teen film
Teen film is a film genre targeted at teenagers, preteens, or young adults by the plot being based on their special interests, such as coming of age, attempting to fit in, bullying, peer pressure, first love, teen rebellion, conflict with paren ...
directed by
Jack Sher
John Jacob Sher (16 March 1913 – 23 August 1988) was an American newspaper columnist, songwriter, film director, film writer, and producer.
Career
Born in Minneapolis, Sher wrote for several magazines, including the ''Saturday Evening Post,'' ...
Gordon Slide and Blythe Holloway are two platonic best friends at a college, both from single-parent families. They are so devoted to each other that the headmaster of the school is considering banning them from seeing each other.
Gordon then decides to spend the Easter holiday at his mother's beach pad. Blythe accompanies him, with Gordon impersonating the college headmaster on the phone to Blythe's senator father, so that Blythe gets permission.
Gordon and Blythe settle into a domestic routine. One day they take Gordon's yacht out and get caught in a storm, and the Coast Guard have to rescue them. One of the Coast Guard, Giuseppe, falls for Blythe, which provokes feelings of jealousy in Gordon.
Matters come to a head when Gordon and Blythe have a party. Giuseppe brings along a "fast" girl to set up with Gordon so he can be with Blythe. However this causes Blythe to be jealous. When Giuseppe makes a move on Blythe, she resists. Then another man, a drunken sailor, tries to molest Blythe, but Gordon rescues her.
Gordon and Blythe kiss – only to be busted by his socialite mother and Blythe's father. Everyone has a talk and Gordon's mother and Blythe's father realise how much they have been neglecting their children; they vow to do better. Blythe tells an apologetic Giuseppe that she will continue to write to him.
Blythe and Gordon return to college, now a couple, although the old routines of their relationship are still in play.
Cast
* Tommy Sands as Gordon Slide
* Fabian as Giuseppe La Barba
* Toby Michaels as Blythe Holloway
*
Jan Sterling
Jan Sterling (born Jane Sterling Adriance; April 3, 1921 – March 26, 2004) was an American film, television and stage actress. At her most active in films during the 1950s (immediately prior to which she had joined the Actors Studio), Sterling ...
as Sandra Slide
*
Edward Andrews
Edward Bryan Andrews Jr. (October 9, 1914 – March 8, 1985) was an American stage, film and television actor. Andrews was one of the most recognizable character actors on television and films from the 1950s into the 1980s. His stark white hair ...
as Clyde Holloway
*
John McGiver
John Irwin McGiver (November 5, 1913 – September 9, 1975) was an American character actor who made more than a hundred appearances in television and motion pictures over a two-decade span from 1955 to 1975.
The owl-faced, portly character ac ...
Shirley O'Hara
Shirley O'Hara (born Shirley Har; August 15, 1924 – December 13, 2002) was an American actress. She appeared in numerous films from the 1940s to the 1980s.
Biography
O'Hara was born in Rochester, Minnesota in 1924 and graduated from Roch ...
as Clara Dumont
* Robert Patten as Lieut. J. G. Marchon
*Phillip Baird as Gregory
*
Elizabeth MacRae
Elizabeth Hendon MacRae (born February 22, 1936) is an American actress who performed in dozens of television series and in nine feature films, working predominantly in productions released between 1958 and the late 1980s. Among her more widel ...
The film was originally known as ''Beach Pad''. It was based on an original script by Jack Sher and Irene Kamp, who had worked on ''
Paris Blues
''Paris Blues'' is a 1961 American musical romantic drama film directed by Martin Ritt, starring Sidney Poitier as expatriate jazz saxophonist Eddie Cook, and Paul Newman as trombone-playing Ram Bowen. The two men romance two vacationing America ...
'' together; they sold it to Martin Jurow and Richard Shepherd, the producers of '' Breakfast at Tiffany's'', who had a deal at Paramount.
Shooting started in November 1960 and took place in Hollywood and on location in Balboa.
Fabian and Tommy Sands were both pop stars at the time and both sing in the film. Sands' hair was dyed blonde to differentiate him from Fabian. Sands later said this was "a big mistake. It looked so phony. Fans who knew me knew that was phony."
Hal David
Harold Lane David (May 25, 1921 – September 1, 2012) was an American lyricist. He grew up in New York City. He was best known for his collaborations with composer Burt Bacharach and his association with Dionne Warwick.
Early life
David ...
sung by Tommy Sands (a Capitol Records Release)
*"You're Only Young Once" by Russell Faith, Robert Marcucci and
Peter De Angelis
Peter may refer to:
People
* List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name
* Peter (given name)
** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church
* Peter (surname), a su ...
sung by Fabian (A Chancellor Records Artist)
Reception
''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' called the film "vapid and transparent" but that at least it "made no pretenses".
Producer Martin Jurow later said the film "didn't come off very well."
According to a review of the film in ''Diabolique'' magazine:
It's very possible to do a gay reading of this film, with Sands displaying zero sexual interest in Michaels or any woman throughout the film. Or maybe that's too limiting: because when Fabian puts the hard word on Michaels, she is very coy and not keen at all, despite flirting heavily with him until then. So maybe it's more accurate to describe this movie as being about two people with low sex drives who find each other.
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...