Starring Dolores Hart, Paula Prentiss, Yvette Mimieux, and Connie Francis
Directed by Harry Levin
Music and Lyrics by various
Spring break is a rite of passage for many college students as they take what is often their first vacation on their own, away from their parents and guardians. Nowadays, it's is notorious for getting so rowdy, some southern and western towns have discouraged college students from visiting all together. In 1960, however, it was still a common ritual, especially for students from northern states.
This was also the height of the baby boomer teen culture; the kids who were born in the 40's and 50's were now old enough to have a language and culture of their own and movies that spoke to them. Girls in particular had a new freedom that even their liberated flapper mothers hadn't seen. How is this reflected in the story of four female college students who travel to Ft. Lauderdale for some fun in the sun and learn hard lessons doing so? Let's begin as a narrator (Paul Frees) explains the delights of sunny Florida before heading north to a college in a blizzard and find out...
The Story: Merritt (Hart), Tuggle (Prentiss), Melanie (Mimieux), and Angie (Francis) are four young collegiates who head down to Ft. Lauderdale hoping to find fun, sun, and lots of good-looking guys. Tuggle wants to start a family and sets her sights on goofy TV Thompson (Jim Hutton). Angie (Francis), a fine singer, is interested in eccentric bespectacled jazz musician Basil (Frank Gorshin). Merrit falls for suave, wealthy senior Ryder Smith (George Hamilton). The more promiscuous Melanie (Mimieux) thinks junior Franklin (Rory Harrity) is in love with her.
Nothing works out the way the girls expect. Tuggle is disgusted when a drunk TV chases ditzy mermaid nightclub performer Lola Fandango (Barbara Nichols) two nights before they leave. Merritt decides that, no matter how she feels about Ryder, she's not sure she wants to go all the way yet. Things go seriously sideways when Melanie's relationship with Franklin ends in tragedy, and they all begin to wonder just how important sex - and landing a guy - is.
The Song and Dance: I'm impressed with this one. I came in expecting a goofy early female-oriented Beach Party movie and got a fairly realistic look at four blossoming young women and the choices they make about sex and romance. A lot of this, including Tuggle's honesty about wanting to be a "baby machine," is shockingly frank for the time (and even now). Mimieux and Hart are utterly heartbreaking in the last twenty minutes, after Melanie's late date with Franklin turns into date rape and she nearly commits suicide. In fact, I really appreciate the casting. No adults pretending to be kids here. Everyone is in their late teens or 20's. (Mimieux, in fact, was 19 during filming.)
Prentiss has some great comic moments as the tallest and frankest of the ladies. She's so cute with Hutton, I can understand why they made four more movies together. There's also some great modern "cool" jazz, written by real-life cool jazz musician Peter Rugolo.
Favorite Number: Francis performs the title song, a #4 hit, over the credits. Gorshin and his band are seen performing two instrumental jazz pieces, one when the ladies first go out, one later in the film, and they're both fine examples of the "cool" or what Gorshin calls "dialectic' jazz that was popular with real-life college students at the time. Francis also gets to sing the energetic "Turn On the Sunshine" with Gorshin and his band. Lola Fandango introduces herself with "Have You Met Miss Fandango?" at the Elbo Room, before the show gets out of hand and TV jumps into the tank after her.
Trivia: Dolores Hart later became a nun; she's now a Mother Superior.
Movie debut of Connie Francis and Paula Prentiss.
This movie cemented Ft. Lauderdale and the Southern Florida area as the most popular place for spring break. By the mid-80's, however, things got so out-of-control, the mayor of Ft. Lauderdale took stronger steps to discourage spring break partiers in the city.
What I Don't Like: Other aspects haven't dated well. Double standards between men and women are well and truly in force here. The only girl who gets "punished" is the one who actually ends up having sex. The others, including Merritt, talk a good game but remain chaste "good girls." The date rape sequence is handled with surprising sensitivity for the time, but nowadays, those boys would get into a lot more trouble for abusing a woman. And while some real-life Lauderdale locations (including several bars) are used for filming, most of the beach sequences look like the projected backdrops they are.
The Big Finale: If they can get past those double standards, many real-life college students may still enjoy this look at how four young women handle hard lessons in sex and love during one very memorable spring break.
Home Media: Easily found in all formats; it's on disc from the Warner Archives.
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