Saturday Night Out follows the misadventures of a group of merchant seamen (and a passenger) from the freighter Riebeek Castle on a night’s leave in London before they return to their ship in the morning.
Irishman Paddy (Nigel Green) is only concerned with consuming as much whiskey as he can, while Arthur (David Lodge) claims to be visiting his “mother” and heads straight for the bed of his girl in this particular port, Julie (Margaret Nolan).
Meanwhile, Australian Lee (John Bonney) is entranced by Penny (Heather Sears), a whimsical beatnik and existentialist intent on committing suicide.
Loudmouthed Brummie Harry (Inigo Jackson) ends up in a Soho clip joint where he’s robbed while being distracted by hostesses Marlene and Arlene (Caroline Mortimer and Vera Day). He then takes a beating from a bouncer played by ex-boxer Freddie Mills (ironically soon to be the victim of a fatal shooting connected to his real-life involvement in shady nightclubs).
Passenger George Hudson (Bernard Lee) – a successful businessman – is picked up at an upmarket Mayfair hotel by the exotic Wanda (Erika Remberg) only to become a victim of the old badger game which the French girl is running with her smarmy “business associate” Paul (Derek Bond), but adroitly turns the tables on their blackmail attempt to extort £1,000 from him – writing them a cheque for a tenner.
The shy and inexperienced Jamey (Colin Campbell) and Jean (Francesca Annis) meet in a pub (the long-demolished White Hart in Poplar) where The Searchers just happen to be playing (The Beatles were offered the chance to appear in the film, but the producers were reluctant to pay their train fare from Liverpool!)
Despite finding themselves sharing a room in a boarding house for the night, after coming to the aid of the landlady’s drunken mother (a funny cameo from Patricia Hayes), Jean and Jamey do not sleep together, but he decides to jump ship and stay with her.
This film captures London’s Dockland in its last throes before it was transformed into office blocks and unaffordable apartments
Penny
Heather Sears
George Hudson
Bernard Lee
Wanda
Erika Remberg
Lee
John Bonney
Jean
Francesca Annis
Jamey
Colin Campbell
Harry
Inigo Jackson
Arthur
David Lodge
Paddy
Nigel Green
Marlene
Caroline Mortimer
Arlene
Vera Day
Edie
Shirley Cameron
Edie’s Mother
Patricia Hayes
Paul
Derek Bond
Manager
David Burke
Joe
Freddie Mills
Margaret
Toni Gilpin
Miss Bingo
Barbara Roscoe
Julie
Margaret Nolan
Barmaid 1
Martine Beswick
Barmaid 2
Patsy Fagan
Doorman
Gerry Gibson
Barman
Barry Langford
Kathy
Wendy Newton
The Searchers
Themselves
Director
Robert Hartford-Davis
