainment venue such as a strip club. At times, a stripper may be hired to perform at private events. Modern forms of stripping m ...

. After the guests leave, Paul questions Nichole, who says that she knew Greta in Paris and that they were in ballet together but Greta pursued a different way of life and Nichole lost track of her. Paul accepts her explanation, but Jennifer goes to the strip club to ask Greta directly. Greta initially claims that she made a mistake and does not know Nichole, but under pressure from her boyfriend, strip club manager Kenny King, she reveals that she and Nichole worked together as strippers and occasional

prostitutes Prostitution is a type of sex work that involves engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-p ...

in Paris. Jennifer, encouraged by Kenny, becomes enamoured with the idea of becoming a stripper herself. Jennifer is caught by Paul and Nichole coming home from the strip club at late at night and a confrontation ensues. Jennifer reveals that she spoke with Greta and threatens to tell Paul what she has learned if Nichole does not stay out of her life. At the strip club, Nicole tells Kenny and Greta to stay away from Jennifer. Kenny says that Jennifer will be welcome there any time and that if Nichole interferes, he will tell Paul about her past. That night, Jennifer and her friends dance at Chislehurst Caves, and participate in a car race and a

game of chicken The game of chicken, also known as the hawk-dove game or snowdrift game, is a model of conflict for two players in game theory. The principle of the game is that while the ideal outcome is for one player to yield (to avoid the worst outcome if n ...

on railway tracks where the last person to leave the rails before the train arrives (Jennifer) wins. Jennifer invites everyone to continue the party at her house, as Paul is out of town and Nichole presumably will not interfere. Jennifer accepts a dare to "strip like a Frenchie" and begins a striptease to music, but when she gets down to her underwear Nichole bursts from her bedroom and stops her. Then Paul arrives home and breaks up the party, throwing all of the beatniks out of his house. Jennifer angrily tells Paul about Nichole's activities in Paris. Nichole, crying, admits that it is true and explains that she only did it because she was broke and hungry. Paul and Nichole profess their love for each other and reconcile. Jennifer goes to the café, but now finds it boring. She walks out on her friends and meets Kenny at the strip club. Kenny invites her to go to Paris with him, where he can train her to be a star stripper. Greta later learns that Kenny plans to leave her and go off with Jennifer. As Kenny makes a pass at Jennifer, someone stabs him to death. The club staff, thinking Jennifer killed Kenny, lock her in a room and call the police. Jennifer screams that she did not do it, and the real culprit, Greta, emerges from behind a curtain. Meanwhile,

Teddy Boy The Teddy Boys or Teds were a mainly United Kingdom, British youth subculture originating in the early 1950s to mid-1960s and then revived in the 1970s who were interested in rock and roll and Rhythm and blues, R&B music, wearing clothes part ...

s vandalise the car of Tony (one of Jennifer's friends) and smash the guitar of Dave (another of Jennifer's friends), initiating a confrontation between the two groups. Paul and Nichole arrive searching for Jennifer while the police drag her out of the strip club. The police release Jennifer to Paul and Nicole, and they return home, arms around each other, as Dave throws his broken guitar in the rubbish.

Cast

* David Farrar as Paul Linden * Noëlle Adam as Nichole inden* Christopher Lee as Kenny

ing Ing, ING or ing may refer to: Art and media * '' ...ing'', a 2003 Korean film * i.n.g, a Taiwanese girl group * The Ing, a race of dark creatures in the 2004 video game '' Metroid Prime 2: Echoes'' * "Ing", the first song on The Roches' 199 ...

as Jennifer inden*

as Dave *

as Dodo *

as Tony * Claire Gordon as Honey *

as Plaid Shirt * Michael Kayne as Duffle Coat * Anthony Singleton as Green Pants * Robert Raglan as F.O. official * Nade Beall as official's wife * Margot Bryant as Martha * Nigel Green as Simon * Norman Mitchell as club doorman * Pascaline as exotic strip dancer * Delphi Lawrence (uncredited) as Greta * Carol White (uncredited) as Off-Beat girl * Diane D'Orsay (uncredited) as strip dancer in white négligée

Production

Filming

George Minter, who ran Renown Pictures, said he wanted to make a picture "for the kids". Gillian Hills had been discovered by

Roger Vadim Roger Vadim Plemiannikov (; 26 January 1928 – 11 February 2000) was a French screenwriter, film director, and producer, as well as an author, artist, and occasional actor. His best-known works are visually lavish films with erotic qualities, s ...

, who considered casting her in ''

Les liaisons dangereuses ''Les Liaisons dangereuses'' (; English: ''Dangerous Liaisons'') is a French epistolary novel by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, first published in four volumes by Durand Neveu on March 23, 1782. It is the story of the Marquise Isabelle de Merteu ...

''. He elected not to do so, and Hills made her film debut in this movie instead. Filming started 27 July 1959. The movie was filmed at

MGM-British Studios MGM-British was a subsidiary of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer initially established (as MGM London Films Denham) at Denham Film Studios in 1936. It was in limbo during the Second World War; however, following the end of hostilities, a facility was acquired ...

Borehamwood Borehamwood (, historically also Boreham Wood) is a town in southern Hertfordshire, England, from Charing Cross. Borehamwood has a population of 36,322, and is within the London commuter belt. The town's film and TV studios are commonly know ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

, UK, with exteriors filmed in

and Chislehurst Caves (then in

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

). Pascaline, the Haitian exotic dancer who appears in a sequence performing with a scarf, had performed in real life as an exotic dancer at the Crazy Horse Saloon in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

Music

After Adam Faith was cast, John Barry was asked to compose the film soundtrack, because he had already been collaborating with Faith as an arranger. Barry was subsequently hired to score Faith's next films, '' Never Let Go'' (1960) and '' Mix Me a Person'' (1962), leading to Barry's successful career as a composer and arranger of film music. In addition to the ''Beat Girl'' soundtrack LP reaching number 11 in the album charts, the song "Made You," composed by John Barry and Trevor Peacock and performed in the film by Faith, achieved minor hit status before being banned by the BBC for suggestive lyrics. A sample from the title track is used in "

The Rockafeller Skank "The Rockafeller Skank" is a song by English big beat musician and DJ Fatboy Slim. It was released as the lead single from his second studio album, '' You've Come a Long Way, Baby'' (1998), on 8 June 1998. The single peaked at number six on the ...

," a 1998 single by

Fatboy Slim Norman Quentin Cook (born Quentin Leo Cook, 31 July 1963), also known as Fatboy Slim, is an English musician and DJ who helped popularise the big beat genre in the 1990s. His music makes extensive use of Sampling (music), samples from eclectic ...

, for which Barry receives a co-writer credit.

Release

Some versions of the released film have cut the original striptease sequences (which included topless nudity), some exposition scenes set in the strip club, the "chicken" game scene, and/or some opening exposition scenes with David Farrar and Noëlle Adam on a train and then with Gillian Hills at their London home.

Censorship

When the original script, entitled "Striptease Girl," was submitted to the British Board of Film Censors in March 1959, the reviewer termed it "machine-made dirt" and "the worst script I have read for some years". The project was then renamed "Beat Girl" and nudity was reduced, but censors still objected to scenes of strip tease, juvenile delinquency, and teenagers playing "chicken" by lying on railway tracks in front of an oncoming train. Ultimately, the film received an "X" certificate, causing its release to be delayed because it was queued behind a glut of other X-rated films.

Critical reception

The film was bought for distribution by Victoria Films and did "exceptionally well" playing over 1,000 theatres, despite receiving bad reviews. ''

Kine Weekly ''Kinematograph Weekly'', popularly known as ''Kine Weekly'', was a trade paper catering to the British film industry between 1889 and 1971. Etymology The word Kinematograph was derived from the Greek ' Kinumai ', (to move, to be in motion, to ...

'' wrote: "JEAN-AGE melodrama, with songs. Set mainly in Soho, it's about a self-willed fifteen-year-old beatnik daughter of a successful architect, who resents her father's pretty French second wife and decides to live for kicks, but soon gets into hot water and, chastened, returns lo the old nest. The tale is not particularly original, but the principal adults' and teenagers' performances are first-class, the list of ”cool” guest artists stretches as long as your arm, and the numbers head the current hit parade. And that's not all. the film's musical score, played by topnotch John Barry and his Orchestra and sung by Shirley Ann Field and Adam Faith, is the first to be recorded in its entirety on a long-playing disc. Pre-sold, the opus can hardly miss. Outstanding British gimmick offering" '' Variety'' said: "Cheap little dualer about a London kid who gets mixed up with beatniks, striptease, murder and problems with her father and stepmother; may click with undiscriminating audiences."

Leslie Halliwell Robert James Leslie Halliwell (23 February 1929 – 21 January 1989) was a British film critic, encyclopaedist and television rights buyer for ITV, the British commercial network, and Channel 4. He is best known for his reference guides, '' Fi ...

called the film a "Risible exposé-style melodrama." The ''Radio Times Guide to Films'' gave the film 2/5 stars, writing: "

his His or HIS may refer to: Computing * Hightech Information System, a Hong Kong graphics card company * Honeywell Information Systems * Hybrid intelligent system * Microsoft Host Integration Server Education * Hangzhou International School, ...

failed attempt to launch Adam Faith as yet another of Britain's answers to Elvis Presley is now a great pop history lesson in teenage attitudes and rock 'n' roll rebellion, complete with cool jive talk and swinging sounds." ''

Sight and Sound ''Sight and Sound'' (formerly written ''Sight & Sound'') is a monthly film magazine published by the British Film Institute (BFI). Since 1952, it has conducted the well-known decennial ''Sight and Sound'' Poll of the Greatest Films of All Time. ...

'' said: "''Beat Girl'' evidently has one eye on US product such as ''Rebel Without a Cause'', offering a largely studio set, mock ethnographic survey of the new teenage tribe frequenting Soho coffee bars and basement clubs, playing chicken on country roads and talking in a brand new argot (“Straight from the fridge, dad!"), which screenwriter Dail Ambler quite possibly made up for the occasion. It's a film as flummoxed as super-square patriarch David Farrar's permanently creased brow, which perhaps explains why the producers hedged their bets by situating a striptease show across the street from the kids' espresso stop, allowing extensive onstage footage to be tailored for various export versions. ... Like so much British cinema of the time, It's a muddled yet fascinating affair, which somehow manages to look to the future in spite of itself."

References

External links

* *
Beat Girl
at Letterbox DVD
Beat Girl
at ReelStreets {{Edmond T. Gréville 1960 drama films 1960 films 1960s British films 1960s coming-of-age drama films 1960s English-language films 1960s exploitation films 1960s teen drama films British coming-of-age drama films British teen drama films English-language teen drama films Films about dysfunctional families Films about marriage Films about striptease Films directed by Edmond T. Gréville Films scored by John Barry (composer) Films set in London Films shot in Hertfordshire Films shot in Kent Films shot in London Films shot at MGM-British Studios Films about juvenile sexuality Kensington Teensploitation