That'll Be the Day (film)

That'll Be the Day
DVD cover by Arnaldo Putzu
Directed by	Claude Whatham
Produced by	Sanford Lieberson David Puttnam
Written by	Ray Connolly
Starring	David Essex Rosemary Leach Ringo Starr Keith Moon Billy Fury Deborah Watling
Distributed by	Anglo-EMI Film Distribution
Release date	12 April 1973 (UK) 29 October 1973 (U.S.)
Running time	91 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Budget	£288,000

That'll Be the Day is a 1973 British drama film starring David Essex, Rosemary Leach and Ringo Starr, written by Ray Connolly and directed by Claude Whatham. It is set in the late 1950s/early 1960s and was partially filmed on the Isle of Wight.

Jim MacLaine (David Essex) was abandoned by his father when he was young. Later, as a suburban school dropout, Jim leaves home and drifts through a succession of dead-end jobs until he finds an outlet for his frustration in rock 'n' roll. Tossing away the chance of a university education much to the consternation of his mother, alienated MacLaine becomes a lowly deckchair attendant before streetwise friend Mike (Ringo Starr) gets him a job firstly as a barman and then with the fun fair. The initially shy MacLaine quickly becomes a heartless fairground Romeo leaving a trail of broken hearts in his wake. Eventually MacLaine returns home to run the family store and marry his girlfriend, but despite the birth of a son, restless Jim feels the lure of rock ’n’ roll again.

The Liverpool days of the Quarrymen/the Beatles and Rory Storm & the Hurricanes were said to be the inspiration for the fictional group called "Stray Cats" in the film.

Many of the characters were played by musicians who had lived through the era portrayed in the film including Ringo Starr of the Hurricanes and the Beatles, Billy Fury, Keith Moon of the Who and John Hawken of the Nashville Teens.

The film was produced by David Puttnam and is loosely based on the Harry Nilsson song "1941".

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