Em Busca do Prazer

Granted ---this movie is sooo 60's! But, I thought it was a fun film. Granted, there was a mad attempt to recapture the 50's here (DID NOT WORK)---but it was easy on the eyes and entertaining----PLUS Ann-Margret was indeed Ravishing! ---especially in that PINK ruffled dress singing the title tune! Worked For Me!!!

I so enjoy teasing a friend of mine about his long-time and, let's face it, abject adoration of the Swedish bombshell, Ms. A-M. This one was shown on American Movie Classics recently, "formatted" (Why do they bother?!?), which reduces one's visual pleasure by approximately 50%! But even without a forty-foot wide screen to celebrate her astonishingly talented assets, Annie is something to behold. When she waggles that tush...well, it's no wonder she performs almost all of her musical numbers indoors on studio sets. The censorious Spanish would have had her arrested! It rivals "Viva! Las Vegas" as her finest hour!

As an artifact of times long gone, this is still fairly enjoyable. Today's young ingenues seem like such tired-out, world weary ladies of the evening compared to the virginal Miss Tiffin, the ambitious Miss Lynley and the incomparable Miss Margret. (Eat your heart out, J. Lo!) And with Brian Keith and Gene Tierney on hand to attest that those beyond their thirties could still care for each other (though it takes the scriptwriters until about the final sequence to maneuver them to that realization), one can regretfully observe that we've come a long way from the bright and beautiful early Sixties, and there's not much to crow about on that score.

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.

I saw this movie in a theater in the 1960s when it was released. I soon bought the soundtrack. The music is upbeat and fun, and Ann-Margret's purring voice in several of the songs were worth the $3.50 or whatever soundtracks cost back then. I wish I still had the vinyl LP, but I left it behind years ago for lack of space, and I have often wished I hadn't. The cover shot of Ann-Margret dancing in a hot pink ruffled dress, if I remember correctly, should have been sufficient cause for me to hold onto it.

Ann-Margret dominates any film she's in, but Carol Lynley and Pamela Tiffin were also lusciously beautiful. I had forgotten Gene Tierney was in the cast, but now I remember her bitchy vignette (type casting, from what I read about her).

I wish 20th Century Fox would release this film on DVD. I'd love to see it again.

Frivolous, silly, unrealistic, take your pick, any of those adjectives could fit The Pleasure Seekers (20th Century Fox, 1964). However, if you like escapist fare, if you like films that offer nothing more than pure entertainment, and if you like films that feature incredibly beautiful actresses, then this film is definitely for you, and for me.

I've probably seen The Pleasure Seeker at least ten times; it's truly one of my cinematic guilty pleasures. However, this is the kind of film that made me love movies. Its Hollywood at it's superficial best. It's mesmerizing Ann-Margret breaking out in song and dance accompanied by that invisible orchestra. It's beautiful cinematography, capturing magnificent Spanish landscapes and romantic old towns. It's gorgeous people having sex, without taking off their clothes.

What it's not is a great movie; don't get me wrong it's not a bad movie, far from it. It's just pretty predictable, and slightly unbelievable, yes, a little sexist, but it's fun to watch and well, it has Ann-Margret breaking out in song and dance in bikinis and tight dresses. But I digress. So what is the movie about? It's about the romantic adventures of three delectable girls who share an apartment one summer in Madrid, Spain. Ann-Margret plays a struggling nightclub singer and dancer, who's been unlucky in love. Her roommate, super sexy Carol Lynley is the efficient and smart secretary her boss can't do without, literally, They are joined by the scrumptious Pamela Tiffin, who plays Lynley's naive but adorable friend visiting from America, and on the prowl for a husband.

The film progresses through each girl's roller coaster relationship with their prospective love interest. Ann-Margret falls head-over-heels for a Spanish doctor (handsome Andre Lawrence) whose dedication to providing medical care for the people of his village threatens their relationship. Tiffin's adorable dingbat character falls for a smooth talking gigolo (Tony Franciosa, Hollywood's favorite 1960s cad) who of course, manages to break her heart, and finally, Lynley has the most-complicated situation of the three, as she finds herself in a love triangle between her boss (older gray fox Brian Keith) and a slacker journalist (Gardner McKay). If she chooses Keith, she could find herself as his permanent mistress, but if she chooses McKay, does she really love him, or is she merely settling?

Thanks to cinematographer Daniel L. Fapp (West Side Story, Let's Make Love, Our Man Flint among many others) The Pleasure Seekers is a vivid feast, and the three gorgeous actresses are the main course. There is one particularly awesome shot, where the girl's entire apartment can be seen, as they frolic about in various stages of undress going from one bedroom to another (sort of reminiscent of Jerry Lewis' revolutionary open apartment shots in 1961's The Ladies Man).

Veteran director Jean Negulesco (How to Marry A Millionaire, Johnny Belinda, three Coins in The Fountain, of which this film is a remake) takes the simple plot and creates an enjoyable quickly paced film that takes advantage of the witty dialog, and his stars, (male stars included), good locks and sex appeal. One-time screen heartthrob Gene Tierney has a cameo role as Brian Keith's neglected wife. Still a beauty, this would be Ms. Tierney final film as she was suffering through the early stages of Alzheimer's disease.

I'm so glad vintage film channels such as Turner Classic and Fox Movie Channel have resurrected this film Its a slice of American film history, and an example of how movies don't always have to teach a lesson, or expose the dark side of life. Sometimes we just want to escape into our fantasies, our dreams of romance, and that's where The Pleasure Seekers succeeds. Oh, and did I mention that Ann-Margret dances and sings in a bikini?