I absolutely LOATHE coming-of-age films, for their embarrassing-ness, stupidity, and exaggerated, unrealistic portrayal of that time of life. Normally this would be no exception. However, the soundtrack to this film was on the sharpest cutting edge in its day; the chat boards/threads here have comments from several of us on the soundtrack.
Plot is four British youths -- two girls, two guys -- go to a seaside resort town in England. They hook up there, work, go out, quarrel, have sex for the first time, etc. etc. They are repeatedly antagonized by a trio of mean-spirited Scottish thugs. The lead character, played by Ray Winstone, is focused on a swimming race/contest which he deeply wants to win.
Back to the soundtrack: it contains the likes of Eddie & the Hot Rods, Richard Hell & the Voidoids, Mink DeVille, the Boomtown Rats; plus a lot of the score is composed around the melody of the Only Ones' "Another Girl, Another Planet." This was the stuff of the fantastic, now-classic original punk rock & New Wave of the late '70s. Whoever did the music supervising/selection (I'd like to know who this was) was well in-tune with this edgy genre, and matched the songs' lyrical content well to the scenes. The use of Patti Smith's "Because the Night" particularly comes to mind in this regard.
I've finally seen this film now (July 2009), and it's a treat in that I was the EXACT same age as these kids (18) in the year of the film's release (1979). As an American it was also a glimpse into what life was like for my contemporaries across the pond. It was very, very different; and I can say the life of American 18-year-olds in 1979 was NOTHING like the Brits' portrayed in this film. It may have been sort of like this in the U.S. back in the 1950's, but that's about it. Also, I couldn't understand some of the dialog, due to the accent factor.
The soundtrack may be New Wave, but the characters are not. They were what we American punkers back then would've termed "regular," "mainstream," or "straight" people. But ironically, one of the Scot thugs, Georgie, looks as contemporary now as he did 30 years ago.
The film's title is oriented in hindsight; as if referring to looking back on the past experience of one's younger days; when nostalgia selectively blocks out the bad times and remembers mostly the good. I wish in some ways that I could've had a teenage beach summer like this...ah, but I was too busy in the gritty city, being a punk rocker. Aaarrrgghh! :-P
