Featuring an energetic pace and charismatic lead performance from Conor Berry, Schemers is sure to entertain with its true-life story of a young rock promoter over his head in Dundee, Scotland.
Most of those who survived the rock ‘n’ roll experience opt to tell their story through a book, or even a documentary. Veteran rock promoter and manager Dave McLean has opted instead to write, produce, and direct a feature film in which his adventures as a young rock promoter in Dundee, Scotland - culminating in an Iron Maiden concert in Dundee’s Caird Hall – is told with enthusiasm and a cheeky spirit.
Set during 1979, Conor Berry plays McLean, referred throughout the film as “Davie”, as a devil may care hustler who bounces back from a career ending football injury with an ambition to promote and host rock gigs, yet no knowledge or ability to do so.
With the help of his friends, drug dealer Scot (Sean Connor) and rock DJ John (Grant Robert Keelan), Davie puts on a succession of successful gigs that instantly makes him a target for local crime boss Fergie (Alastair Thomson Mills), who owns the clubs of Dundee and demands a hefty price to use them. Soon an in-debt Davie finds himself in a desperate situation, hence the Iron Maiden gig which he plans on clearing his name.
The lead up to the gig itself is an excellent, sweaty palmed sequence that showcases the lackadaisical and short-sighted approach young Davie has towards his job, as he stumbles though a series of blunders and just pure ignorance regarding contractual obligations in booking one of the biggest up and coming metal acts in the world. Cue McLean’s parents (played wonderfully by Carolyn Bonnyman and Kit Clark) making sandwiches and spending their hard-earned on rider requested alcohol.
Davie could easily be portrayed as an unlikeable character, yet the personable and charming nature that Berry brings to the role turns the young scoundrel into a loveable rogue who always escapes by the skin of his teeth. Good too is Tara Lee as the object of McLean’s fixation, as well as Sean Connor and Grant Robert Keelan as Davie’s friends and business partners who get caught up in Davie’s schemes and the consequences that come with it.
Shot in Dundee itself, Schemers delivers a strong sense of place that helps tell its story of small time hustlers with big time dreams. Curiously, missing are energetic music performances to really push the scene in which McLean has made a success for himself. Bands like Simple Minds, The Vapours, and XTC are mentioned, but yet not seen in a satisfactory capacity. Hopefully, a proposed sequel will remedy this aspect of a rock ‘n’ roll story that is as fascinating as it is entertaining.
