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| Where the Boys Are | |
|---|---|
 DVD cover byReynold Brown | |
| Directed by | Henry Levin |
| Screenplay by | George Wells |
| Based on | Where the Boys Are 1960 novel byGlendon Swarthout |
| Produced by | Joe Pasternak |
| Starring | Connie Francis Dolores Hart Paula Prentiss George Hamilton Yvette Mimieux Jim Hutton Frank Gorshin |
| Cinematography | Robert J. Bronner |
| Edited by | Fredric Steinkamp |
| Music by | Score: George Stoll Jazz: Pete Rugolo Songs: Neil Sedaka(music) Howard Greenfield(lyrics) |
| Color process | Metrocolor |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
Release date |
|
Running time | 99 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $2 million[1] (equivalent to $16 million in 2023) |
| Box office | $3.5 million (US rentals)[1][2] (equivalent to $27.6 million in 2023) |
Where the Boys Are is a 1960 AmericanCinemaScopecomedy film directed byHenry Levin and starringConnie Francis,Dolores Hart,Paula Prentiss,George Hamilton,Yvette Mimieux,Jim Hutton, andFrank Gorshin. It was written byGeorge Wells based on the 1960 novel of the same name byGlendon Swarthout. The screenplay concerns four female college students who spendspring break inFort Lauderdale. The title song "Where the Boys Are" was sung by Connie Francis, who played one of the foursome.
Where the Boys Are was one of the first teen films to explore adolescent sexuality and the changing sexual morals and attitudes among American college youth. Aimed at the teen market, it inspired many American college students to head to Fort Lauderdale for their annual spring break.[3] It wonLaurel Awards for Best Comedy of the Year and Best Comedy Actress (Paula Prentiss).[4]
The film mainly focuses on the "coming of age" of four girl students at a midwestern university during spring vacation. In a class discussion, smart, down-to-earth Merritt Andrews suggests that premarital sex might be something young women should experience. Melanie Tolman, a magnet for young men, loses her virginity on her first date, soon after the young women arrive inFort Lauderdale, Florida. Tuggle Carpenter seeks to be a "baby-making machine", lacking only a man to join her in marriage. The athletic Angie, who is clueless about romance, rounds out the group.
The girls find their attitudes challenged. Merritt, a freshman, meets suave, darkly handsome Ryder Smith, a senior atBrown University, and realizes she is not ready for sex. Melanie discovers that Franklin, a boy fromYale University who she thought loved her, was only using her for sex. Tuggle quickly fixes her attention on goofy "TV" Thompson, a junior atMichigan State University, but becomes disillusioned when he becomes infatuated with performer Lola Fandango, a "mermaid" swimmer/dancer in a local nightclub. Angie stumbles into a relationship with eccentric jazz musician Basil.
The relationship angst of Merritt, Tuggle, and Angie evaporates when they discover Melanie is distraught after going to meet Franklin at a motel and instead finding there another of the "Yalies", Dill, who raped her. Franklin had moved on to another girl, but told Dill that Melanie was "easy" and set up the ambush. Melanie, her dress torn, walks into traffic. Just as her friends arrive, she is sideswiped by a car and is rushed to the hospital.
Ultimately, the girls resolve to act more maturely and responsibly. After hearing about Melanie, "TV" returns to Tuggle. Angie ends up with Basil, especially after he loses his glasses and needs her help. Melanie recovers in the hospital, with Merritt looking after her. Merritt promises Ryder she will continue their long-distance relationship. He then drives them back to college.
Joe Pasternak bought the film rights to the novel, which originally was known asUnholy Spring, even before it was published. He assigned George Wells to write the script.[5] MGM paid $100,000 for the rights.[6]
"There isn't a gat, knife, or marijuana cigarette in the whole thing", said Pasternak. "These are good students. We'll use our young contract players, such asGeorge Hamilton,Joe Cronin,Denny Miller,Alfredo Sadel,Bill Smith,Russ Tamblyn,Luana Patten,Maggie Pierce,Carmen Phillips, andNancy Walters; then get one star to head the cast."[7]Natalie Wood, who had just madeAll the Fine Young Cannibals for MGM, was mentioned as a possible star at one stage.[8]
MGM eventually persuaded the book's author to change the title fromUnholy Spring toWhere the Boys Are.[9][10]
Henry Levin was signed to direct. The first two stars confirmed for the movie wereGeorge Hamilton andYvette Mimieux.[11]Paula Prentiss was cast despite never having made a movie before.[12]Connie Francis also made her movie debut (although she had previously done voice work inJamboree! andRock Rock Rock![13]).[14] This marked the first of three films starring Francis which featured "boys" in the title. The other two wereFollow The Boys andWhen The Boys Meet The Girls.[15]
The novel contained a section where the students help raise money to ship arms toFidel Castro for his revolution in Cuba. Pasternak decided to remove this. "The author was very sympathetic to Castro", said Pasternak. "Politics does not belong in entertainment. As actors or writers or movie makers of any sort, we have a right to our political preferences. But that is why we have secret ballots... We felt that the only revolution these youngsters should be involved in was their personal revolution."[16]
George Hamilton got a bit part for his friendSean Flynn in the movie.[17][18]
Hamilton claims to have improvised the scene in which he wrote a question mark in the sand next to Dolores Hart. He firmly believed he was making a "little nothing of a film" and did not enjoy the shoot. The film also featured the screen debut, in an unaccredited role, by formerMiss Ohio andElvis Presley consort Kathy Gabriel.[19]
The opening sequence was narrated by veteran voice-over artistPaul Frees. Frees is best known for his work onDisneyland attractions, such asThe Haunted Mansion andPirates Of The Caribbean.[20]
The kind of cool modern jazz (orwest coast jazz) popularized by such acts asDave Brubeck,Gerry Mulligan, andChico Hamilton, then in the vanguard of the college music market, features in a number of scenes with Basil. Called "dialectic jazz" in the film, the original compositions were byPete Rugolo.[21]
MGM had bolstered the film's success potential by giving a large role toConnie Francis, the top American female recording star and a member of theMGM Records roster. Francis had solicited the services ofNeil Sedaka andHoward Greenfield, who had written hit songs for her, to write original material for her to perform on the film's soundtrack including a "Where the Boys Are" title song. Sedaka and Greenfield wrote two potential title songs for the film, but producer Joe Pasternak passed over the song Francis and the songwriting duo preferred in favor of a lush 1950s style movie theme. Francis recorded the song on October 18, 1960, in a New York City recording session with Stan Applebaum arranging and conducting.
The theme song, "Where the Boys Are", peaked at No. 4 in the U.S. and became Connie Francis's signature tune. It was covered by many other artists.
Besides the theme song, Francis sang "Turn on the Sunshine", another Sedaka-Greenfield composition, in the film.
The film's soundtrack also features "Have You Met Miss Fandango?", sung by co-starBarbara Nichols, with music byVictor Young and lyrics by Stella Unger.[21]
MGM did not release a soundtrack album forWhere the Boys Are.[22][23]
The film was a success at the box office. MGM signed Henry Levin, Dolores Hart, Prentiss and Hutton to long-term contracts.[24]
Variety called it "a potential box office whopper".[25]
American humanities professorCamille Paglia[26] has praisedWhere the Boys Are for its accurate depiction of courtship and sexuality, illustrating once-common wisdom that she contends has been obscured bysecond-wave feminism:
The theatrics of public rage overdate rape arefeminists way of restoring the old sexual rules that were shattered by my generation. Because nothing about the sexes has really changed. The comic filmWhere the Boys Are (1960), the ultimate expression of '50s man-chasing, still speaks directly to our time. It shows smart, lively women skillfully anticipating and fending off the dozens of strategies with which horny men try to get them into bed. The agonizing date rape subplot and climax are brilliantly done. The victim,Yvette Mimieux, makes mistake after mistake, obvious to the other girls. She allows herself to be lured away from her girlfriends and into isolation with boys whose character and intentions she misreads.Where the Boys Are tells the truth. It shows courtship as a dangerous game in which the signals are not verbal but subliminal.[26]
The film is recognized byAmerican Film Institute in these lists:
In 1960, it was announced Pasternak would make a follow-up titledWhere the Girls Are, starring George Hamilton. It was meant to be an entirely different story rather than a sequel.[28] But this was never produced.[29][30]
Pasternak also announced plans to reunite Hamilton, Prentiss, Hutton and Mimieux in a romantic comedy titledOnly a Paper Moon from a story by George Bradshaw, "Image of a Starlet".[31] This becameA Ticklish Affair, and was made, but without any of those actors.[32]
Nonetheless, there were a number of unofficial follow-ups. MGM liked Paula Prentiss and Jim Hutton as a team so much they put them together in three more movies:Bachelor in Paradise,The Honeymoon Machine andThe Horizontal Lieutenant. MGM also made a number of other romantic comedies in the style ofWhere the Boys Are, includingCome Fly with Me andFollow the Boys.
It also inspired a number of imitations from other studios, including theBeach Party series andPalm Springs Weekend.
Where the Boys Are '84 was released in 1984 byTriStar Pictures. While it bears the distinction of being the first film released by TriStar, the film was a critical and commercial failure. Although it was touted as a remake, it was imagined as a sex comedy. Roger Ebert reported that "It isn't a sequel and isn't a remake and isn't, in fact, much of anything."[33]
