History Film / AbsoluteBeginners

* AffablyEvil: From what the viewer can tell, Vendice Partners is a genuinely pleasant, friendly guy, and his charisma is a big reason his VillainRecruitmentSong temporarily proves effective. But that song is largely about how a life of glamour and dirty dealings tend to go hand in hand with each other, and [[spoiler: he may well be the one who came up with the Evil Plan]].

* CampGay: The Fabulous Hoplite.

* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Vendice and [[spoiler: Henley]].
* DisneyAcidSequence: "That's Motivation".
* EarnYourHappyEnding

* EvilPlan: As it turns out, [[spoiler: the white supremacists are being encouraged/employed by Vendice, Henley, et.al. to [[TheCon drive minorities out of Notting Hill. That would allow them to buy up the tenements cheaply, knock them down, and build luxury apartments in their place]]]].

* FemmeFatale: Dido.
* HenpeckedHusband: Arthur.

* LowerClassLout: Ed the Ted and Colin's brother Vern.
* MeaningfulName: Cool.
* MinorCharacterMajorSong
** Arthur, with "Quiet Life".
** Vendice gets the least screentime of the heavies, but gets "That's Motivation" for his trouble.

''Absolute Beginners'' is a 1986 musical drama directed by music video director Julien Temple, [[TheFilmOfTheBook and based on the cult novel by Colin [=MacInnes=].]] Set in London during [[TheFifties the late fifties]], it chronicles the story of Colin (Eddie O'Connell), a struggling young mod photographer, and Suzette (Patsy Kensit), his fashion model girlfriend. Suzette loves Colin, but is more ambitious than he is, so she gets a job working for Henley (James Fox), a top designer, and through chance, ends up being the showcase of his latest campaign, which is cashing in on the new teen craze. Colin reluctantly ends up working for Harry Charms (Lionel Blair), a pop promoter, but is afraid of selling out. He also catches the eye of Vendice Partners (Music/DavidBowie), an unscrupulous businessman. Meanwhile, the neighborhood Colin lives in -- Notting Hill -- seems like a perfect combination of energy, music and cultural harmony. But there's trouble brewing as a group of white supremacists start causing trouble, especially when Colin finds out who's behind them...

* EvilPlan: As it turns out, [[spoiler: the white supremacists are being encouraged/employed by Vendice, Henley, et.al. to [[RealEstateScam drive minorities out of Notting Hill. That would allow them to buy up the tenements cheaply, knock them down, and build luxury apartments in their place]]]].

* VillainRecruitmentSong: "That's Motivation" for Vendice -- and it works, if only temporarily.

While that may sound like an issue drama, the movie is in fact a musical, featuring not only Bowie, but also music by [[Music/TheKinks Ray Davies]], Music/GilEvans, and Music/{{Sade}}, among others. Despite heavy promotion by Creator/{{MTV}}, the movie was a flop on release, but has since gained somewhat of a cult following, despite criticism of how different it was from the novel.

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Harry Charms, clearly meant to be Larry Parnes the record mogul and manager of teen sensation Billy Fury.

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Harry Charms, clearly meant to be Larry Parnes the record mogul and manager of teen sensation Billy Fury. Veers a little towards UnfortunateImplications, as Parnes was homosexual and [[DepravedHomosexual Harry Charms]] is a [[AllGaysArePedophiles predatory pedophile]] who uses his position to literally scout for boys- and it's PlayedForLaughs.

While that may sound like an issue drama, the movie is in fact a musical, featuring not only Bowie, but also music by [[TheKinks Ray Davies]], GilEvans, and {{Sade}}, among others. Despite heavy promotion by {{MTV}}, the movie was a flop on release, but has since gained somewhat of a cult following, despite criticism of how different it was from the novel.

* TheCameo: Ray Davies (of TheKinks) and Mandy Rice-Davies (notorious for being a minor player in the Profumo scandal in TheSixties) appear briefly as Colin's parents.