Catch Us If You Can (DVD)

Not to be confused with the similarly titled Leonardo DiCaprio / Tom Hanks chase caper of 2002, _Catch Us If You Can_ is an example of a film from a genre - the wacky musical featuring pop stars of the day - that although most popular in the early-to-middle 1960s, has continued to throw out (or throw up!) occasional examples almost to the present (S Club 7 and the Spice Girls, lest we forget). Such films were always completely disposable - they were ...
...stars were expected to shine but briefly - and because their shelf lives were hardly likely to exceed those of the acts they showcased, most were quickly forgotten. _Catch Us If You Can_ was no exception.

Released in 1965 and directed by John Boorman (his first feature), _Catch Us If You Can_ features the Dave Clark Five, a band of which most people under the age of fifty will not have heard. This is hardly surprising, because the ... more

Not to be confused with the similarly titled Leonardo DiCaprio / Tom Hanks chase caper of 2002, Catch Us If You Can is an example of a film from a genre - the wacky musical featuring pop stars of the day - that although most popular in the early-to-middle 1960s, has continued to throw out (or throw up!) occasional examples almost to the present (S Club 7 and the Spice Girls, lest we forget). Such films were always completely disposable - they were hastily produced in order to cash in on acts whose stars were expected to shine but briefly - and because their shelf lives were hardly likely to exceed those of the acts they showcased, most were quickly forgotten. Catch Us If You Can was no exception.

Released in 1965 and directed by John Boorman (his first feature), Catch Us If You Can features the Dave Clark Five, a band of which most people under the age of fifty will not have heard. This is hardly surprising, because the DC5 ceased to be relevant before most of today's fortysomethings were born. The band was extremely successful between 1963 and 1966, hitting the top of the charts on both sides of the Atlantic, and was at the forefront of the 'British Invasion' that so captivated American teens in the mid 60s. But like most bands of the time the DC5 was a one-trick pony and it was no surprise when the hits eventually dried up and obscurity beckoned.

The DC5 was unusual in that it was a band fronted by a drummer, the self-same Dave Clark; and not only did he front the band, he owned it too, at least as far as owning the copyright to the songs and 'employing' the other members. It wasn't surprising, therefore, that Mr Clark played the lead in the band's one and only film appearance.

The film itself is something of a cross between the two most famous genre films of that time: Richard Lester's Beatles vehicles, A Hard Day's Night and Help!. Catch Us If You Can has all the black-and-white graininess and innocent charm of the first but mercifully lacks the ridiculous plot of the second. The plot of Catch Us If You Can was probably outlined on the back of a ciggie packet during a lunchtime session in a Soho pub, yet despite the subject matter the film is surprisingly downbeat and at times a little melancholy. In short, Catch Us If You Can is something of an oddity; but it's interesting for that reason, if for no other.

Steve (Dave Clark) is a stuntman who lives with some fellow stuntmen (the rest of the band) in a disused church. The boys have been employed by an ad agency to work on a series of meat commercials that feature 'the Butcher Girl', Dinah (Barbara Ferris), a kooky, squeaky-voiced, stripy-topped blond; and during the filming of one ad at Smithfield market where Steve must drive Dinah speedily out of the building in an E-Type Jaguar, the pair spontaneously decide to keep on driving in order to escape the tedium of the rat race. Dinah wants to go to an island off the Devon coast where she had been once before, so Steve agrees to take her. Cue much chasing and music and grooviness.

The film basically follows Steve and Dinah as they head west, encountering interesting people along the way and trying hard to stay ahead of the pursuers sent by Dinah's ad-agency boss. The latter (David de Keyser) exploits the situation by contacting the press and hinting that his golden girl may have been kidnapped. Reporters join the pursuit and soon Steve and Dinah find themselves in the middle of a media circus. And that's that. Nothing much else happens other than a song or three being shoehorned into the proceedings to remind us that we're watching a musical.

At first glance Catch Us If You Can now seems about as relevant as a forty-year-old copy of the Radio Times. It was a film made for a specific audience in a specific time and place and once that audience had moved on, which it quickly did, the film would cease to be anything much at all, having served its purpose. Surely the only people who would be remotely interested in watching this film now would be members of the original audience who crave a little shot of nostalgia.

Yet Catch Us If You Can is still surprisingly watchable, whether we swung in the 60s or not. It's a slice of period hokum packed full of the familiar symbols of the time - E-Type Jags, Mini Mokes, Julie Christie clones, teens dancing spontaneously in unlikely places, confused grown-ups, stripy tops, and upbeat songs - and the whole package is extremely well put together. The film was scripted by playwright Peter Nichols, so there is more than a smattering of dialogue that rises above the vacuous. The whole film is simply enjoyable from start to finish.

Many a familiar character-actor pops up throughout to lend the film a little gravitas, including David Lodge, Clive Swift, Yootha Joyce, and Robin Bailey. The latter two are particularly good as a couple of well-heeled swingers who pick up the two fugitives and take them to their posh house in the Royal Crescent in Bath in the hope of having their wicked way. Being rebuffed, they good-naturedly take the young pair (now joined by the rest of the band) to a fancy-dress bash instead, which is the cue for a groovy musical interlude and a not-so-wild party.

There are a few downsides to the film, though it would be pedantic to dwell on them for more than a moment; this was hardly an Ingmar Bergman, after all. Dave Clark 'acts' atrociously and lacks charisma throughout. He comes across as dull and at times a little surly. The other members of the band are actually far more lively and fun, even though they spend most of the film racing manically and unseatbelted around icy country lanes in a Mini Moke (Health and Safety was then not the beast it has since become, it seems). At times too the dialogue threatens to make serious points about money and big business, which is a little alarming in a film such as this, but such pretensions are few and can probably be put down to the scriptwriter being damned if he was going to prostitute his art completely by writing rubbish all the way through.

It's also curious that despite being a musical, Catch Us If you Can only contains four songs, though a couple of them repeat throughout. The songs are not 'performed' in the film by the band (the boys are too busy 'acting'); they just serve as a musical backdrop, which is no bad thing. Spontaneous performances in the middle of fields by fully-instrumented bands were always a bit corny and implausible. Musically the songs are standard fare for the time, flimsy and formulaic, though they are pleasant, and the theme song is especially good.

There's no doubt that Catch Us If You Can is as light as a feather and, if we're being honest, complete rubbish. But that is what it was meant to be: a film to cheer the heart and get the feet tapping, but one that wouldn't trouble the minds of the teenage viewers overmuch once they'd left their local Odeon en route to the Wimpy bar. Because it's a consciously understated film that lacks the forced 'zaniness' of films like Help!, a zaniness that quickly irritates, it flows very smoothly and we are easily able to endure the few scenes where the loopiness is overdone.

I suspect that director Boorman and his scriptwriter were, despite their brief, intent on producing something that was a little more than the sum of its parts. Viewed overall, Catch Us If You Can is both zany and moody, stupid and serious, cheerful and maudlin. It is, as was said at the start, an oddity. But it's an interesting and enjoyable oddity and well worth a watch for anyone in need of a little musical pick-me-up or who just wants to wallow for an hour or so in the irrepressible black-and-white cheeriness of the swinging 60s. It's a simple film from (apparently) simpler times and is one of the best of its type. That's not saying much, but it's saying enough, much like this film does.

 

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