For Those Who Think Young

Times change. Tastes in movies and comedy change. Doubtless most of the other users who reviewed this movie are too young to remember Woody Woodbury at all, but he was quite popular and successful back in the sixties (albeit briefly). I can well remember listening to his comedy albums (a sort of primitive CD, large flat plastic disks that were played on an ancient device called a "record player") and finding them quite amusing, if nowhere near as funny as Bob Newhart or as cutting edge as Jonathan Winters or Bill Cosby. And certainly he seems much more dated now than any of them but even in this movie I still find his humor --- well, pleasantly amusing is maybe the best way to express it.

As for the movie itself: it was one of many attempts by big studios to cash in on the success of the AIP BEACH PARTY movies and probably better than most. It sure had enough talented and recognizable people in the cast including, to my astonishment, a young and very pretty Ellen Burstyn. Certainly FOR THOSE WHO THINK YOUNG is a harmless and genial enough way to spend a couple of hours if you have nothing better to do. There are worse things in the world.

Having reviewed a number of beach movies, I can say that I have not seen one yet that has high reviews. So going into this movie, I was not expecting too much form the offering. Yes, the movie is corny and had a beatnik feel but you have to remember that was most American kids in the early 1960's. It is something that a person born after 1970 cannot relate in life.

For a beach movie the film had an almost regular plot where a parent or guardian is not wanting their child involved in a relationship. But I found that this script was more interesting than others. We have a rich grandfather not wanting his child hanging around 'bad-blood'. So he sets off to discredit people with some far-reaching, but humorous, activity.( I mean the slot machines in the place should have been a small hint.) Everything is going fine until the very end when the entire cast breaks out in a 'surf's-up' type musical that also includes some zesty arm movements. Something that may be all right for young people but this far-out scene including the aged actors which proved more embarrassing than entertaining. Plus I was never sure why the old man just made a 180* turnabout about his kid's partner.

For me, the bright spot of the movie was Woody Woodbury, Sure his jokes were even old for that time period and most were so corny that Hee-Haw could have used - but for some reason the exchange with the audience made me laugh. Was not expecting that type of humor from the show but it worked.

This is far from a classic but it did exactly what it was intended. People having a good time is suppose to reflect to the viewing audience. For the most part the viewer feels good about the people involved in the program. How groovy is that!

Although they share no on-screen time, Bob Denver and Tina Louise (reported rivals on TV's "Gilligan's Island") make their one and only film together, with Denver playing a beatnik and Louise stealing the show as a tone-deaf dancer. Acting accolades are really quite scarce here as the movie--a comedy about college kids awakening to civic rights while partying on the beach--is fairly dim-witted and slow on laughs. As one of the adults on hand, Ellen Burstyn (née McRae) does a drunk act with the best of them, but romantic leads James Darren and Pamela Tiffin are easily forgotten. Brunette Nancy Sinatra (pre-"Boots") is cute as Denver's girlfriend, and it is fun to catch all these stars together in one place. Few of them ever crossed paths again. ** from ****

I saw this movie during a dusk until dawn show at a Drive-In theater many years ago. These shows would keep you up all night watching all kinds of stuff. I can't remember the entire show that night but to me this was one of the ultimate drive-in movies. It is a beach movie without Frankie & Annette.

When you weren't old enough to be in the back seat of the car with someone, there were enough women on the screen to keep your attention. The comedy in this is sophomore stuff, and to me the most interesting thing is the casting. Woody Woodbury had a comedy LP album at the time this was released. Bet that is a collectors item now as it set a martini mood & really dovetails with this movie as his routines here are watered down versions of that album.

What is most surprising about the women in this film is how many would become famous but yet none of them really ever did a block buster film. Never realized until I looked at this cast that Tina Louise is older than Nancy Sinatra. This was before both of them would achieve their greatest fame, Nancy with music, & Tina with Bob Denver as this is an earlier place to find them in the same film. Tina is a stripper in this movie, & Denver is James Darren's assistant & a bit of a playboy. Bob Denver leads the Ho Daddy Chorus but this song is not about calling women by that name. I would call most of them attractive.

Paul Lynde is pretty much his usual self here. There were worse fillers for these dusk till dawn drive-in films of the earlier 1960's fillers.

Unfortunately, I can't think of many good things to say about the film.

FOR THOSE WHO THINK YOUNG functions basically as a long, long commercial for Pepsi-Cola. Even the title of the film is the direct quote of a catch phrase used in Pepsi radio and TV commercials of the early 1960s. There are blatant product placements throughout the film, notably a huge Pepsi dispensing machine placed directly in the center of several shots of a night club bar.

The story line is a rip-off of the BEACH PARTY genre, with James Darren doing his best Frankie Avalon imitation, even down to look alike hair style and obviously phony suntan. Poor Pamela Tiffin looks terribly uncomfortable trying to fill the shoes (and swimsuit) of Annette Funicello. To bridge the gap between shots of Pepsi logos, there are the typical "crazed youth" beach activities (tribal-style ritual dances, a bunch of actors grabbing surfboards at the call "Surf's Up!", then paddling out into a perfectly flat ocean, followed by stock footage of real surfers riding huge waves).

There are also several long sequences of comedian Woody Woodbury doing his night club act. The humor in these segments is extremely dated, and falls flat, only serving to bring the story to a grinding halt while on screen. Tina Louise adds some visual spice as an exotic dancer, but Paul Lynde is wasted in the role of a wisecracking musician. Bob Denver plays his typical off-center Gilligan/Maynard G. Krebs character (seemingly the only thing he is capable of).

Darren and Tiffin were also featured together in a companion piece called THE LIVELY SET, a similar but more interesting film with a racing car theme. This film also served to plug Pepsi-Cola, and the cast even featured Joanie Sommers (the manufactured singer who hit the charts with "Johnny Get Angry"), and who provided (coincidentally, no doubt) the singing voice for Pepsi commercials in real life.

Overall, FOR THOSE WHO THINK YOUNG is an curio from a bygone age, contrived and derivative. Any similarity to real life in the pre-flower power, pre-Vietnam era is purely coincidental.