Starring Connie Francis, Harve Presnell, Sue Ann Langdon, and Frank Faylen
Directed by Alvin Ganzer
Music by George Gershwin and others; Lyrics by Ira Gershwin and others
Let's head back to the US for our last vacation of the summer season. We're also honoring Connie Francis, who passed away last month. She - and her performance of its title song - was a big part of the reason Where the Boys Are was one of the biggest hits of 1960. Though her recording career continued to do well, MGM failed to find an appropriate follow-up film. Her next two movie vehicles were both flops. MGM banked on this one, a remake of their 1943 Judy Garland-Mickey Rooney vehicle Girl Crazy, to revive Francis' flagging career and give their newly-minted musical leading man Presnell a boost. How well did they do updating Girl Crazy to the Beach Party-addicted mid-60's? Let's begin at an all-male college, where Danny Churchill (Presnell) has just replaced the all-male chorus in drag with a very female one, and find out...
The Story: Danny is expelled and sent to another school in the Arizona desert, one with absolutely no girls in it. Actually, it does have one. Ginger Grey, who delivers the mail, almost literally runs into Danny and his friend Sam (Joby Baker) in Danny's sports car. He helps Ginger retrieve her father Phin (Faylen) from Reno, where he's gambled away every cent they have. They'll lose the ranch if they don't make the money to pay them off soon. Danny finally brings in other local kids to turn the ranch into a hotel for divorcees. It does help a lot of women going through a bad time, like Kate (Hortense Petra), but it also attracts Danny's gold-digging ex-girlfriend Tess Rawley (Langdon). Danny fled to avoid paying her hush money, and now it looks like she wants him to pay up, and now.
The Song and Dance: As weird as this is, there are some things that work. Like Summer Holiday, this is a full-on musical, with ballads, duets, and big chorus numbers. Some of the songs work, and there's a few performances that at least have the right goofy spirit. Faylen has a great time as Ginger's well-meaning, gambling-addicted father, Baker has some hilarious moments as Danny's best friend, and there's Petra as the frequently-married hotel resident Kate and Fred Clark as Phin's wealthy friend Bill Denning. There's gorgeous Technicolor here, too, and some really nice desert shooting.
The Numbers: We get "Treat Me Rough" twice. The chorus girls hired for the boys' college stage show in the opening sing it before the dean (Bill Quinn) finds out and shuts the show down. Tess reprises it as a comic solo number later, when she's singing at the divorcee hotel. Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs perform "Monkey See, Monkey Do" at a nightclub in full mystical and mustaches regalia. Presnell and Francis also each get a go at "Embraceable You." Louis Armstrong does "Throw It Out of Your Mind" at the casino in Reno. Connie Francis makes a "Mail Call" at the boys' college, handing out dreams of home along with letters.
Herman's Hermits, who are exchange students at the school, perform their own "Listen People," along with "Bidin' My Time" with Ginger while they're building the ranch. Liberace gives an example of why he was so beloved among older people in his glittering gold suit as he plays his own "Aruba Liberace." Danny and Ginger lament "But Not for Me" after she thinks he's still in love with Tess and he thinks she's marrying someone else. The film ends with everyone paired off and Armstrong performing his own version of "I've Got Rhythm."
What I Don't Like: What does any of this have to do with Girl Crazy? In the original show, Danny was sent to manage his family's ranch, and he saves it by turning it into a dude ranch. That would have made a lot more sense than the whole "haven for divorcees" sub-plot. The new orchestrations do the Gershwin songs no favors, and the rock numbers are completely out of place with them. Presnell is dull, Francis shrill and annoying, Langdon whiny. None of them are as much fun to watch as the rock groups or their elders. It seems like MGM just tossed in whatever they could get their hands on to see if it would stick. Herman's Hermits do get to sing two numbers and take part in others, but they vanish after "Bidin' My Time" without explanation.
The Big Finale: Mainly for fans of Herman's Hermits or any of the acts involved. Everyone else will probably be fine with the Garland-Rooney Girl Crazy or Francis and the Hermits' solo albums.
Home Media: At least this one is easier to find. It's currently on DVD in a beautifully remastered copy from the Warner Archives and can be found on streaming.
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