For Those Who Think Young

Unfortunately, I can't think of many good things to say about the film.

FOR THOSE WHO THINK YOUNG functions basically as a long, long commercial for Pepsi-Cola. Even the title of the film is the direct quote of a catch phrase used in Pepsi radio and TV commercials of the early 1960s. There are blatant product placements throughout the film, notably a huge Pepsi dispensing machine placed directly in the center of several shots of a night club bar.

The story line is a rip-off of the BEACH PARTY genre, with James Darren doing his best Frankie Avalon imitation, even down to look alike hair style and obviously phony suntan. Poor Pamela Tiffin looks terribly uncomfortable trying to fill the shoes (and swimsuit) of Annette Funicello. To bridge the gap between shots of Pepsi logos, there are the typical "crazed youth" beach activities (tribal-style ritual dances, a bunch of actors grabbing surfboards at the call "Surf's Up!", then paddling out into a perfectly flat ocean, followed by stock footage of real surfers riding huge waves).

There are also several long sequences of comedian Woody Woodbury doing his night club act. The humor in these segments is extremely dated, and falls flat, only serving to bring the story to a grinding halt while on screen. Tina Louise adds some visual spice as an exotic dancer, but Paul Lynde is wasted in the role of a wisecracking musician. Bob Denver plays his typical off-center Gilligan/Maynard G. Krebs character (seemingly the only thing he is capable of).

Darren and Tiffin were also featured together in a companion piece called THE LIVELY SET, a similar but more interesting film with a racing car theme. This film also served to plug Pepsi-Cola, and the cast even featured Joanie Sommers (the manufactured singer who hit the charts with "Johnny Get Angry"), and who provided (coincidentally, no doubt) the singing voice for Pepsi commercials in real life.

Overall, FOR THOSE WHO THINK YOUNG is an curio from a bygone age, contrived and derivative. Any similarity to real life in the pre-flower power, pre-Vietnam era is purely coincidental.

Look, this film ain't a classic. Nevertheless ,it was the type of film, that brought the kids in in the 1960's. I saw it at a drive-in when I was 9. Even at that age, I recognized the Pepsi slogan, and when I kept seeing Pepsi machines in the film, I thought it was sponsored by Pepsi. My first encounter with product placement.

The plot is mindless, the characters shallow, the jokes unfunny. Tina Louise stripping off that gold-lame gown is priceless, though. Nice to know, that Tina Louise, could have had a backup career as a stripper, if she had not cashed in on "Gilligan's Island".

Pamela Tiffin's character has the I.Q. of a soapdish. I still enjoyed this film. I work in telecommunications, and I got a real chuckle out of the two (2!) mobile telephones in James Darren's car. I also enjoyed the bit where Darren calls Bob Denver on the walkie-talkie. Real high-tech stuff for this time period.

This horrendous mish-mash of "Beach Party" movie, showcase for "comedian" Woodbury and love story between Darren and Tiffin has so much excess junk in it that none of the elements succeed. The cast list is jaw-dropping. There's Burstyn (doing an admirable enough job) in a role far removed from the meaningful work she would later do. Middleton plays Lee's father even though he is TWO YEARS older than her in real life. "Gidget" TV co-star Nader wiggles and jiggles around next to Darren (who starred in the original movie "Gidget".) Denver has the camp highlight of the movie. He paints his chin to look like a person, buries himself in the sand and sings a surfing chant while curvy, tan teens gyrate everywhere. Louise is shown stripping (which is one of the few acceptable things about the movie!) It's hard to believe that Denver and Louise appeared in a feature film together the year that "Gilligan's Island" premiered. (For decades, she groused about how she was a star who got stuck on TV. If this is what she was making, she didn't miss much from her film career!) The delectable Tiffin looks spaced through much of the film (or is her eye makeup too heavy to keep her eyes open?) She promotes Pepsi in this film after promoting Coke in "One, Two, Three". Her career was through before she could do one for RC. Woodbury is agonizing. Not only are most of his jokes just plain awful, the way he delivers them is abysmal. He is yet ANOTHER of the "Introducing ________ as_______" who was scarcely heard from again....for good reason! He's what Tab Hunter would look like with a gap in his teeth, a hellacious comb-over, wrinkles and even less talent. Beyond all these people, toss in Raft, Hart and Dino and Frank's daughters! You'd think something interesting could have come of all these personalities. But no...... The biggest crime the film makes (and one that it just can not be forgiven for) is billing Lynde third and giving him absolutely nothing to work with. He barely appears on screen and is exactly what this film needs. HE should have played Woodbury's part! He and Woodbury are amusing in that they are brothers, but they live and act like two old queens. They sit on the beach like two old sisters and even sleep together in one scene! Another scene has Louise handing them some dangerously phallic hot dogs. Woodbury, after toying with it briefly, hands his to Lynde and says, "Here...keep this warm." That moment alone causes one of the few laughs in the film. They should have run with it!

My main reason for watching For Those Who Think Young was to see Woody Woodbury believe it or not. I remember watching Who Do You Trust after I came home from school and I never did get to see the film that he incessantly plugged during the show.

I wasn't missing a whole lot, For Those Who Think Young makes the beach films of Frankie and Annette look like Shakespeare or O'Neill. The substitute leads here are James Darren and Pamela Tiffin standing in for Frankie and Annette. Jim's a rich kid whose grandfather Robert Middleton tightly controls the family purse strings and he's had to practically buy the college he's going to in order to keep Jim there.

Pam is Woody's niece and she's been raised by him and his partner Paul Lynde in the club and she occasionally strips. But she wants to better herself. Not by marrying a rich kid though, especially if its my grandson says Middleton.

I will say this about For Those Who Think Young, it has one of the most eclectic casts ever assembled for a film at that time. Imagine seeing such veteran performers as Anna Lee, Addison Richards, Sammee Tong, Allen Jenkins and Benny Baker and even George Raft in an unbilled part as a police officer raiding Woodbury's club. Put them together with Bob Denver and Tina Louise before Gilligan's Island and the daughters of Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin also playing college coed friends of Tiffin's and you have a cast for the ages.

If you're a fan of the Beach films than you will like For Those Who Think Young. As for me this goes back to when I was young.

And this review is dedicated to Woody Woodbury who while his career never went the way his predecessor on Who Do You Trust, Johnny Carson's did, I still have good memories of him and the show.

Times change. Tastes in movies and comedy change. Doubtless most of the other users who reviewed this movie are too young to remember Woody Woodbury at all, but he was quite popular and successful back in the sixties (albeit briefly). I can well remember listening to his comedy albums (a sort of primitive CD, large flat plastic disks that were played on an ancient device called a "record player") and finding them quite amusing, if nowhere near as funny as Bob Newhart or as cutting edge as Jonathan Winters or Bill Cosby. And certainly he seems much more dated now than any of them but even in this movie I still find his humor --- well, pleasantly amusing is maybe the best way to express it.

As for the movie itself: it was one of many attempts by big studios to cash in on the success of the AIP BEACH PARTY movies and probably better than most. It sure had enough talented and recognizable people in the cast including, to my astonishment, a young and very pretty Ellen Burstyn. Certainly FOR THOSE WHO THINK YOUNG is a harmless and genial enough way to spend a couple of hours if you have nothing better to do. There are worse things in the world.