Dance party

A previous commenter made mention of this film being akin to "Dirty Dancing". I think it is closer to "Hairspray", the plot lines are similar (getting on a dance show, how the crowd you are with can affect you) and the soundtracks to both are indeed quite wonderful. Apparently, Ricki Lake is in both pictures, to boot!

While "Hairspray" deserves praise for many things, including, as one critic put it, being so very much entwined in the 1962 Baltimore era it is almost like science fiction, I rather like to root for "In" Crowd, as it has quite a few nice small touches; Del's little brother runs up to him in the middle of the night for fear of monsters and Del lets him crawl into bed with him, Vicky's father's rather inappropriate affection gives us a sad, short insight into her bad home life, the montage of old music shows at the beginning of the film, the silent, paralyzing rage that Parker goes into when he sees Dick Clark (Clark left Philadelphia to go national and Parker never got his national break) to name a few.

It is certainly contrived in spots (some of the dance showcases are pleasant enough, but almost unnecessary), clichéd in some (Vicky's boyfriend is seen near the end of the film during a spooooooky thunderstorm), but it is well...earnest in its intent. The dialog is very good and the performances are at worst, very good, almost to a person. The ending is not a perfectly happy one, nor is it a dour one. It fits well with the movie. Rent it or see it. While not a classic, it is certainly better than it should be.

The earlier review saying this is one of the worst movies ever made is obviously from someone who hasn't seen a lot of bad movies. All I can guess is that it brought back too many bad memories of the reviewer's teen-age years, teen-age angst being one of the things with which this movie deals. All in all, I found it quite enjoyable, especially because it made such good use of the music from the time, including Vince Guaraldi's big hit "Cast Your Fate to the Wind" (and when that song plays in the background, it is really telling you something about what is going to happen). The story line is not much, dealing with teen-age romance and growing pains, and with the difficulties of trying to fit into the currently popular styles, whatever they may be, but it's not terrible either. Joey Pants' speech in the classroom is a classic, and a lot of the other scenes in the movie transcend the story. I certainly wouldn't call it a great movie, but if you enjoyed "Ferris Bueller's Day Off", or "Some Kind of Wonderful", then you'll have a good time watching this one too.

If you lived through the Jerry Blavat Era in Philadelphia [c.1964-1969], this movie is a mirror of life. The locale's, mostly Cheltenham, Philadelphia and Wildwood touch a nerve of conciousness to all who lived through that turbulent time period.

It is too bad that there is no sound track album, because it is exemplary. I can still feel the music pounding through my brain when I watch this film, as I did when I danced to it in real life.

I highly recommend the film for a reminder of simpler times-and the closing "Like a Rolling Stone" is just the capstone on the end of an era.

The first time I watched this movie, I knew from the beginning's great vintage clips of local dance programs that this movie was going to convey the fun feel of the early 60's. The "In Crowd" must have been written by people who really grew up in early 60's Philadelphia. Instead of a generic Hollywood "retro" feel, I saw a more distinctive, local atmosphere to this film. Joe Pantoliano's "Perry Parker" character is a dead-on reference to Philly's own Jerry Blavat (a local radio legend) from his looks right down to his jive patter. The old Philly Dances (Mickey's Monkey, the Soul Street) are performed fantastically by the dancers to overlooked soul/dance classics that would be considered obscure anywhere else. Even the local "clash of classes" is well-represented in the characters' respective areas; Del and Gail from Cheltenham's conservative, upper-middle-class area, and the gritty, streetwise but lovable characters from the urban Philly areas (the tv station scenes were shot in and around Upper Darby's Tower Theatre). One of my favorite scenes is when Del is upstairs in his typical 60's teenage boy's room, attempting to pick up Philly's "WIBG Radio 99" on his little transistor radio. You can even hear classic dj Hy Lit's famous "Hyski O'Roonie McVoughty O'Zoot" jingle amidst the static. And what Philadelphia native doesn't remember the old Wildwood radio record hops "down the shore" in the 60's? And lots of kids snuck out of school early then, to try to get on the local dance programs. Ok, so this film may not have been Oscar material, but it truly makes me feel good every time I see it; it brings back so many good feelings from that era, and showcases great 60's Philly music.

The time:1965. The place:Phiuladelphia. The movie:The In Crowd. A fun and enjoyable timepiece about the time when Americans enjoyed and loved seeing and participating in dance shows in their various local cities. You see this when the movie ,cleverly, shows the beginnings of several dance TV shows from across the country and the hosts of these TV shows (Sam Riddle in Los Angeles, Wink Markindale in Memphis among others).

The movie centers on three stories. One having the movie's star, Donovan Leitch playing a character called Del. A bright young man with a bright future ahead of him but he wants to be a dancer on the local TV dance program, "Perry Parker's Dance Party". Del doesn't know it but he has nothing in common with the dancers on Perry Parker's show , except that he is a fine dancer himself which gets him a chance to be on the show.

The second part of the movie deals with Perry Parker himself, played by that great actor Joe Pantoliano. Parker .like most people in Philadelphia, feel betrayed that Dick Clark took American Bandstand away from Philaelphia and moved it to Los Angeles.He tries to tell his dancers that if Dick Clark fails the network may want to look for a replacement, like his own show for instance. Parker is like a lot of TV hosts of local shows of that era, hoping to be the next Ed Sullivan, the next Steve Allen, the next Dick Clark, the next Johnnny Carson. Hoping the networks will take him in a make him a big star on network television.

The third part deals with Del and his short love affair with Vicky (Jennifer Runyon). Vicky is pretty but is too lowbrow even for Del. This is one movie where the pretty girl fails to meet the expectations of the supposed geek in the film rather than the other way around. In the end Del tries to help Vicky leave Philadelphia and join her Fonzie like boyfriend Dugan (Scott Plank) as they head for Hollywood.

The In Crowd has great music using some good soul music in the film that is true to the era and not just the same old music you might have heard over and over again in other films about the early 1960's. The choreography is great and inspired and it makes for a good musical and that is what The In Crowd pretty much is. A musical. The living room dance duel between Del and Dugan is proof of that.

The movie told a true tale of how things were changing in America without getting highhanded and clumsy in how they did it. Perry Parker is a prime example of this. An associate producer tells him the show is getting low ratings and that the type of music he has on his show won't work. He should try Mitch Miller instead says the producer. The station manager(Blake Soper) has no use for Parker or his dance show and wants something else. When he brings along a British Invasion like group ,longhair and all to the TV studio and wants Paker to put them on the show, Parker says no saying that,thanks to the long hair, he can't tell if they are boys or girls. He was right, the group was all wrong for his dance show but Perry Parker's days on TV are numbered anyway.

Pantoliano is his usual great self here. As with all of his roles he makes Perry Parker his own. The film is a nice timepiece just before everything came apart in the US.The music, the dance numbers, and some decent acting make this a decent movie if you really wanted to know what America was like back in 1965.

It is the type of tale that Dick Clark tried to tell himself through the American Dreams TV series but failed miserably because the show was all over the map. It wasn't overwrought and overrated like the NBC mini series about the sixties called The 60's. The In Crowd is a good film that wasn't all that appreciated when in came out in theaters in 1988. Hopefully people shall take a better liking to it when they see it again in the future.