Buddy's Song

Not quite a British musical, more a Minder-ish comedy-drama with songs. Daltrey plays Terry, a superannuated Teddy Boy ducking and diving on the fringes of the criminal world, who gets landed with some stolen property and ends up in jail. Meanwhile his wife Carol (Duce) decides to better herself by taking an interest in computers and having it off with her boss, leaving son Buddy (Hawkes) sufficiently perturbed to pick up a guitar and sing some New Town blues. Dad, now out of jail, wants to make him a star. Sadly, he's the all-time nightmare parent: he fails to resurrect his marriage, build a new life, or steer his boy's talents in the right direction. The usual teenage rock-band incidents pile up alarmingly, but Hawkes greets triumph and disaster alike with the same sullen depressed-adolescent expression (perhaps because the loathsome 'Lite Rock' songs he's been given make him sound like a secular Cliff Richard). Daltrey's central performance, on the other hand, is fearless and compelling.