Riot on Sunset Strip

Hard to find but worth the search! This movie was filmed in 1967 and could easily have been made by Dragnet's own Jack Webb. The over-the-top hippiness of this movie is what makes it a classic. If you have ever seen hippy episodes of Dragnet, this is the same scene, man. The Chocolate Watchband perform as does The Standells. Its nice to see these 1960s bands performing live in a set that probably resembles what it was like to see them live back then. The klead singer of the Chocolate watchband sings with two maracas in each hand and emits a strange Jim Morrison vibe in his half-shouting way of singing and his stage movements. Who influenced who, I wonder? The kids hang out at a club called "Pandora's Box" and some dance, some read and others are just there into their own trips. Mimsy Farmer plays Andy, a fresh face on the strip who is led down the road to perdition with a sugar cube of LSD slipped into her drink at a "freak-out". Mimsy had just finished work as Gloria the bad boys gal on "Hot Rods To Hell" the same year. She will seem vaguely familiar as she bears an uncanny resemblance in some light to Meredith McRae back in her "Petticoat Junction" days. Mimsy is slipped drugs and the obligatory trip scene in this movie is one in which she rolls around the floor in a minidress and performs what amounts to a weird interpretive dance which I am sure was filled with profound meaning in 1967 but is rather lost on me. The men wear Sonny Bono caveman vests, the women wear bright neon miniskirts. If this is your bag, baby, definately try to find this movie.

As Reefer Madness was to the youth of the 30's, so Riot on Sunset Strip was to the Baby Boomers. So out of touch, it is actually funny, not serious as intended. This film lacked a grasp of the time, mood and the music. The mood of the 60's was anti-war, not I don't like my mommy and daddy. I've wasted 90 minutes before, but it was seldom less fun. In short, this film is trite and definitely out of touch with the era of peace and love.

This relic was truly fascinating. Bad, not terrible enough to be unwatchable, but bad enough to be thoroughly entertaining.

When talking to the cops, the girls say stuff like "My name is Elisabeth Ann, but my friends call me Liz Ann" and "My name is Andrea and my friends call me Andy". And cop replies, "Are they really your friends, honey?" For some reason I found that scene absurdly humorous. That is a good example of the writing and acting in this movie.

Andy's acid trip is truly trippy man. It's like a freaked out yoga session.

The movie is very earnest, like Glenn or Glenda, but also very out of touch. Hee hee a good time.

By the way, there was no riot. Guess it wasn't in the budget.

This was filmed in Joe Friday's L.A, while Joe was on a fishing trip with Gannon. The music,especially in the hospital fight scene,sounds like it was lifted from a Bat Man episode. This is typical of the older Hollywood crowd (in this case AIP) trying to cash in on the "hip" sixties,with unintentionally hilarious results.The "hippies" all look like shoe clerks, whose wardrobe truck got mixed up with the Monkees TV Show. A few of them have long hair and beards, but they are dressed like they have a job interview at Radio Shack.The "protest" outside the bars is "totally realistic". The signs looked like they were painted as part of a six grade art project. There are a few generalized anti - war placards("Peace not War"), but nothing to suggest a Vietnam protest. The female police officer, who is carding the kids in the bar, looks like a London meter maid. I know I missed something, but why is the second in command of this L.A police unit British. Was he on loan from the Liverpool PD to show our cops how to handle "mods" and "rockers". All in all, a very amusing look at the "youth culture", through the eyes of the silent generation. Acting honors go to the LSD babe, who almost escapes a police raid, even though she can't walk three feet.My favorite line is from Aldo Ray (his finest hour). The police arrive in front of the party house with two marked patrol cars parked directly in front. Six cops, including four in uniform are standing in front of the house conversing for five minutes. Ray says, " We had better go inside, I think they spotted us."

Inspired by actual incidents in 1960's Los Angeles, this typically contrived and trite take on the situation tries to be enlightening, but more often comes off as amusing. Farmer is a lovely high school teen who lives with her drunken mother and hasn't seen her policeman father for over 4 years. She falls in with a crowd of kids who stay out late and drink and do drugs or worse. After being picked up once for breaking curfew, she ventures out again and comes to regret it, her seemingly insignificant decision kicking off a chain of events that leads to the title riot. Ray, as her father, gives a pleasant, solid, if somewhat wooden performance. Most of his scenes involve sitting in a bland police station and talking with his somewhat prissy British partner Evans (whose own wife admits that the police force made fun of him when they moved there!) Farmer is gorgeous, all teased hair and fun 60's clothing. She gives an adequate performance topped off by a screamingly funny acid trip routine which starts off robotic and ends up Ann-Margret. Other "kids" in the cast include Rooney (Mickey's son) who is mostly hidden behind tinted glasses and a mop of hair that he overacts with constantly, raven-haired Mock who sports some kooky, but fun 60's get-ups and lean, cute Haydn, who resembles a young Tom Cruise, but with an edge. Not to be believed is pink-haired (!) Petra as Farmer's slovenly, child-like lush of a mother who pretty much just leans and lays around the furniture whining while exposing a fleshy shoulder. As the film opens, a crisp narrator warns of the "youth problem" while stock footage of actual L.A. is uneasily combined with studio sets. Packed, dark streets are hilariously cut to bright, clean sparsely populated sidewalks. Adults in the area complain about the outlandishly dressed and coiffed teens who (gasp!) walk around in turtlenecks, cardigans, sportcoats and the like (the band members too!) Little did they know how good they had it! These men wouldn't be able to enter a Wal-Mart or a mall today without having a heart attack on the spot! A few actual hippies are brought in to plead their case and these realistic people clash noticeably with the actor-types who portray the other characters in the film. One thing to be said about the movie is that it goes a long way to present both sides of the situation and gives a surprisingly balanced account of the issues (especially considering the generation of the men who produced the film. ) The music sways from groovy fun to ear-splitting noise, but it's neat to have a record of the style of the times. Ray has a fight scene at the end that is meant to be abrupt and shocking, but thanks to the uproarious music and staging, is akin to a scene from "Batman". All that's missing are the cartoon "Bop!" and "Thwaap!" balloons. There's an impossibly annoying reporter in the film who does more to incite trouble than anyone. He somehow teleports from the hospital to a live TV studio within minutes, at the end of the film, to deliver his dry commentary. The film is worth a look for a glimpse at how this issue was presented at the time and for some of the music and clothes, but can't be taken seriously as a document of the times.