When the Boys Meet the Girls

Wow...how awful is this?! A rock and roll remake of Girl Crazy with the Gershwin songs included and sung, almost trad style inbetween boppy gems from Hermans Hermits. There seemed to be a theme in the early to mid 60s of making Elvis movies without Elvis....just everyone else who might have managed a support role were all clumped together in some hideous alternate version of GIRL HAPPY or TICKLE ME or ROUSTABOUT because WHEN THE BOYS MEET THE GIRLS is the mashed potato version of any two reels (strung together) of those films. MGM specialised in them and we were gleefully offered WHERE THE BOYS ARE or GET YOURSELF A COLLEGE GIRL or COME FLY WITH ME or whatever film was thought of that sounded like any of the above titles. It all becomes a ghastly bag of singing jellies after a while. For some bizarre reason (like trying to please EVERYONE, Bollywood style) this pic also has Louis Armstrong and Liberace good for some completely inappropriate appearances......and I defy anyone not to be constantly appalled every 5 minutes. Connie Francis screeches her way whether singing or, well screeching, and Harve Presnell (about 11ft tall and 35years old and apparently still at college) fresh from THE UNSINKABLE MOLLY BROWN) gets a ginger hair doo and does his best to avoid sounding like Chad Everett who should have been in this instead. You will occasionally Hurrumph and mostly exclaim horror to whoever you watch this with. I loved it.

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.

Even Connie Francis hated this turkey in fact she makes fun of all of her movies, as she never wanted to make them. This remake of Girl Crazy has Connie singing well on Gershwin songs. It's a shame she just didn't record a Gershwin album instead of making this. Harve Presnell is lost and Connie looks embarrassed . Of her 4 movies, and her last this was the worst. She could sing the phone book though. Great chops.

Considering that this was produced by the famously cheapjack and incompetent Sam Katzman, and is one of the 1960s MGM musicals often cited as contributing to the death of the genre, this halfhearted updating of "Girl Crazy" isn't as bad as I'd suspected. Plenty of Gershwin and a surprising amount of the never-good original book are left intact (though Herman's Hermits insist on singing "I'm biding my time/ 'Cause that's the kind of guy I AM," ruining the rhyme), and some amusingly incongruous guest stars -- Liberace, Louis Armstrong -- are thrown in. Heaven knows Connie Francis can't act, but she does fine by "But Not for Me" and "Embraceable You," and opposite her, Harve Presnell is strong-voiced, virile, and more at ease with acting than most tenors. There's a typical mid-'60s supporting cast featuring Fred Clark, Joby Baker, and Sue Ann Langdon (a good comedienne, but not here). Of course it's over-lit and underwritten and cheap-looking, but there's one honest production number for "I Got Rhythm," and the painted backdrops and fast-motion photography contribute some fun cheesiness. An amiable time-waster.