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There's just a little of the usual high-jinks and slapstick expected of a
Children's Film Foundation production, but there's no doubting this is among the
most serious of all its efforts, a film with a definite message. In a rare,
considered contemporary overview of CFF output, Films and Filming critic Jenny
Craven called this film, "an enthralling and condemning story about pollution
[in which] the theme emerges from action rather than words."
A huge chemical company pays illegal dumpers for disposal of chemical waste
dangerous to the environment, while adverts for its washing powder Breezee play
endlessly on television, selling images of sunkissed cornfields and smiling
children. The persuasive voiceover (courtesy of an authentic turn by the 1970s'
king of the hard sell, Patrick Allen) makes hollow promises: "Washed nature's
own way with a new organic detergent that whitens the same way as sunshine." The
parable surely implies that consumerist society is damaging the planet.
The tough message is emphasised by some tense direction - notably a sequence
of a waste tanker bearing down on Billy's bike and an exciting final fight
sequence by leading stunt performers Derek Ware and Andrew Bradford which
betrays the influence of adult crime TV series The Sweeney (ITV, 1975-78).
American-born director Cokliss attended film school in London and worked in
television on documentaries like Omnibus (BBC, 1967- ) before approaching the
Foundation, hearing they were willing to take a chance on new directors. The
budget on this, his first feature, was £45,000, broadly in line with a one-hour
filmed TV episode of the time.
There's a particularly strong supporting cast of familiar British TV faces
and good performances by the young leads: Ben Buckton was a music school
student, while Andrew Ashby was found at the Italia Conti Stage School. Buckton would reappear in Cokliss's next CFF film, The Glitterball (1977).
Alistair McGown
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1. Threatening tanker (3:22)
