Jack Warner looked at the grosses of Where the Boys Are and all the young actors he had under contract making TV shows and thought he would have a crack at the teen market. It was the last of the clean teen pics from the studios in the 60s and was not a big success at the box office, though it's cheerful enough - director Norman Taurog was a dab hand at this sort of thing, and ensures plenty of pretty people and colour.
The script follows the Where the Boys Are template quite closely - there's a goofy guy a la Frank Gorshin (Jerry Van Dyke), cocky rich kid in the vein of George Hamilton (Robert Conrad), kookie girl unlucky in love like Paul Prentiss (Zeme North, the least well known of the main players but quite good), a naive innocent like Yvette Mimieux who winds up in a sexually precarious position (Connie Stevens), a sensible good girl like Dolores Hart (Stefanie Powers), a more comical nice guy like Jim Hutton (Ty Hardin). There's also a sequence which involves our leads being hauled into the local police station, and a climax involving an attempted date rape.
The cast seem very old - Troy Donahue, Ty Hardin and Robert Conrad especially. Much of the playing feels laboured as does the comic set ups, and Jerry Van Dyke's performance. But it is bright and colourful with moments of sweetness.
I really liked Stefanie Powers - she's a sweetheart - even if her character does talk marriage with Donahue within the first five minutes. Conrad makes an effective bad boy; Donahue looks awkward, with that deep voice and blonde fringe; Stevens is fine and Hardin engaging. There's a strong support cast including Jack Weston (basketball coach who seeks his own romance), and Billy Mumy as a bratty boy. It is weird that this is basically a beach party movie but it's set in the desert.
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