The Party Crashers

Nicely produced, smoothly directed production from Paramount Studios, and a cut above the usual teen movies of the day (1958). Twig's (Damon) a hell-raising pack leader, getting kicks from crashing parties with his buddies. Good girl Babs (Stevens) is attracted to him despite her strait-laced rather meek boyfriend, Josh (Driscoll). Whether she will stay with the conventional Josh or risk a less conventional tie-up with the fun-loving Twig carries much of the plot. At the same time, there are subplots involving the parents of the three youngsters, where we supposedly get insight into the kids' respective behaviors. Naturally, by 50's standards, Twig has the most dysfunctional home life, while good boy Josh has the most stable, with Babs' parents somewhere in between.

It's an interesting cast, as other reviewers helpfully point out, but shouldn't overlook the exotic Doris Dowling (Twig's slutty mother). She of the wicked eyes had a promising career in noirs before moving to Italy (1947) to appear in several neo-realist classics before moving back. For sure, once you see her, you don't forget. Here she's perfectly cast with a decidedly unconventional look. Also, be sure to catch director Girard's imaginative camera work that spins with the wild dancing of the first party crashing. Such unconventional technique was unusual for the time, and rivets us to the mounting frenzy that we know has to end badly.

All in all, the movie's well-done, but very much a product of its time. Then too, if possible, catch this film along with its Damon-Stevens companion Young and Dangerous (1957). Between them, you get a good glimpse of 50's social norms, before the eruption of the 60's counter-culture.

This was a movie that I had seen as a youngster, when I was around the age of twelve. The story was about a bunch of older teenagers (a lot older than me at the time) that got their kicks by "crashing" parties, in other words, upsetting others' enjoyment for their own personal satisfaction. Not to divulge, but I will say they finally crashed a party run by people old enough to be their parents, or by folks that knew how to really have a good time (for themselves). All of a sudden, the "crashers" seemed to behave like little elflings... It's a true reflection on behavior. Nothing has changed... this movie still makes a lot of social sense. Try to find it.

Former Paramount contract player Frances Farmer returned to her former home lot in 1958 to make her last feature film. Despite the comment below, Farmer was *not* lobotomized (see copious documentation throughout IMDb on the Farmer page and elsewhere), and gives the film a bit of stature it wouldn't otherwise have. Interestingly, the ending was changed somewhere along the way. The original pressbook has a plot precis which reveals a more "final" ending for Twig than the film ultimately posits. Driscoll does some great work here in a thankless role, and Connie Stevens gets to scream a lot. Evidently some of the uncredited music is by Henry Mancini, but I've never been able to positively confirm that.

Twig Webster (Mark Damon) and his gang of hoods show up at a nice party and soon end up trashing the place. They are uncouth jerks...and now Barbara Nickerson (Connie Stevens) is practically panting with obvious desire at this bad-boy, Twig. Through the course of the rest of the film, she keeps playing Twig and her boyfriend, Josh (Bobby Discol) against each other and you KNOW that sooner or later all this has to end in some sort of tragedy.

The film not only focuses on these three young people but their parents in order to give you an idea of their home lives and how this molded them into who they are. The most interesting is Twig's, where his dad is a drunk who is slapped around by his wife and she runs around on him constantly.

So is all this any good? Well, if you are looking for a sensationalistic exploitation film, this really isn't it. In other words, it's not cheap exploitation crap like so many 'youth run wild' films of the era. This one is trying to say a bit more and isn't as seedy...and the acting and production values are a bit better as well. Now I am not saying this is some must-see film...it's not. But it is reasonably entertaining and reasonably well made.

By the way, there are a couple interesting things about the film. Bobby Driscol was a very prolific and talented child actor...and this is his final film. Drinking, drugs and death all came at age 31! Also, his father in the film is played by Denver Pyle and it's interesting to hear him speaking without that strong southern drawl you usually associate with him.

I'm not sure what Frances Farmer was thinking if she thought her old studio Paramount was giving her a comeback vehicle with The Party Crashers. This film is one trashy youth exploitative flick from the late 50s. Not only was this not a comeback vehicle, but it was a last screen effort for two very tragic figures Farmer and former Disney child star Bobby Driscoll.

Denver Pyle and Farmer are Driscoll's parents and he's dating town tramp Connie Stevens when one night the brooding James Dean wannabe Mark Damon takes her from him. This starts a chain of events that leads to one death and one kid explaining things to the cops. It seems as though these are a bunch of rich bored kids who keep looking for parties every night. Nice to have money to indulge yourself like that.

The only one who has a meaty role of any kind is Doris Dowling who is Damon's mother with Onslow Stevens as his father. She's the adult version of Connie Stevens and her character has some bite to it. Dowling knows this is a turkey so she struts her stuff and gobbles.

Only Connie Stevens moved from The Party Crashers, she got a nice career with Warner Brothers very shortly.

Frances Farmer should have left with Son Of Fury being her last film.