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They get to know the youngsters who come to the church hall, many of whom have been taking part in the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme. Johnnie and Bert become interested in the initiatives the scheme offers and decide to join, but Bill becomes jealous of their interests and feels they should be rebelling. This breaks up their friendship for a time because Bill trashes the church hall. In the meantime, Johnny has a complicated romantic life involving Terry, the blonde singer with the band and Anne, the choirmaster’s daughter. |
Valerie
Mountain sang the vocal parts for Angela Douglas (Angela was to marry
Kenneth More) in the film and the music was performed by The Eagles,
a Bristol group (not to be confused with the American group of the same
name). Valerie was born in Bristol in 1942 and in her early teens had
aspirations of becoming a singer, joining the Cliff Adams Singers in
1960. She was spotted by songwriter Ron Grainer, who had been commissioned
to write music for the soundtrack of ‘Some People’ and asked to provide
the female vocals, backed by the Eagles. Her single of the number, issued
on Pye, was only a minor hit and she gave up her career after getting
married in 1964. She has lived in America for the past few decades. The Eagles formed in Bristol in the late Fifties, naming themselves after a club they all belonged to, the Eagle House Youth Club. They comprised Terry Clarke (lead), Johnny Payne (rhythm), Michael Brice (bass) and Rod Meacham (drums). It was during an appearance at the Royal Festival Hall that they were spotted by Ron Grainer, who invited them to perform in the film. |
This was one of a series of feature films about pop music which David
Hemmings featured in. Others included ‘Play It Cool’, ‘Live It Up’
and ‘Be My Guest.’ He was to recall, “The year 1962, when the Beatles
erupted into our consciousness with ‘Love Me Do’, was better for me.
After a short run in a Pamela France play at the Theatre Royal in
Windsor, I went down to Bristol for a couple of months to make ‘Some
People’ for Clive Donner". "The film’s message was encapsulated in the opening line of the soundtrack – ‘Some people think that kids today have gone astray…’ - it was about youth clubs, vicars, shrinkable blue jeans, motorbikes and English rock ‘n’ roll. Four teenage layabouts are talked into forming a rock group to keep them out of trouble, and I appeared as the first of several young pop singers”. He also said, “I was feeling more buoyant about my career. ‘Some People’ had been made with a small grant, or perhaps just a pat on the back from a Duke of Edinburgh Foundation designed to encourage young folk not to behave like the complete arseholes that nature intends and show how tearaways could go straight, if only”. In addition to the album, there were two singles and an EP that reached No.2 in the EP charts with a chart life of 21 weeks. |