The title may come from a Buddy Holly song but the 1973 British drama That'll Be the Day is a frank, unglamorous look at life in late 1950s England for a restless, reckless young man who abandons high school and home life to drift through odd jobs at holiday camps and fairgrounds, learning to hustle tourists and seduce young women. David Essex plays Jim MacLaine, a smart but frustrated teenager raised by a single mother and grandparents after his father abandoned them after the war. Days before his exams, he chucks it all, packs a bag, and heads out for the seaside, where he befriends an older fairground worker (played by Ringo Starr) and starts honing his brusque, bad-boy manner to score chicks. He's part dreamer and part louse, hanging out in rock clubs and living for the moment, until he's jolted out of his freewheeling lifestyle and returns home to help his mother in the family shop. But like his father, he can't settle down. The description on the back of the disc repeats the erroneous claim that it was based on the early life of John Lennon (for that, see Nowhere Boy). In fact, it was in part inspired by the Harry Nilsson song "1941," transposed to late 1950s England, where the reverberations of World War II still linger and American rock and roll has captured the attention of British youth, inspiring a whole culture of cover bands. The film recalls both the British New Wave and the angry young man films of the 1960s, with its frank, unglamorous portrayal of late 1950s life, self-centered, irresponsible anti-hero who has no allegiance to friends or family, and use of internal monologues and voice-over poetry to provide a kind of counterpoint to the drama. The soundtrack is filled with American rock and roll songs by Buddy Holly, The Everly Brothers, Jerry Lee Lewis, Bobby Darin, Little Richard, and others, as well as performances by British rocker Billy Fury as a local rock singer named Stormy Tempest. The soundtrack album was a big seller in England. Keith Moon (of The Who) has a small role as Stormy's drummer. It's directed by Claude Whatham, a veteran of British TV drama, from a script by Ray Connelly, who also penned the sequel Stardust (1974). Features brief nudity, lots of sexual conquests, and foul language. The new Blu-ray and DVD editions feature audio commentary by entertainment journalist Bryan Reesman. Recommended. (S. Axmaker)