Cast

The Young Ones resolves around a youth club which is due to be torn down in a redevelopment plan by a company owned by Hamilton Black the father of one of the club members Nicky played by Cliff. Inevitable Nicky is at loggerheads with his father until the wealthy businessman is won over by enthusiasm if Nicky's crowd at the youth club stage a concert to raise 2000 pound.

Nicky is the leader of a youth club in London. Here Nicky, his girlfriend Toni and other youngsters can escape from the narrow and disapproving adult world and play their Rock 'n Roll music. Nicky's father, Hamilton Black, a millionaire property owner, wants to buy the land on which the club stands to build a modern office block. The other club members don't know that Hamilton Black is Nicky's father.

Hamilton tells the youngsters they can have the land , if they can pay five years rent in advance, being 1500 pounds.

The youngsters rent a dilapidated theatre , renovate and decorate it in order to put on a found-raising show. The publicity is done via an old radio transmitter. They broadcast the date of their show over the national network.

Hamilton hates the idea that the boys might be able to raise 1500 pounds and attempts to buy the theatre before the show gets under way. The gang plan to waylay Nicky' father, the fact of which they are aware of at that time. Nicky releases his father and they hurry back to the theatre where Nicky immediately goes on the stage.

The show is a big success and even Nicky's father is delighted and offers to build them a brand new club.

The film The Young Ones was an enormous box-office success. The albums and singles sold heavily and quickly. The single "The Young Ones" had advance orders of 300.000. Within days of it's release sales had zoomed towards the million and the song was topping the charts.

The film shot to number two at the box office and made Cliff the most popular film star of 1962. Critics rounded-out the clean sweep of praise, calling it the best musical Britain has ever made and the finest screen entertainment produced for a long time anywhere.

The film is based on the template of the MGM classic musicals, but re-inforced the musical score with half a dozen pop songs to connect with teenage audience. The idea of having a group of people getting together to save their youth club from being torn down by a rich property developer came from Rodgers and Hart's musical "Babes In Arms", which starred Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland as the teenage children.

The premiere of The Young Ones was on December 13 1961 at the London's Warner Theatre London.

108 minutes.