Starring Elvis Presley, Shelly Fabares, Gary Crosby, and Mary Ann Mobley
Directed by Boris Sagal
Music and Lyrics by various
Even Elvis headed to Ft. Lauderdale for some fun in the spring sun. This is the second of three MGM responses to the success of the Beach Party series. I covered the snow-bound first entry, Get Yourself a College Girl, back in January. This one features some of the same cast, this time in a story about a singer hired to chaperone a college girl who ends up falling for her. How does this come off today? To find out, we begin with a narrator telling us about the differences between warm Florida springs and the chilly March weather in Chicago, and why so many college students leave one for the other...
The Story: Rusty Wells (Presley) and his band are looking forward to their spring break in Ft. Lauderdale, but club owner "Big" Frank (Harold Stone) wants them to play four more weeks. Desperate to keep their time off, they agree to keep an eye on his daughter Valerie (Fabares) while she and her girlfriends are in Florida for Easter weekend. They think their job will be easy, until they see that Valerie and her friends are gorgeous blondes who are determined to meet boys and have fun in the sun.
Rusty at first pairs Valerie with nerdy Brentwood Von Durgenfeld (Peter Brooks) and pursues flirtatious Deena Shepherd (Mobley). Valerie is far more interested in handsome Italian playboy Romano Orlada (Fabrizio Mioni), while Deena doesn't appreciate Rusty constantly running out on her to rescue Valerie. He finally decides to escort Valerie himself, and ends up falling for her before Big Frank spills the beans. Now Rusty has to set things right between them, before Valerie gets herself - and half of Ft. Lauderdale - into real trouble.
The Song and Dance: This is almost the flip side of Get Yourself a College Girl set in a more typical tropical location. That one showed beach party-type antics from the girl's point of view. Being an Elvis vehicle, this one focuses more on the guys. Fabares and Elvis have so much chemistry and work so well together, she played his love interest in two of his later vehicles. Brooks and Nita Talbot have a few good moments as the nerd who claims he wants a woman whose brains match his and the stripper who introduces Valerie to the delights of taking it all off.
Favorite Number: We open with Elvis performing the title song over the credits, and after they end, with his band in the Chicago nightclub. Valerie and her friends and Rusty and his band sing jauntily about their "Spring Fever" as the two groups drive to Florida. Rusty declares himself to be the "Ft. Lauderdale Chamber of Commerce" after he gets a load of Valerie at the pool and serenades her with the city's many charms. When she proves unresponsive, he reprises it for a more interested Deena. He and the band do "Startin' Tonight" and "Wolf Call" at their club date. Deena joins them for the latter, and gets really into it, too, wiggling with abandon.
He sings "Do Not Disturb" while in his hotel room with Deena, but barely finishes before he has to go rescue Valerie. "Cross My Heart and Hope to Die" is his attempt to explain to her what happened. Stripper Sunny Daze's act consists of her removing a top and skirt made to look like newspapers while belting "I Got News for You." Valerie's drunken attempt at it later after she finds out why Rusty's in town is what leads to that riot in the club. Valerie gets in on another number, playing "The Meanest Girl In Town," complete with "I'm Evil" sign.
Rusty encourages a group of college partiers on the beach to "Do the Clam" in order to distract Romano long enough to get Valerie away from him. He croons the gentle ballad "Puppet On a String" as he brings her back to the hotel later that night. They end the movie and the weekend back at the club with "I've Got to Find My Baby" and a reprise of the title song after Rusty does.
Trivia: Rusty's band was dubbed by The Jordinaires.
What I Don't Like: While this is a lot less bland than the earlier Palm Beach Weekend and thankfully avoids that film's overwrought melodrama, it's also just as fluffy. Rusty's band members have slightly more to do than Valerie's friends, who barely appear as window dressing and in the "Spring Fever" number. Mobley doesn't come off nearly as well here as she did in Get Yourself a College Girl playing a thankless "other" role. And MGM seemed determined to stay on that huge lot of theirs. There apparently was some second-unit shooting in Florida, but most of the film was made in California, including the beach scenes, and lacks the authentic beach town feel of Palm Beach Weekend and the Beach Party films.
The Big Finale: One of Elvis' best later films is fine for his fans and those who are looking for something fluffy and fun to watch during their own spring breaks.
Home Media: Easily found on DVD and streaming (the latter currently from the Warner Archives).
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