Sammy's Super T-Shirt
Entry updated 18 May 2026. Tagged: Film.
UK film (1978). Children's Film Foundation, Monument Productions. Directed by Jeremy Summers. Written by Frank Godwin and Harry Robertson. Cast includes Julian Holloway, Lawrie Mark, Richard Vernon and Reggie Winch. 58 minutes. Colour.
Sammy (Winch), a scrawny 12-year old, is determined to win an athletics event, particularly as he will be up against the kids who bully him. He believes his chances depend upon his lucky tiger t-shirt, which is taken from him by the bullies and thrown through a window into a scientific research lab. This happens to be where a Scientist (Holloway) and his boss (Vernon) are attempting to create an indestructible fabric which they can sell to the highest bidder. Naturally, Sammy's t-shirt goes through this process, and after he and his best friend and unofficial coach Marv (Mark) steal it back from the lab, they cause some good-natured havoc when the t-shirt gives Sammy super-strength (see Superpowers). Giving the greedy industrialists the runaround, Sammy arrives at the race only to find the effects of the t-shirt are temporary. After a pep talk from Marv he wins the race anyway through his own determination. The t-shirt flies away from the scientists and explodes.
Among the many CFF titles, this is one of the most fondly remembered, its unavailability for several years leading to an online petition for its reissue, until the BFI brought it back as part of a CFF DVD and streaming package. It does not stray too far from the by now well established CFF formula; the action and comedy are more cartoonish than in the Foundation's best films, but still enjoyable when viewed with a strong dose of nostalgia. The presence of the West Indian character Marv passes almost without comment, though merely in the role of sidekick to the white protagonist.
The film was novelized as Sammy's Super T-Shirt (1981; vt Wanted! Sammy's Super T-Shirt 1986) by H MacLeod Robertson (1932-1996) – who co-wrote the script and wrote the music as Harry Robertson – in collaboration with Paul Wright (1947- ). [CWa]
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