The Cool Ones

You hear that "The Cool Ones" is "The groovy movie with the hip hit tunes" (an official tagline), so you want to dig the scene, right? Not really. The scene is a confusing mixture of pop cultural references as written by a committee of older businessmen. If you were not around in 1967, when the movie was released, you will probably have difficulty knowing what references really were "cool" in 1967 and which were manufactured, or warmed over fare from years before. If you were around in 1967, the movie is somewhat fun--despite being bad--to pick apart and reminisce about.

In my opinion, this film is a musical. Musical numbers are staged in the middle of scenes, and the characters break out in song when not on a stage. Trying to create a teen movie musical is a bold undertaking, but this is no "Bye Bye Birdie". It features a young go-go dancer(Debbie Watson playing Hallie Rogers) and a former singing idol (Gil Peterson playing Cliff Donner) who meet in a supposedly hip club called "Stan's Cellar" and are persuaded by a young pop music guru (Roddy McDowall) to combine forces to capture the imagination of gullible teen fans. They even create what they hope will be a new dance craze: The Tantrum.

Donner is supposed to be a jaded singer who once had screaming fans. He performs in the "Cellar" with a group called The Leaves. Some of the numbers performed by musical groups in this film are not bad and are authentic to the theme of the movie. But Donner is often stuck singing old tunes that are arranged in a (not so) cool way: "What is This Thing Called Love", "Secret Love", and--incredibly--"The Birth of the Blues". There is one scene where Glen Campbell sings "Just One of Those Things". Not cool. No teen with an edgy persona in 1967 would be embracing those gems. This is three years after the Beatles conquered America!

Surprisingly, the choreography is often of good quality and on a par with other musicals.

Things to look for, even if some seem out of place in a movie about "cool ones":

*The Petula Clark poster on the wall.

*The dance performed to music reminiscent of "The Hand Jive".

*The kids snapping their fingers like the cast of "West Side Story"--cool man!

*The red Mustang. Now that was a cool car!

*The mod look--the colorful London-based chic that some of the kids dress in.

*Small smatterings of psychedelia.

*The "dirty old man" who looks all of 27.

*The "draft board" reference.

*The unexpected occasional lapses into slapstick.

*The laughable computer reference. The public had so little knowledge of computers that anything will flashing lights and beeping sounds could pass. And they often performed feats that are nothing short of mystical.

*Actor Phil Harris who seems to be playing the part of "obligatory adult whose purpose is to thwart the coolness of teens".

*Actress Nita Talbot, who plays Dee Dee Howitzer and somehow manages to have screen presence despite a limited role.

*The proposal scene in the back of a bus. One might be reminded of the iconic back-of-the-bus scene in "The Graduate", also released in 1967.

This is no time capsule of 1967 in particular, but as a reminder of many disparate cultural references from the previous decade or more, it could be a fun watch.

"The Cool Ones" is definitely a second-string musical but it's more entertaining than many of the A-list musicals of the decade and doesn't deserve the obscurity to which it's consigned. It's well-paced, with lots of song and dance numbers, directed by Gene Nelson, who has a great feel for these elements. The real standout in this film is Gil Peterson who greatly resembles Grant Williams. He has enough charisma and talent to pull the whole thing together with a convincing performance and wonderful vocals. If his songs were dubbed, it is incredible how synchronized they were and how appropriately they matched his speaking voice. It's a mystery why this talented, handsome and energetic performer didn't achieve a more successful career.

Unfortunately there is far too much screen time and energy devoted to Roddy McDowall's annoying and overly fey portrayal of the promoter. Could this be an earlier incarnation of Simon Cowell?

This is a great movie - yes it is a bad movie, but it is great. A stellar cast, a great score and wonderful location shots all over Los Angeles and Palm Springs, circa 1966. Any movie that boasts a musical dance number in the Palm Springs Tramway can't be all bad.

The cast: Debbie Watson and Gil Peterson are perfect. Don't know where they came from, except that Debbie had her own TV series briefly, "Karen". And Gil has a great bod! Roddy McDowell - great as always. Phil Harris is wonderful. Nita Talbot all but steals the show as Roddy's Girl Friday. I mean, this woman is fierce! She shamelessly tries to steal every scene she is in - and does too. She should have been used much more in films. And you even get Terri Garr as one of the dancers. And I didn't even mention Mrs. Miller. This must be her only big screen appearance, so that alone is worth the price of admission.

The plot is a little hackneyed, but who cares. The original songs by Lee Hazelwood are fantastic. Hey, both Frank and Nancy covered "This Town" on their albums. As a spoof of the Hullaballo-type dance programs of the era as well as Roddys apeing of Phil Spector - this movie does try to say something. But that is not what it is about - it is just plain fun!!!

If you get the chance to watch this movie-just relax and enjoy-don't have to think hard here-just good clean fun! As you can see I LOVE THIS MOVIE.

The Cool Ones is about a pair of singers, Gil Peterson and Debbie Watson who are looking for different things from the music business. Peterson is an already passe rock and roll idol and Watson is a young hopeful. Some elements of A Star Is Born are present as you see.

An egotistical promoter Roddy McDowall gets a hold of them and decides to team them. McDowall's own manipulation cause the road to success and romance to be a bit bumpier than normal.

But McDowall gives a Whiz Bang performance and the goal for both is a debut as a duo on the rock and roll variety show Whiz Bang. Back in the 60s there were such shows as Shindig, Hullabaloo, and Where The Action Is on TV. The culture changed after Woodstock.

Some original rock and roll numbers are about half the soundtrack. But it also includes such standards like Cole Porter's Just One Of Those Things and What Is This Thing Called Love? are there too done in rock and roll style. What Cole Porter might have thought of it we won't know without a seance. But I'm of the opinion that any exposure to Cole Porter is good.

Peterson and Watson are an attractive couple and such other Hollywood veterans like Phil Harris, Robert Coote, Nita Talbot and Phil Arnold give good support. But this is Roddy McDowall's picture like no other.

"The Cool Ones" is a very bad film. Yet it's an unusual bad film because it's unintentionally funny and offers an odd little window into the strange and exciting late 60s.

The story begins on the set of a show much like "American Bandstand" or "Hullabaloo". A young obnoxious lady, Hallie, is tired of just being one of the professional dancers on the show and she tries (in the worst possible way) to get the producers to listen to her sing, as she has a VERY high opinion of her skills. The worst of it is she insists on all this moments before the show goes on the air. When she doesn't get their attention, she decides to do something insane...she attacks the guy singing on the show (Glen Campbell...before he became famous as a country music singer...when he was a member of the famed 'Wrecking Crew'). She steals his microphone away from him and begins singing...and the two struggle and shake and make fools of themselves. Oddly enough, after she is fired, the producers are shocked to find the audience watching this live LOVED the interlude and thought it was planned! Soon, Hallie is a pop star singing with the talented Cliff and they are being managed by the strange and charismatic Mr. Krum (Roddy McDowell). What's next?

The film is funny because it tries very hard to be young and hip...and fails miserably at every turn. The hip modern music sung by Hallie and Cliff is pretty bland and the sort of stuff old people thought was hip...and which wasn't. Additionally, several old squares (such as Phil Harris) played hip folks...and their trying to be cool was hilariously uncool. Also really uncool was Mr. Krum...who just came off as silly and a parody of the Phil Spector-type producers. Overall, tragically unhip...the sort of thing oldsters thought hippies and other teens would love...but they clearly didn't!