Winter A-Go-Go

This film begins with a young man named "Jeff Forrester" (William Wellman Jr.) discovering that he has inherited a ski lodge in Lake Tahoe, which has certainly seen better days. Despite lacking substantial funds, he and his good friend, "Danny Frazer" (James Stacy), decide to renovate it in time for winter, hoping to earn enough money to pay off the significant debt they owe to a person named "Jordan" (Walter Maslow). With the help of some other friends--many of them female--they drive to the ski lodge and begin working on it. What they don't realize, however, is that Jordan would prefer to keep the ski lodge for himself, and as a result, he has hired two thugs to make things as difficult as possible for both Jeff and Danny to generate enough profit to pay off the debt. Instead of revealing more details, I will just say that this film was made during a time when "Beach Party movies" were quite popular. As a result of this trend, the location sometimes shifted from the beach to winter ski lodges to capitalize on that popularity, with the general plot, which typically incorporates humor and romance involving attractive young women, remaining largely unchanged. With that said, this film follows the usual pattern but lacks the necessary humor and overall passion to truly make an impression. Sure, several attractive actresses were cast, with Beverly Adams as "Jo Ann Wallace, " Jill Donohue as "Janine, " Linda Rogers as "Penny," and Judi Parker as "Dori" standing out the most, in my opinion. However, their presence wasn't enough to elevate this film, and I have rated it accordingly.

This movie could be classified as a subgenre of the "beach party" flicks of the mid-1960's, the "ski party" movie. Looking to put out some seasonal fodder for the teen audience, I suppose, several of the Hollywood studios transposed the location of their pix from the beach to the ski slopes and the cast traded in bikinis and swimming trunks for ski pants and sweaters. The result was basically the same, though--a type of film only a dedicated fan could love. Frankie, Annette and that crew aren't around in this one, except in spirit, maybe. Instead, James Stacy and William Wellman, Jr. lead a spunky bunch of guys and gals in renovating and operating a run-down ski lodge. It's the usual story--the boys get in a punch-out or two and try to play the field with the girls, and the girls do their best to get their hooks into the boy of their dreams.

If you're watching for musical performers (almost never a winning proposition in these type of flicks), 'Winter a Go Go' is especially thin in that department. Appearing here are the Nooney Rickett Four with guest vocalist Joni Lyman and also a pompadoured vocal group, the Reflections. My research has yet to uncover anything remotely like a hit record in any of these artists' past except for a single top 10 hit for the Reflections. This movie is for fans only, or nostalgia buffs, or young people who like to laugh at their parents' old music and fashions. The girls are pretty cute, though.

Columbia Pictures dipping deep into their teen bag, coming up with little more than a running advertisement for Coke and James Stacy in a series of ski fashions for men. Ultra clean-cut tale concerns a young man hiring entertainment (ski bunnies) and a work crew (a cook and a soda-jerk) to work at a mountain lodge which he recently inherited; his buddy promotes the place by putting a detour sign in the road and redirecting traffic their way. No script, no talent, no witty repartee--these dull 'kids' are a lazy lot. There's a pretty good fight scene in the chalet, a groovy wedding tag, and some mind-boggling musical numbers (psychedelic-sweater wearing foursome the Reflections croon a ridiculous ditty about sugary sweets while the bunnies pass out huge lollipops to the guests!). The dramatic tension in the plot is served by having two of the guests on secret assignment to ruin the place; the comedy comes after embarrassed-to-be-up-here Stacy worms his way into a gig as a ski-instructor and attempts to get into a young lady's bedroom at night (he trips the alarm and feigns sleepwalking!). This is another case of a major studio trying to ape the low-brow teens-on-their-own genre begun a few years before with A.I.P.'s "Beach Party". It isn't too awful, but nobody here shows any pizazz, nor any individual style; most of the girls try too hard for cute perkiness while the guys play aw-shucks with the women and big brother with each other. On the other hand, those Suzuki motorbikes are coolness defined. *1/2 from ****

With the exception of a bunch of hot chicks wearing skimpy outfits and playing waitresses there's nothing to offer here. In fact the curriculum vitae is so thin here that James Stacy stands head and shoulders above the rest.

My ten- and twelve-year-olds were in hysterics when "Winter A-Go-Go" ran on AMC a few years ago. They loved the dated, corny dialogue, the improbable plot twists and, especially, the repeated and ever-more-improbable confrontations with "The Man" -- the lame baddies who'll do just about anything to put a stop to the kids' ultra-low-fi rockin', ski-partyin' fun. Less like a time capsule these days than a visit to a strange, alternate teenage universe.