When the Boys Meet the Girls

I could not help but think this film reminded me very much of one of the many successful Elvis Presley films in which there was always a bevy of beautiful girls that Elvis would be serenading and/or a love interest who could also sing and dance, as well as some elderly parents and/or business associates who disliked this new hip culture of singing and swinging hipsters.

Connie Francis has the voice of a songbird and when you add a few 1960's top ten pop charts sung by The Herman's Hermits and lead singer Peter Noone you add a certain required quality to the film such that it is worth watching, even if it is a knock off of the many Elvis Presley films.

Yes, there is a plot in which.a then thirty two (32) year old actor Harve Presnell who plays Danny Churchill is trying hard to pass as a younger twenty (20) year old drop out college architecture student who convinces.the pretty. Ginger Gray postal worker (Connie Francis) to build a brand new hotel resort to save her fathers ranch from getting into the hands of the gangsters who.hold the gambling debts of her father. It's not clear to me how they actually build this luxurious hotel and it gets filled to capacity all within a month or so, but heh, that's show business for you.

I give the film a respectable 6 out of 10 IMDb rating.

This is the third film version of the Gershwins' Broadway hit, "Girl Crazy". The songs "Embraceable You", "Bidin' My Time", "But Not for Me", "Treat Me Rough", and "I Got Rhythm" have been retained from the original score. Added to this are specialty numbers written by or for Connie Francis, Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs, Herman's Hermits, Louis Armstrong, and Liberace. The idea of Louis and Liberace in the same movie is enough for a viewing. The screenplay merely suggests the original libretto. Connie Francis and Harve Presnell are acceptable musical comedy leads. The most interesting aspect of the film for comedy buffs is the stand-up specialty by the comedy team of Davis and Reese. They do an interview with a boxer routine which is reminiscent of, but not a copy of, the fighter routines done by Martin and Lewis and Allen and Rossi. Davis has some spark as a comedian, but Reese is an interchangeable straight man. He's not Bud Abbott, George Burns, Dean Martin, or even Duke Mitchell! This is one of the very few screen appearances of Liberace, and he is hysterical. I wonder if he knew he was that funny! Louis Armstrong is as welcome as ever and Joby Baker is wasted in his comic side-kick role. The film is an interesting mix of trying to integrate 30s musical comedy with rock 'n roll. It really doesn't work, but I give the film makers A for effort.

Playboy Danny Churchill (Harve Presnell) causes yet another scandal for his father and his company. A girl is threatening to sue. His father sends him away to remote Cody College in Nevada. He almost drives into postal worker Ginger Gray (Connie Francis) and falls for the fallen rider.

I don't know how many horse riding mail person there are especially in a place with roads. I only know Harve Presnell as an old veteran actor and he's good (not here). His boy scout personality can't sell the playboy character. I also know Connie Francis, but mostly as a singer. Her acting is questionable. So, this is an odd pairing to begin with. I could never guess that Harve could sing. The movie is a reworking of Girl Crazy while retaining the George and Ira Gershwin music. It's all a mess with a lot of random performances. The movie would follow a Louis Armstrong performance with a long Pepper Davis comedy bit. The central story is not that compelling. This is left to a lot of interesting but somehow wrong musical performances. For example, Connie Francis does a long number but is stuck sitting in her car surrounded by head-bopping boys. She is literally just sitting there and nobody is dancing. It's weird staging and it's not the only time. Just when they seem to be going traditional, they send in Herman's Hermits and again it's weird. The kids need to be slow-dancing that song. It's all rather messy and weird and maybe that's why it's fascinating.

Harmless time-waster about the appealing Connie Francis and her father who open a new night club, which gives Sue Ane Langdon, Liberace and others an excuse to show off their musical talents.

This was made in the mid-60's when Elvis movies were still a big thing, 'teenagers movies' were an uneasy mixture of chubby beach bunnies chastely doing the frug on a Hollywood beach, but movie producers were about 5 years behind real life and felt moved to toss in some oldies but goodies for the older folks - 'insurance'. Meaning people like my aunt, a big Elvis fan (and I was no huge fan, he was passe as soon as the Beatles, etc. came along) would go see Mr. Harve Presnell, Miss Connie Francis, and...omg...Liberace! (It's almost like the Ed Sullivan Show here as far as casting!) . There is a tiresome old vaudeville act with a boxer for grandpa! oy! ... Herman's Hermits do a couple numbers. (Mr. Peter Noone, was JUST here at the NYS fair performing for the hundredth year in a row (beeyotch don't age) and he is THE big attraction in this for the youngsters out there, a bone thrown out for 'the teenagers'. (oh, and groovy Sam the Sham and the Pharoahs, for all the parents to point and laugh at.) .... Movies were slow to change in the 60's. One foot in the 50's, fear of those damm hippies and those new-fangled Englishmen bands. So you got odd mixtures of 50's frump and morals, and a token of the 60's freedom - but only a token! Little white gloves. A nightclub act with a song by a woman, 'Treat Me Rough', applauded approvingly by the audience...LOTS of warbling of old standards by Connie Francis...Liberace hamming it up in a gold glittering number; , Harve Presnell (with a nylon toupee) , and busty Miss Connie Francis were the BIG stars in these things. And tired old dogface Fred Clark, who has been in one billion movies and tv shows! - he looks the same age forever, never ever changing a single bit! ....kind of fun to watch, a real curiosity, not seen often.