A 1965 film by Richard Lester, a comedy shot in glorious black and white, continuing the youthful, fast-paced whimsy of A Hard Day's Night, but minus The Beatles; The Knack (as it has also been known over the years) is from the "Swinging London" era of film comedy that influenced the retro aspects of an Austin Powers. One flatmate (Tolen, swinging-Mod possessor of The Knack) instructs another (Colin, played by a young, dweeby Michael Crawford) on the fine art of bedazzling and bedding a bird, or at least he tries. A little. Rita Tushingham played the potential test case in this outpost/laboratory of the Sexual Revolution.

It won the Palm D'Or (a Good Thing®) at the '65 Cannes Film Festival. Soundtrack by John Barry, but not one for the ages - you'll find no James Bondisms here; Jane Birkin, who had a small part, later became Mrs. Barry. A slightly similar, Americanized version, came a year later: The Pad, and How to Use It.

Part of the not-quite-Beatles "mystique" of The Knack allegedly involved naming themselves after this film, but it's just another rock urban legend; Doug Fieger actually found "knack" by combing through a dictionary.

Log in or register to write something here or to contact authors.