That’ll Be the Day (1973; UK; Technicolor; 91m) ∗∗∗ d. Claude Watham; w. Ray Connolly; ph. Peter Suschitzky; m. Neil Aspinall, Keith Moon (music supervisors). Cast: David Essex, Ringo Starr, Rosemary Leach, James Booth, Billy Fury, Keith Moon, Rosalind Ayres, Brenda Bruce, Robert Lindsay, Verna Harvey, James Ottaway, Deborah Watling, Beth Morris, Daphne Oxenford, Kim Braden. Abandoned by his father at an early age, Jim MacLaine (Essex) seems to have inherited the old man’s restlessness. Director Watham mirrors the kitchen-sink dramas of the era in his approach to this episodic rights-of-passage tale. Essex creates an unlikeable central character with a colourless performance, but a strong cameo from Ringo and excellent period detail make this an interesting and authentic depiction of youth in the 1950s. It spawned a sequel, STARDUST (1974). [15]