Where It's At (1969)

User Rating:

5.1/10   

Director:

Garson Kanin

Writer:

Garson Kanin (writer)

Release Date:

7 May 1969 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Where it's at for you, dad ... ain't necessarily where it's at for me.

Plot:

A "Sixties Generation" comedy about an offbeat father-son relationship. Dad runs a Las Vegas hotel-casino...

Plot Keywords:

Father Son Relationship | College Student | Las Vegas Nevada | 1960s | Beautiful Woman

Awards:

Nominated for Golden Globe.

Cast

David Janssen	...	A.C. Smith
Rosemary Forsyth	...	Diana Mayhew Smith
Robert Drivas	...	Andy Smith aka A.C. Jr.
Brenda Vaccaro	...	Molly Hirsch
Don Rickles	...	Willie
Edy Williams	...	Phyllis Horrigan
Anthony Holland	...	Henry
Vince Howard	...	Ralph (as Vincent Howard)
Warrene Ott	...	Betty Avery
The Committee	...	Themselves (voice)

Runtime:

106 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:R

Filming Locations:

Caesar's Palace - 3570 Las Vegas Boulevard South, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

Company:

Frank Ross Productions

Trivia:

Throughout the movie's casino scenes, an employee is paging persons on the public address system. One person paged near the middle of the movie is "Jay Sarno," the man who built Caesar's Palace and the Circus Circus Casino.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: Somebody's fingers touch the camera's lens during Drivas' walk on the strip with giant Harry Belefonte marquee in the background..

Quotes:

Diana Mayhew Smith: If I got down on my knees?
Andy Smith: Not even if you stood on the most beautiful head I've ever seen.

Soundtrack:

Where It's At

A Badly Dated Mod Las Vegas

Casting bone to pick: David Jannsen was 38 playing the father of Robert Drivas, who was then, 31 (yeah I realize he's supposed to be just out of college, but clues in the script have him being a loafer and so he's probably 24-25 in the script--- that still puts Jannsen in parenting classes in Junior High). I assume the AMA wrote this up in their 1938 Year in Medicine. This movie hasn't aged very well at all and now it's main appeal is just to see a snap shot of Sin City, circa 1969 and all the incessant smoking, the weird hair (Drivas has an atomic comb over that makes him resemble a well-groomed hip Cousin It) and trendy fashions that went along with it. If anyone remembers, LV wasn't exactly London... the city coddled the mob and codger gamblers in those days. Drivas comes off as sexually ambiguous; his dad thinks he might be gay (in a sad irony, Drivas himself died of AIDS at 47) and the soapy conflict is from the generation gap issue (ahem... if one may call 7 years a gap). Sonny boy wants to be his own man and dad wants to pull him into the casino (Caesar's Palace!), and plies him with girls (the horny-for-money Edy Williams). Interestingly enough, the son doesn't seem to mind being thought of as gay--- unusual for the time and a cute Brenda Vaccarro is nearby to swoon platonically over him. What nudity there is is awfully lame--- just what was needed to pull the audience in for an 'R' rating in the early days of the MPAA rating system (which then was G-M-R[16]- and X). The editing is HORRIBLE and there's stupid-silly overdubs by The Committee (a late 60's neo-avante-garde comedy troupe that mercifully faded off the map within a couple of years later). Don Rickles is on board as a blackjack dealer... seemingly preparing him for a role as a floor manager in the much better CASINO two decades later. Not to give anything away, but they would've dealt with Mr. Rickles' character with power tools and a hole in the desert back then. A curiosity at best, far from Joshua Logan's usual caliber of work. Dos/Dias. Now go watch CASINO again...