A period musical comedy set in a quiet Prague quarter at the end of the fifties. Using the western plot device of the "man from nowhere" a generation gap story unfolds of changing social climate. The action is driven by the character of a young man named Baby who causes a local rebellion by bringing rock'n'roll to a Communist neighborhood raised on swing.
Production
Incredible period detail of 1950s Prague streets.
Score
Swing orchestras clash with forbidden rock rhythms.
Director
Jan Hřebejk
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The film captures a real phenomenon: Czech youth illegally tuning into Radio Luxembourg for banned Western music. The 'big beat' (velký beat) was genuinely suppressed as 'ideological diversion.'
Director Jan Hřebejk would later become the youngest Czech Oscar nominee for 'Divided We Fall' (2000), making this his scrappy early-career rehearsal.
CZ
