WHERE THE BOYS ARE

Remarkably tame by 2020 standards, WHERE THE BOYS ARE (1960) nonetheless raised quite a few eyebrows in its' day for daring to even mention pre-marital sex in what was pitched as a typical rom-com. Typical except for the fact that one of the four main characters is raped, suffers an nervous breakdown and attempts suicide by automobile traffic. 

The plot focuses on four young college girls from a midwestern women's college who decide to journey to Fort Lauderdale, Florida for two weeks of spring break. They anticipate fun in the sun and all four have one ultimate objective in mind: land a man of some kind. In the pre-women's liberation days of 1960, these four women, smart and talented as they all are, are not complete without a man. My, how things have changed.

The leader of the quartet is Merritt Andrews (Dolores Hart), an outspoken proponent of pre-marital sex whose progressive world view is put to the test when she meets and falls for Ryder Smith (George Hamilton). Ryder is Ivy League all the way, with his slicked black hair, penetrating blue eyes, dazzling white teeth and perpetual tan. Throw in his parents' spacious villa and small yacht and it's all too much for Merritt to resist. She does, however, stand her ground and demand that if she and Ryder are going to become a couple, it will be on her terms.

Tuggle Carpenter (Paula Prentiss), wants nothing more than to become a man's wife and produce many children. She's set her sights on oddball TV Thompson (Jim Hutton), a kooky intellectual who pontificates about sex while wearing a constantly changing array of goofy hats.

Angie (Connie Francis) is paired up with out-there jazz musician Basil (Frank Gorshin), who spouts impenetrable beatnik lingo. Angie is the least and weakest developed character of the bunch but Francis does get to sing the title tune and one other musical number as compensation. 

Finally, there's Melanie Tolman (Yvette Mimieux), who quickly sends signals to horny college boys that she's easy. She comes home drunk one night and eventually gets passed around by a couple of different frat rats. She ends up being raped in a motel room, after which she wanders out onto the highway in a catatonic state where cars are forced to dodge around her. 

The exteriors where shot on location in Fort Lauderdale among hordes of real spring breakers, every one of whom is white and heterosexual. There's not a black or brown face to be seen anywhere and all of the men look like future TV game show hosts. There's no apparent drug use but alcohol is freely imbibed by all. And for a movie about college kids, none of the featured cast members are remotely believable as being college age. 

However, this being 1960, when the clean cut and well groomed young men and women go out for the evening, the men wear coats and ties while the women dress in skirts and heels. And when the two weeks of fun and drama are over, Tuggle and TV and Angie and Basil head back to college while Merritt and Ryder stay behind to tend to Melanie. 

Shot in Metrocolor and CinemaScope, director Henry Levin serves up a glorious and glamorous postcard from Fort Lauderdale. It's slick and glossy looking and although pitched as a comedy, I found nothing to laugh at or with. But I have to give the film kudos for at least trying to address what everyone knew (but rarely acknowledged) was going on with college kids then (and now). 

WHERE THE BOYS ARE was remade in 1984 and in the '60s, the film served as inspiration for two other MGM films: COME FLY WITH ME and FOLLOW THE BOYS. WHERE also clearly inspired other studios to produce BEACH PARTY and PALM SPRINGS WEEKEND while Prentiss and Hutton had such great onscreen chemistry that they appeared together in three more films: BACHELOR IN PARADISE, THE HONEYMOON MACHINE and THE HORIZONTAL LIEUTENTANT. 

WHERE THE BOYS ARE is worth seeing from a sociological point of few. While it's more times than not a dreadfully antiquated bit of fluff, it does attempt to show that Spring Break, even in 1960, is not all fun and games.