For Those Who Think Young

Having reviewed a number of beach movies, I can say that I have not seen one yet that has high reviews. So going into this movie, I was not expecting too much form the offering. Yes, the movie is corny and had a beatnik feel but you have to remember that was most American kids in the early 1960's. It is something that a person born after 1970 cannot relate in life.

For a beach movie the film had an almost regular plot where a parent or guardian is not wanting their child involved in a relationship. But I found that this script was more interesting than others. We have a rich grandfather not wanting his child hanging around 'bad-blood'. So he sets off to discredit people with some far-reaching, but humorous, activity.( I mean the slot machines in the place should have been a small hint.) Everything is going fine until the very end when the entire cast breaks out in a 'surf's-up' type musical that also includes some zesty arm movements. Something that may be all right for young people but this far-out scene including the aged actors which proved more embarrassing than entertaining. Plus I was never sure why the old man just made a 180* turnabout about his kid's partner.

For me, the bright spot of the movie was Woody Woodbury, Sure his jokes were even old for that time period and most were so corny that Hee-Haw could have used - but for some reason the exchange with the audience made me laugh. Was not expecting that type of humor from the show but it worked.

This is far from a classic but it did exactly what it was intended. People having a good time is suppose to reflect to the viewing audience. For the most part the viewer feels good about the people involved in the program. How groovy is that!

Although they share no on-screen time, Bob Denver and Tina Louise (reported rivals on TV's "Gilligan's Island") make their one and only film together, with Denver playing a beatnik and Louise stealing the show as a tone-deaf dancer. Acting accolades are really quite scarce here as the movie--a comedy about college kids awakening to civic rights while partying on the beach--is fairly dim-witted and slow on laughs. As one of the adults on hand, Ellen Burstyn (née McRae) does a drunk act with the best of them, but romantic leads James Darren and Pamela Tiffin are easily forgotten. Brunette Nancy Sinatra (pre-"Boots") is cute as Denver's girlfriend, and it is fun to catch all these stars together in one place. Few of them ever crossed paths again. ** from ****

I read a few of the other comments. So critical! I loved the movie. Just to see Tina, Bob, James, Nancy and Paul in their prime. The movie was meant for fun...not a literary study for correctness. True the jokes were corny...but hey...anything that attempts to make us laugh and be clean at the same time is so rare today. The movies today have more violence more cursing more junk...I tell ya i sure miss the days of jerry lewis and dean and Abbott and Costello...Ernest P Worrell...Movies like these are treasures. I remember sitting with my mom as a kid and watching James Darren. It wasn't the movie, it was the man...and the cast...Or where are the Red Skeltons of today? Remember the times when entertainers ended with and "May God Bless" and meant it. Roy Rogers ended his TV show with "May the Good Lord Take a Likin to ya" I see movies to day that are really funny and have so much profanity in them, when the movie would had been funny without them. I sure miss movies like "For those who think Young". I miss the musicals. James Darren singing...Elvis singing, Dean Martin singing, Ricky Nelson singing, Frank, Bing, and beach movies with Gary Lewis, Jan and Dean...Frankie and Annette...and the movies left a song you could hum, sing a long and feel good about yourself...the romance...made you think of good things and good hopes for the future. I am in my 40's and hardly ever go to movies anymore. Maybe one a year. Sure there are the DVD's but there are not the entertainers that just make you want to go see them, as it used to be...Where are the John Waynes? Where are the movies that made feel good about being an American? So in conclusion...this movie may not be a critics love-lore but it sure is better than most of the crap on screen today.

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.

Can't find better escapism! James Darren & Pamela Tiffin as the hotties, Tina Louise breathily trying to sing while sticking out her breasts, Nancy Sinatra with her natural hair color (the not-yet-blonde days), grumpy parents who don't understand "kids these days" & Paul Lynde as the "bachelor uncle" (yeah, right?) all combine for a wild, mindless romp. And who can unsee that weird number with Bob Denver, buried in sand except his makeup mouth & chin, singing "Ho Daddy"? Great with a bottle of wine and/or some 420.