Heartfelt gratitude to everyone who attended the Lobotomy Room cinema club presentation of exploitation gem Beat Girl (1960) at Fontaine’s on 15 August! In my eyes, you are ALL espresso-drinkin’, finger-snappin’ beatniks and maladjusted juvenile delinquents! It was thrilling to see everyone completely entranced by the lunacy of this riotously enjoyable glimpse into London’s teenage jukebox jungle! And yes, Beat Girl IS the single greatest British rock’n’roll movie ever made. There! I said it! Who could resist: the ludicrous ersatz teenage “hepcat” dialogue (“straight from the fridge, dad!”) conjured from the imagination of some middle-aged scriptwriter? John Barry’s awesome, evocative pre-James Bond soundtrack? (Find it on Spotify). The impossibly sullen and electrifying performance of sex kitten starlet Gillian Hills (a sort of British Brigitte Bardot / Tuesday Weld hybrid) as bad girl anti-heroine Jennifer? (Jennifer is SO nihilistic and alienated she needs intensive therapy! In the drag racing and playing “chicken” on the train tracks scenes, she clearly doesn’t care whether she lives or dies!). The presence of British acting legends like Christopher Lee (as sleazeball burlesque club owner Kenny) and Oliver Reed (heartbreakingly young and cute, billed only as “plaid shirt”)? Special credit to Delphi Lawrence as haughty stripper Greta (nicknamed “the duchess” because “when she peels, she acts like she’s doing you a favour”). I love how Greta is perennially bitter and tipsy, wearing the same strapless dress and raging about Kenny (“He’s a bastard, but I love him!”). And remember: Beat Girl was rated “X” upon release. The version we watched contains the burlesque sequence with outrageously sexy Haitian exotic dancer Pascaline, which is often deleted in different markets (a friend of mine in the US recently watched Beat Girl and he didn’t see Pascaline!). All these decades later, Pascaline’s scorching number still feels raunchy. Keep your eyes peeled – I’ll announce the September selection soon! Pictured: a close-up of Jennifer’s winged eyeliner technique.
