Looking like a reworking of Soapbox Derby but with engines, Go Kart Go bears the unmistakable stamp of the Children’s Film Foundation (CFF) trying to imbue its films of the early 1960s with a contemporary feel. The brisk, energetic style here, combined with elements of realism, feels less dated than its typical work in the ’50s.
The story is set in familiar CFF territory with “the Damson Street Gang” – a group of four boys and two girls of varying ages – making a go-kart to participate in races at a local track.
They are up against a dastardly rival group – “the Craven Gang” – who want to win at any cost, even stooping to sabotage.
The Damson Street gang undergo the usual CFF trials and tribulations – no money to buy parts – but succeed with the help of their parents (who club together to purchase a chassis) and a kindly scrapyard owner, played appropriately by Wilfred Brambell just a year after his first appearances in Steptoe and Son.
The go-kart racing sequences are staged with panache, and the close-ups don’t resort to the usual back projection, generating authenticity.
Even the slapstick is handled with invention, as in a sequence where an out-of-control lawnmower heads around the suburban streets, shaving a rug that has been left out to air and conveniently chipping a bucket of potatoes ready for tea.
The bad guys try to win the final race by sawing through the axle of their opponent’s kart, but a last-minute repair job saves the day.
Their bullying leader, Harry Haggetty (played with relish by Frazer Hines in his third and final outing for the CFF), ends up in a pond, having tried to push another kart off the track.
The cup is lifted by our hero, Jimpy, played in his first full CFF role by a fresh-faced Dennis Waterman, still many years from his best-known television roles in The Sweeney and Minder.
The film was written by Michael Barnes from an original story by Frank Wells.
Jimpy
Dennis Waterman ‘Squarehead’ Hedley
Jimmy Capehorn Harry Haggetty
Frazer Hines Patchy
Pauline Challoner Squirt
Melanie Garland Stiggy
Robert Ferguson Spuggy
John Moulder-Brown Slab
Edward Martin Basher
Hugh Halliday Cheesy
Gareth Robinson Woodlouse
Christopher Witty Policeman
Graham Stark Postman
Cardew Robinson Fred
Wilfrid Brambell Policeman
Campbell Singer Housewife
Gladys Henson Mr Hedley
Alan White Race Organiser
Peter Myers Greengrocer Parent
Harry Locke
Director
Jan Darnley-Smith
Video
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The story is set in familiar CFF territory with “the Damson Street Gang” – a group of four boys and two girls of varying ages – making a go-kart to participate in races at a local track.
The bad guys try to win the final race by sawing through the axle of their opponent’s kart, but a last-minute repair job saves the day.
Jimpy
Spuggy
Policeman
