By Darren Allison, Cinema Retro music critic
Peter Collinson’s directorial career may have been cut
tragically short (he died of cancer at the age of 44), but the British born
director left an indelible mark in cinema during the latter half of the 1960s.
Collinson made a powerful debut with the disturbing The Penthouse (1967), a
film which caused Film Review magazine to comment, ‘quite brilliantly
achieved.’ In 1969 his contribution to cinema would become eternally cemented
with the classic The Italian Job, a film that turned Michael Caine’s popular
Charlie Croker into a movie legend. In between these two projects, Collinson
directed the gritty drama Up the Junction (1968). The film centred on a mixed
class romance between middle-class Polly (Suzy Kendall) and working-class Peter
(Dennis Waterman). Most of Up the Junction’s soundtrack (RPM 189) was written
by Mike Hugg and Manfred Man. It may have been perceived by some as a
bold move on Collinson’s part, but the director was more than happy with the
eventual outcome, ‘The result was incredible’ Collinson said. ‘They had
captured the heart of the picture. Their music belonged to the picture, it was
not superimposed.’ The music has a mellow mix of harmonious songs and
instrumentals which capture perfectly the heady social movement of swinging London. The film’s main
theme, which was also released as a single (Feb 3rd 1968), contained
the B-side track Sleepy Hollow, a song that failed to make it to the original
soundtrack album. However, RPM records have included this rarity on the CD as a
welcome bonus track. The fold out sleeve notes are very informative and contain
a nice selection of tie in memorabilia as well as a choice of both original U.K. and U.S. album art. Up the Junction’s
is a great slice of 60s social history and representative of London’s cultural past. Check it out for
yourself at http://rpmrecords.co.uk