The Party Crashers

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.

This film is an effective drama with an attractive cast. It is mainly a story about frustrated teens acting out. Their parents are too busy living their own soap opera to give them proper guidance. So, as you see, society hasn't changed.

Tawdry, campy and melodramatic!

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.

I guess the intent of this film is to show that kids are screwed up because their parents are screwed up. But what the film really shows is that its producer, director, and writer are screwed up.

Mark Damon, playing a character named Twig Webster (no relation to Branch Rickey) leads a group of hooligans who like to crash parties. He and his - er, ruffians - arrive at one party and he immediately sets his radar on Connie Stevens. Stevens' boyfriend, Bobby Driscoll, is not amused. It doesn't take long before Damon and his - er, malcontents - trash the place. Connie finds all this strangely exciting; I find it hack. The cops arrive on the scene about ten seconds after being called, probably because there is a Dunkin' Donuts shop around the corner. However, almost everyone gets away so the film can continue.

In short order, we get to meet everyone's parents. Driscoll's parents are played by former screen beauty Frances Farmer and future old guy Denver Pyle. Stevens' parents are played by Onslow Stevens (fortunately for Connie, no relation) and some old bag preparing a speech called "The Natural Grain of Life." For some reason, Onslow acts rather effeminate, so maybe this marriage was arranged. Damon's parents are played by former screen siren Doris Dowling (as the town ho) and character actor Walter Brooke (as the town lush). After spending 5 minutes with any of these pairs, you'd be thankful for being an orphan.

As the film progresses, Damon makes the inevitable move on Stevens, who isn't sure how to react, but does string him along while Driscoll huffs and puffs. In the finale, all the kids decide to crash a party. Damon is horrified to discover that his mother is one of the hors d'oeuvres. The adults running it are real bad-arses, so another rumble ensues. For trivia buffs, one of the adults is played by Michael Ross, who had two roles in "Attack of the 50-Foot Woman" (bartender and very large alien). I won't give away the rest, but somebody goes tumbling down a flight of stairs, and it ain't Ralph Kramden. The fade-out is pretty phony.

The acting is okay, for the most part. Connie is cute as ever and Damon is repulsive as ever. Driscoll is actually pretty good in an uninteresting part, but is overshadowed by his co-stars. Farmer still looks good, but shows almost no emotion when reading her lines. Knowing her history, I guess we should give her a pass on this one. Brooke is a little too over-the-top as a drunken weenie. Dowling has the juiciest role, and also has the creepiest scene in the film, when it appears she is about ready to make out with Damon.

"The Party Crashers" doesn't waste a lot of time on drag races or fights and romance at the soda fountain or even teen rebellion, though these are certainly elements. It's an intergenerational semi-horror tale, that focuses its outrage on that era's older generation and carries this into the realm of the diabolical. The teens in this aren't very nice, but their parents and the rest of the suburban neo-affluent, post-war 30s to 50s crowd are a hell of a lot more scary.

The main young delinquent is played by handsome young Mark Damon, a charismatic young thug who leads fellow bored teens into the title weekend pastime, that of invading teen parties around the city and turning them into orgies of violence and vandalism. At his opening conquest, he captures the romantic interest of a good-girl-itching-to-go-bad, played by gorgeous young Connie Stevens. Connie uses emotional blackmail to drag along her square and decent boyfriend (the legendary ill-fated child star Bobby Driscoll, in his last role before wandering off to an early heroin death in an abandoned NYC tenement) into Mark's whirlwind of crazy kicks.

Along the way we get to know these kids' parents. Connie's a confused spoiled brat, with an indulgent but ineffectual father and a successful writer mother completely obsessed with her own career. Bobby's parents are kindly but socially clueless -- post-lobotomy Francis Farmer, also in her last role, plays his mother and there's a quiet poignancy to the scenes these two lost and tragic actors play together, that is downright heartbreaking. Then there's Mark and his home life, and suddenly we're more than aware of what has turned this kid into the monster he is. His father is a staggering drunk, drowning beneath the contempt of both his damaged son and evil wife (Doris Dowling, in the performance of her career), a hedonistic shrew who is both verbally and physically abusive, and explicitly exhibits incestuous yearnings. (You will truly not BELIEVE that this film was made, and released, in 1958!)

Though the film ends on a rather twee note that reflects the 1950s cautious obsession of playing to the censors, the final third leading up to it is freaky and ahead of its time. Mark, who has used his charms to entrap Connie and Bobby into his seductive delinquent thrill ride, picks the wrong party to crash, with horrific results.

On that (unrevealed) note, the film has a lot more in common with 1966's "The Chase", with its air of drunken angry "lost youth" hysteria, than the actual "angry youth" drive-in flicks of its period, and no wonder it's forgotten. 50s kids, to whom this film was marketed, preferred the focus to be on themselves, no matter how much they were demonized. "The Party Crashers" is a coldly adult movie, with its juvenile delinquency being matter of social cause and effect, rather than angry free choice on the teen's part, and that was likely a little bitter of a pill to swallow.

At any rate, the HIGHEST recommendation for fellow fans of unusual mid-century cinema.