John Boorman has passed into legend over the years as one of the most talented British film-makers of all time. Without question, DELIVERANCE (1972) is one of the most haunting and intense man-vs-nature experiences of all time, with a career best performance by the late, great Burt Reynolds starring alongside Jon Voight, Ned Beatty and Ronny Cox.
The film also contains one of the most terrifying moments of sexual violence ever portrayed on screen, as well as a very moral tale about the consequences of violence in a world the quartet of men who are on a canoe trip down a Georgia river, soon to be obliterated by a dam.
However, some years before, Boorman was also at the helm of a totally contrasting film, produced to cash in on the popularity of one of the most popular British bands of the ‘Swinging Sixties’ following the success of The Beatles’ A HARD DAY’S NIGHT (1964)
CATCH US IF YOU CAN, which is being released under StudioCanal’s ‘Vintage Classics‘ label, features The Dave Clark Five, whose song which forms the title of the film, in what also could be constituted as an early example of a modern road movie, made four years before the film that defined the modern indie film was classed as the very first modern one, Dennis Hopper’s EASY RIDER.
Unlike A HARD DAY’S NIGHT, in which The Beatles play themselves in a simple let’s-get-to-a-studio-performance tale, CATCH US IF YOU CAN sees the quintet as part of an advertising campaign for meat which is fronted by the model Dinah (Barbara Ferris) and being shot in a meat market in London.
Bored with the film-making process, stuntman Steve (Dave Clark) decides he wants some adventure and excitement and grabs an E-type Jaguar – and a willing Dinah – and heads out into the Home Counties, where some hopeful enlightenment awaits, firstly with some hippies. However, his actions are about to shatter the peace of one and all, with the advertising agency exploiting the alleged ‘kidnapping’ of Dinah in an exodus which will take them down to Bath…..
Fans of AUSTIN POWERS may well detect a key influence on Mike Myers’ blockbuster homage here, but this is the original and real deal and a movie that, whilst very much of its’ time (be prepared for some un-PC imagery and reflection!), does have an energy and vibrancy to behold.
Appeal of the film will depend on how memorable The Dave Clark Five were, but there is a lot to offer here, not just as one of John Boorman’s early film works, showing the clear talent that would bring him to Hollywood’s attention, but in some of the supporting cast, including Ronald Lacey (FIREFOX, RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK) and Yootha Joyce, immortalised in the classic 1970s British sitcom GEORGE AND MILDRED.
Refreshingly, the music of the band is a backdrop rather than the main event and there is some terrific camerawork, notably in a country chase towards the end of the film.
CATCH US IF YOU CAN is available to buy on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital from 5th April 2021 and available to pre-order HERE
