Les années fantastiques

College psychiatry professor David Niven (as Jonathan Kingsley) and wife Lola Albright (as Alice) are shocked when beautiful 17-year-old daughter Cristina Ferrare (as Linda) is arrested at a campus protest. She is charged with disturbing the peace, inciting to riot, resisting arrest, and unlawful assembly on university property. Ms. Ferrare is also caught carrying a picket sign with an unsavory word written on its backside. She claims to have never turned the sign around to see the naughty word - an impossible plot detail, unless she's lying. Ferrare also smokes cigarettes, gets caught speeding, and keeps a messy room.

"The Impossible Years" comes across like it's daring to fight "the sexual revolution" along the "generation gap" front. But, like many 1960s sex comedies, nothing really untoward actually happens. It's a smoke and mirrors story with a good cast - including highly likable supporting TV stars Chad Everett and Ozzie Nelson. Near legendary photographer William Daniels and director Michael Gordon do a good job with the limited sets. Since Mr. Gordon is the grandfather of accomplished actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt, you've got to wonder if, eventually, everyone in movies will be proved related.

The "picket sign" title sequence is nicely done, and features a catchy title song sung by The Cowsills. The tune was finally released on the underrated group's 1994 CD reissue of their first LP "The Cowsills"; previously, "The Impossible Years" was hidden away on a 45 RPM B-side. After the opening, you can stick around for beautiful bikini-clad Ferrare and her young friends. The comedy is dated, innocent, and not so funny, except for an occasional line; it's interesting to hear "I'm glad they passed Medicare!" was once a way to irk the family doctor.

***** The Impossible Years (9/13/68) Michael Gordon ~ David Niven, Cristina Ferrare, Lola Albright, Chad Everett

If you're looking for a film which aspires to be "high art" or convey "deep meaning", forget it..."The Impossible Years" is a lightweight romp with David Niven, Lola Albright, Chad Everett, etc. that will make you laugh, giggle, and smile. It's an hour and 45 minutes of escapist fare that will make you forget about your troubles for a while. Not everyone will appreciate the slapstick humor here, but I sure did! Much in the same vain as the Beach Blanket and Gidget films of the time. This movie won't win any Academy Awards for high-brow acting or directing, but then, I don't think it was ever intended to be a deep message film. Just pure fun!!!

As those who have read my reviews on his films before, David Niven carried more mediocre films on the strength of his charm than any other leading man I know. In this case he had something of a built in advance sale on a role, as The Impossible Years had a respectable two year run of 640 performances on Broadway. Would you believe that Alan King played the role on Broadway and I'm sure the interpretation was vastly different. In fact I'm sure King had to reach for his conception as part and parcel of his standup comedy routine was his experiences in suburbia as the father of two teenage sons which he was in real life.

The unflappable Niven plays a psychologist who has written on the subject of teens, but in his own life he and wife Lola Albright are having no better or worse time than thousands of others raising adolescents. Daughters Christina Ferrare and Darleen Carr are driving both of them to the edge. Especially the 17 year old Ferrare who has a lot of young males in heat buzzing around her. And one of them has rounded home and scored.

The play had to have been a bit more realistic to have enjoyed the run it did. The Code was down, but obviously this was being marketed to a family audience and a lot of it just didn't make sense. Most of all Ferrare's choice of male partner.

The Impossible Years is just plain impossible.

Students are demonstrating at an university. Jonathan Kingsley (David Niven) is a psychology professor who practices what he preaches. He has a comfortable life with two teen daughters and then his oldest gets arrested for demonstrating with a free speech sign. Something on the other side is too shocking to say out loud. His teaching assistant Richard Merrick has been pushing him on his work and suggests "The Impossible Years" for his next book.

The girl is too flighty. It feels like a parent's vision of a bratty teenager. The dad is a 50's liberal. This movie is basically the adults unable to understand their crazy, crazy kids. The play was apparently shown in 1965. So I can excuse the writing which seems to be the 50's trying to come to terms with the 60's. Nevertheless, this movie cannot help but look backwards rather than forwards. It may still work as social commentary but it's not going to work as a comedy. As for the forbidden word, it shouldn't be one word. It becomes a distraction as the audience becomes preoccupied with guessing the word. This is done from the point of view of the professor and that's not that compelling or funny. When it comes to sex, it gets even more awkward although awkward can at least approach some fun. The problem here is that nobody is actually funny. It gets desperate as it even tries slapstick.

Corny and unfunny swingin' 60s sex comedy has uptight psychology professor David Niven trying to control his liberated free-spirit 17-year old daughter, Cristina Ferrare. It's really a generational comedy with the square adults having a hard time understanding 1960's youth culture. The main problems with this film isn't the premise, but that the comedy is not all that funny. Both the square adults and the hip kids are presented in broad exaggerated versions of themselves, which could work, but does not here. I did laugh at one of-the-moment line when Niven's character is angry at a doctor friend and yells, "I'm glad they passed Medicare!" but outside of that there was not much that made me laugh.