Another 60s Showcase
Dave Martin (David Hemmings) and his friends work as delivery boys for the GPO but that is just a means to an end for them as they long to make it big with their own band. And it is in the blood as Dave's mum was also once a performer with a few contacts still in the business. Whilst Dave and his friends save up money to put a demo tape together things don't go to plan as they face various rejections. On top of that Dave's dad wants him to give up on this music nonsense and concentrate on getting a good job, maybe even working for the same company as him.
"Live It Up!" is one of those movies which I class as you needed to be there at the time to really enjoy and by that you needed to a teen or young adult back in 1963 to really enjoy this movie. I wasn't and as such as I watched it I found it pretty generic with it being the story of young men wanting to be stars but faced with all the usual issues from rejection to parents who think they should give up on the music lark to focus on a proper job. Amusingly if this movie was made today it wouldn't be about a group of friends trying to get a musical contract but by grabbing a shot at fame on some thing like the X Factor. Look, the story is nice enough but it is shallow with little close to character or story depth.
Ironically if say those suits behind X Factor were in the movie making business I reckon it might end up like "Live It Up!" as whilst this has a story it is little more than a showcase for various stars from the early 1960s. It is a big reason why whilst I like some of the music from the 50s and early 60s I reckon those who recognize the various young musical stars and recognize the songs will get a bigger kick out of this. I have to say that because of this there is some thing a little cheesy about the movie as you never seem to be more than two minutes from the next musical scene to showcase another stars talents.
What this all boils down to is that "Live It Up!" ends up just a typical talent showcase movie, the sort of thing which was frequently made back in the 60s and as such the storyline is at best just a vehicle for the musical showcase scenes.
