Telstar: The Joe Meek Story

2009 "Hit after hit... Someone's bound to get hurt."
6.4| 1h59m| R| en| More Info
Released: 30 May 2009 Released
Producted By: Aspiration Films
Country: United Kingdom
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
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Synopsis

Set against a backdrop of early '60s London, Telstar is the story of the world's first independent record producer, Joe Meek. A maverick genius who enjoyed phenomenal success with Telstar – the biggest selling record of it's time – before bad luck, depression, heartbreak and paranoia led to his downfall.

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Reviews

Cubussoli Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!
filippaberry84 I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.
Myron Clemons A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.
Winifred The movie is made so realistic it has a lot of that WoW feeling at the right moments and never tooo over the top. the suspense is done so well and the emotion is felt. Very well put together with the music and all.
Prismark10 Telstar is the satellite that inspired British music producer and his in house band The Tornadoes to launch the instrumental record which became the first US number 1 hit by a British group.Meek who operated out of the top of of a leather good shop was a maverick like Phil Spector, and just like Spector with a fondness of guns.The film starts and feels like a stage play very much in keeping with its origins as a stage play and low budget adaptation as a film. Con O'Neill (reprising the part from the play) plays Meek, harried, frazzled, on the edge with drugs keeping him going. Kevin Spacey makes a cameo as Major Banks his business backer who keeps the whole enterprise in even keel as we find that Meek is certainly no businessman.Somewhere within the chaos of the upstairs apartment cum music studio Meek who could not read or write music and was ridiculed for being tone deaf managed to produced a string of heats and had major musician working under him such as Ritchie Blackmore, Chas Hodges. I shall omit Screaming Lord Sutch as a major musician though.However the pill popping, plagiarism accusations, arrest for importuning in a public toilet, his falling out with the Major lead to deepening financial turmoil and the falling out with friends and musicians. The hits dried up and in a tragic demise he ended up shooting his landlady and himself.The film by actor turned director Nick Moran is rather messy. Moran does well with a low budget to evoke a sixties atmosphere which is away from the swinging which was so beloved by past filmmakers.Its nice to see support from Spacey, James Corden as well as some of the real life people who associated with Meek turn up such as Jess Conrad.However the film feels overlong and as Moran tries to imbue Meek with some psychological character traits based on his upbringing and his past family life it feels like a failure as it adds little. Many people of his generation had family affected by The Great War or trauma in childhood.I found this a middling film whose kinetic energy runs out midway through and the film starts to drag until the tragic ending.
Ellie_81 I watched this film a while ago with my brother and mum.We were looking forward to watching it as we thought it would be an interesting, entertaining film. We were however, disappointed.From the start of the film the pace was I felt rushed in parts, it seemed to lack direction and 'flitted' from scene to scene with little explanation as to why. Prior to watching the film we(my brother and I) knew a little about Joe Meek. I didn't do any reading before watching the film to find out anything else about him.The film focused on Two aspects of Meek's portrayed personality- 1) homosexuality and 2) Frequent temper tantrums- and that's it , thats the basis of the story. There's a brief appearance of singer's Billy Fury(the tornado's were at one time his backing group) and Gene Vincent. The portrayal of Vincent is in my opinion 'cringeworthy' and disappointing.In short, my advice is watch it if you're absolutely bored senseless and you can think of literally nothing else to do.
technojazzbrother British films made by people like Richard Curtis (The Boat that Rocked et al) tend to look at the swinging 60's of London with heavily rose tinted spectacles. All pimms, waistcoats, flower power and crazy shenanigans. All very well but not much to do with reality - I thought Austin Powers would have killed that off in the 90's....which is why Nick Moran's directorial debut is such a breath of fresh air.For those that don't know the Joe Meek at the centre of this film - control freak, gay in the wrong decade, tone deaf drug addicted musical pioneer - get ready for a roller-coaster of a ride. Without wishing to spoil the arc of the story, this is a classic tale of a man with a vision breaking new ground...with disastrous consequences.Con O'Neil dominates this film with a superb manic performance which captures the claustrophobic and chaotic feel of the centre of Joe's universe, his recording studio above a handbag shop in central London in the early 60's. Ably supported by a host of good actors - in particular Kevin Spacey, Pam Ferris, and (even) James Cordon are all spot on. What looks like a cod-60's Curtis-esquire disaster for the first 20 minutes heads somewhere altogether darker once the action cranks up as Joe starts to get some no.1 hits in the charts.A must watch cautionary tale about fame, love, jealously, paranoia and music, this is a fine carachter piece with some excellent nuanced comedy amidst the darker elements, it's a really well executed debut from Mr Moran...enjoy.
chrismartonuk-1 At last! Nick Moran's labour of love finally reaches the big screen and it's well worth the wait. It's basically the stage play transferred to the screen but, considering how claustrophobic Joe's life at 304 Holloway Road was, it's no bad thing. When he ventures outside into a pre-summer of love 60's London, the culture clash between his dated be-suited appearance and the bright colours of the kids speaks volumes as to what an anachronism he's become. All the regular support cast in the Joe Meek story are present and correct. Kevin Spacey is the tragically unheeded voice of reason as business partner Major Wilfred Banks. Far from being an insensitive hard-headed businessman, he gave Joe the finances to indulge his talent but found, as Dennis Preston had done before, that Joe was an ungrateful employee. Banks role has been expanded to incorporate Spacey and give him more screen time and - apart from the odd lapse - his British tones are maintained throughout.Con O'Neill must surely be up for a BAFTA. He truly inhabits the part and one can only hope it doesn't have an adverse mental effect in the long run a la Heath Ledger. One telling scene has Meek at his lowest ebb as the Beatles - whom he could have signed - receive their MBE's on a TV in the background. J J Field is the unworthy object of his affections as Golden Boy Heinz. His part is also expanded from the play as we see him grappling with Jess Conrad backstage and witness his unbelievable arrogance to his backing band. Actually, Heinz got on well with his support band in spite of their low opinion of his musical abilities. Of the rest of the cast, Pam Ferris provides sympathy for the luckless Mrs Shenton who cheerfully fails to grasp the increasingly dangerous madhouse she has given shelter to. Still, I can't imagine her family members sitting through her violent end - which is depicted as more of an accident than on stage. The actor playing Ritchie Blackmore could have provided a Brummie accent as the stage version did. But these are minor quibbles. Nick Moran and Simon Jordan deserve credit for getting this on screen. In wake of Phil Spector's recent conviction, it is more timely than ever.