Winter A-Go-Go

This is one of those rare films that's so bad, it's almost good! A "beach party" flick that gets moved to the ski slopes, it's full of cliches of that genre: cool guys trying to score with scantily-clad ladies; scantily-clad ladies who seem to be around only to satisfy the needs of the cool guys; bad guys trying to muscle in on the action, only to get roughed-up by the cool guys; bad dancing to bad rock-and-roll (although a couple of the songs were written by Tommy Boyce and Bob Hart who had a hit in the '60's with "I Wonder What She's Doing Tonight"). Actually, it all adds up to some campy fun!

I saw this film on the "Late Late Show" 20+ years ago and it stuck with me all these years. I could never remember the name of it and just knew it as "the movie where two guys ran a ski lodge with a bar that served only Cokes." Then one Saturday night about a year ago, this movie was shown on American Movie Classics' "American Pop". I was so surprised and excited that I recorded it when it was shown again about 3 AM!

Sure, this movie is hokey, cheesy, pretentious and even downright bad. It's also entertaining and a lot of fun- give it a try!

This film begins with a young man named "Jeff Forrester" (William Wellman Jr.) discovering that he has inherited a ski lodge in Lake Tahoe, which has certainly seen better days. Despite lacking substantial funds, he and his good friend, "Danny Frazer" (James Stacy), decide to renovate it in time for winter, hoping to earn enough money to pay off the significant debt they owe to a person named "Jordan" (Walter Maslow). With the help of some other friends--many of them female--they drive to the ski lodge and begin working on it. What they don't realize, however, is that Jordan would prefer to keep the ski lodge for himself, and as a result, he has hired two thugs to make things as difficult as possible for both Jeff and Danny to generate enough profit to pay off the debt. Instead of revealing more details, I will just say that this film was made during a time when "Beach Party movies" were quite popular. As a result of this trend, the location sometimes shifted from the beach to winter ski lodges to capitalize on that popularity, with the general plot, which typically incorporates humor and romance involving attractive young women, remaining largely unchanged. With that said, this film follows the usual pattern but lacks the necessary humor and overall passion to truly make an impression. Sure, several attractive actresses were cast, with Beverly Adams as "Jo Ann Wallace, " Jill Donohue as "Janine, " Linda Rogers as "Penny," and Judi Parker as "Dori" standing out the most, in my opinion. However, their presence wasn't enough to elevate this film, and I have rated it accordingly.

This movie could be classified as a subgenre of the "beach party" flicks of the mid-1960's, the "ski party" movie. Looking to put out some seasonal fodder for the teen audience, I suppose, several of the Hollywood studios transposed the location of their pix from the beach to the ski slopes and the cast traded in bikinis and swimming trunks for ski pants and sweaters. The result was basically the same, though--a type of film only a dedicated fan could love. Frankie, Annette and that crew aren't around in this one, except in spirit, maybe. Instead, James Stacy and William Wellman, Jr. lead a spunky bunch of guys and gals in renovating and operating a run-down ski lodge. It's the usual story--the boys get in a punch-out or two and try to play the field with the girls, and the girls do their best to get their hooks into the boy of their dreams.

If you're watching for musical performers (almost never a winning proposition in these type of flicks), 'Winter a Go Go' is especially thin in that department. Appearing here are the Nooney Rickett Four with guest vocalist Joni Lyman and also a pompadoured vocal group, the Reflections. My research has yet to uncover anything remotely like a hit record in any of these artists' past except for a single top 10 hit for the Reflections. This movie is for fans only, or nostalgia buffs, or young people who like to laugh at their parents' old music and fashions. The girls are pretty cute, though.

Columbia Pictures dipping deep into their teen bag, coming up with little more than a running advertisement for Coke and James Stacy in a series of ski fashions for men. Ultra clean-cut tale concerns a young man hiring entertainment (ski bunnies) and a work crew (a cook and a soda-jerk) to work at a mountain lodge which he recently inherited; his buddy promotes the place by putting a detour sign in the road and redirecting traffic their way. No script, no talent, no witty repartee--these dull 'kids' are a lazy lot. There's a pretty good fight scene in the chalet, a groovy wedding tag, and some mind-boggling musical numbers (psychedelic-sweater wearing foursome the Reflections croon a ridiculous ditty about sugary sweets while the bunnies pass out huge lollipops to the guests!). The dramatic tension in the plot is served by having two of the guests on secret assignment to ruin the place; the comedy comes after embarrassed-to-be-up-here Stacy worms his way into a gig as a ski-instructor and attempts to get into a young lady's bedroom at night (he trips the alarm and feigns sleepwalking!). This is another case of a major studio trying to ape the low-brow teens-on-their-own genre begun a few years before with A.I.P.'s "Beach Party". It isn't too awful, but nobody here shows any pizazz, nor any individual style; most of the girls try too hard for cute perkiness while the guys play aw-shucks with the women and big brother with each other. On the other hand, those Suzuki motorbikes are coolness defined. *1/2 from ****

Welcome to Snow Mountain Lodge, where the strongest drink at the bar is Coca Cola, cleanup tasks are best accompanied by rock 'n roll (apologies to Snow White!), and a kiss presumably must be followed by a marriage proposal. The attractive cast romps through the inane goings-on with surprising conviction. Not exactly a contender for the 1965 Academy Awards, but more entertaining in its innocent way than most of the nominees that year.