En busca del placer

Witless remake of "Three Coins in the Fountain" with songs looks like a glossy, Saran Wrapped time-capsule in Easter egg colors; for connoisseurs of vintage cars and pre-groovy fashions and hairstyles, it's a must, although no audience is likely to be enthralled with this inane plot. Three American honeys (one a very naïve virgin) are on the lookout for men in Madrid, available or not. With its uneven mix of on-location footage and interiors likely shot on the Fox lot, the movie isn't very useful as a travelogue, though the ladies are certainly lovely to look at. Titian-haired Ann-Margret gets to sing on the beach in a bikini; baby-voiced Pamela Tiffin falls for girl-chaser Anthony Franciosa; while faux-jaded Carol Lynley has eyes for her much-married boss, Brian Keith (leading to the only strong scene in the movie, a showdown in the ladies room between Lynley and neglected wife Gene Tierney). Edith Sommer's screenplay, via John H. Secondari's novel "Coins in the Fountain", is weighed down with soap opera-ish confrontations laden with some real howlers (Tierney: "How dare you feel sorry for me, you little tramp!"). The clothes and cars and hairstyles are a '60s dream, but I didn't believe the match-ups at the finale--only the fact that Ann-Margret's singing and dancing at a party would definitely silence the crowd. ** from ****

I liked this one, too. Beautiful locations and great stars! I was a kid when this came out, but it was neat to see a movie about young women who weren't all in a "Bachelor in Paradise" situation. You know, just old men with young girls! (Although, I guess Maggie had to figure her way out of a similar situation! Didn't we all?)

Oh well, Madrid was beautiful! I loved Ann-Magret singing "The Pleasure Seekers" and the end song when she sings "your standing there and your grinning, like you don't know you not winning and all the time we're beginning the next time" (It just came to me- its called "The Next Time!)

I did wish that Pamela Tiffin's character's wasn't so dumb- but then, all of her characters in films were dumb.

When servicemen of the sixties were polled over who was their favorite female star, Ann-Margret was it. To them, she must have been a tantalizing tease with big, red hair, and when she shook her head, it looked like it was on fire. She must have kept them pretty happy with those moves of hers. The camera always seemed fixated on her gyrating behind. She was irrepressible; even if you knew better, you couldn't take your eyes off her. (Elvis Presley at one point fretted that she might steal "Viva Las Vegas" right out from under him.)

In "The Pleasure Seekers" she plays Fran Hobson, a sometimes-working singer/dancer holed up in Madrid who, between gigs, passed the time dreaming of landing Mr. Right. He comes in the form of a young Spaniard doctor (Andre Lawrence) whose own dream is to render medical service to the poor, a dream which doesn't include a wife. He changes his mind, of course. What man in a uniform wouldn't?

Hers is not the most interesting romantic entanglement. That one belongs to nifty Carol Lynley as Maggie Williams who harbors impure designs on her boss (Brian Keith) only to be publicly humiliated for them by his wife (a not-so-well-aged Gene Tierney). Lynley ends up with Gardner McKay (whom I would confuse with Richard Beymer if I wasn't paying attention).

"The Pleasure Seekers" belongs to a long tradition of movies with three single women in the leads seeking husbands as far back as I can remember as the 1932 release "Three On A Match" with Joan Blondell, Ann Dvorak, and Bette Davis. With this one, director Jean Negulesco is actually remaking his 1954 "Three Coins In A Fountain" which won the Academy Award for best song. The musical efforts in this movie by Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen are respectable enough. How could you not like Ann-Margret serenading the object of her desire with "Something to think about" or her bouncing her way through "Everything Makes Music When You're In Love" in a tight bikini?

With my favorite Italian actor in the whole wide world Vito Scotti as the girls' next-door neighbor; Anthony Franciosa; and ditzy Pamela Tiffin to round out the sublet. By the looks of the leads, you'd think they were cast for their hair color. Negulesco might have called this one "The Blonde, the Brunette, and Big Red."

Although some consider this a remake of Three Coins In The Fountain and Jean Negulescu directed both films, The Pleasure Seekers takes a decidedly less serious tack. The three women in The Pleasure Seekers are quite a bit younger than the trio in the first film and their romantic problems are similar, but not as critical.

The three girls are Carol Lynley who works for an American wire service in Madrid, entertainer Ann-Margret, and Pamela Tiffin who is fresh off the boat and fresh off the farm so to speak who is bunking in with them temporarily. And all three have their romantic flings that look like they're going to go belly up, but in the end seem to work out.

Lynley's is the most complex and the most interesting. She's the girl Friday of her boss Brian Keith who would like to make the association personal as well as professional. But he's slightly married to Gene Tierney. And on the other end is Gardner McKay another reporter who's interested in Lynley also, but Keith is harassing him, not because of that but because McKay is ruining his career with his late night carousing. It's what inevitably happens when personal and professional lives get mixed.

Tiffin who usually was the wide eyed innocent in her salad days gets zeroed in on by Anthony Franciosa who plays a no account count who just wants into her pants. But she falls in love and if you don't know how this works out, you haven't been to too many films. Franciosa who is a favorite of mine is the best in the film.

Ann-Margret accidentally gets run into by Dr. Andre Lawrence on his motor scooter. He's from the country who is in town to raise money for his clinic. Ann-Margret would like to help, but Lawrence is a macho guy and help from a woman in the culture he was raised would be looked down on. Stupid, but that's how they say it is. This is the weakest part of the film, though Ann-Margret gets some nice musical numbers.

If you watched Three Coins In The Fountain you know how this one comes out. The Pleasure Seekers has no air of sadness over it that the other film has with Clifton Webb's terminal illness. The location cinematography around Madrid is nice to see and certainly stimulated tourism which I'm sure was Francisco Franco's idea in letting the American film company shoot a movie in his capital. There is not one scintilla of a hint of any dictatorship in The Pleasure Seekers.

Jimmy Van Heusen and Sammy Cahn wrote some not too memorable songs for this film and it actually got an Oscar nomination for musical scoring for Alfred Newman.

I was in Madrid in 2001 and it looks pretty much the same as it did in 1964. The scenery and the girls are real pretty, how can you go wrong.

This film was mentioned in a book I have about bad movies. No, these are not incompetent films or films with horrible production values, but ones that are sleazy and over-the-top--sort of like guilty pleasures--and that is definitely true of "The Pleasure Seekers".

What the producers of the film did was take the 1950s film "Three Coins in a Fountain" and inserted a lot of sexual innuendo--at least, as much as they could get away with in 1964. While I liked the original film, "The Pleasure Seekers" was far inferior because it lacked heart and subtlety--replacing it was bedroom scenes and talk about premarital sex.

The film is about three young American ladies who live in Madrid and are trying to have healthy relationships while strenuously avoiding premarital sex...at least sometimes. Carol Lynley plays a career girl who has her sights set on a married man (Brian Keith) as well as a single guy. Pamela Tiffin plays a stereotypical beautiful but dumb lady. She falls for an over-sexed rich playboy (Tony Franciosa) who promises marriage but really wants another notch on the bedpost. Ann-Margret plays a woman who is infatuated with a doctor who obviously has a secret, as he plays hard to get!! After all, this IS Ann-Margret and he either must be gay or married to resist her many charms.

Towards the end of the film, it appears that the three have struck out in love and two of them are preparing to go back to America. However, because this is a Hollywood-style film, you know that at least some of these relationships will work out for the best. Tune in for yourself to see where these high-minded ladies land in this trashy soap.

Overall, the film sure looks nice. It was filmed in and around Madrid and is pretty just like the original film (which was filmed in and around Rome). The music is also very nice and evocative. As for the acting and writing, it all seemed rather fake--like the people were playing caricatures instead of real people. Not a whole lotta depth with these folks--just a lot of raging hormones and inconsistent behavior. It is truly a guilty pleasure--the sort of titillating fare that they no longer make but was popularized in the late 1950s to mid-1960s--just as the Production Code was on the way out.

Deep and insightful? No way,...but still worth a peek. For a similar experience, try watching THE BEST OF EVERYTHING (1959) and PEYTON PLACE (1957)--two films that manage to tell similar stories but in a bit better way.