This movie is first and foremost a somewhat dippy teen film that you might enjoy for the antics of Spring Break 50+ years ago (and oh how times have changed!). The movie seems surprisingly daring in the beginning when a young woman references the Kinsey report and alludes to premarital sex being natural, but eventually you'll realize the movie is conservative, still more in the 50's than it is in the 60's. It's watered down and feels sanitized, and it was tough to see the college women on Spring Break ridiculously desperate for men, actually believing they're going to find guys who will propose to them on the trip (huh??), and one simply wanting to become a 'baby factory'. In the end, its main theme is the age old clash between men who want sex, and women who want commitment. I suppose that's to be expected from a movie called "Where The Boys Are", and reflective of the times.
The most poignant and serious moments come from the character played by Yvette Mimieux, who has been having sex with a guy, thinking he loves her. When she arranges to meet him in a motel, she finds he's sent one of his friends instead, after telling her she's easy – and gets raped. By my count, she tells him "no" 9 times as he advances, all smiles, about to force himself on her. None of it is shown, we just see her despondently walking into traffic, a scene which is ridiculously overplayed. Unfortunately (and outrageously) the moral has nothing to do with the guys who took advantage of her and devastated her – neither of them are seen again, presumably happily traveling north having "gotten some" – it's her ruing meeting a guy in the future who'll find out she's no longer a virgin because of her Spring Break escapades. Sigh, and grrr. And, with the Code being in effect, where evil was not allowed to win – it's clear, that this was not considered rape and not considered evil. What a horrible, horrible message buried within this silly movie. And how opposite it is to the initial premise that women should not have to "wait until marriage".
If you can watch it just for the goofiness – like guys picking up and moving a car, and characters jumping in to a giant tank of water in a nightclub and making silly faces – you will probably enjoy it. You have a poor man's Marilyn Monroe (Barbara Nichols), poor man's jazz (Frank Gorshin of Riddler fame, sporting Coke bottle glasses), and a dapper George Hamilton in a black polo shirt on the beach. You have very well dressed guys and girls on the beach and on dates. You have Connie Frances making her debut and singing. I have to say, it held my interest, but I can't help but feel it could have been so much better if it had been more serious in one of its directions instead of lukewarm in all, and been a little more ahead of its time. It's certainly retrograde by today's standards.
The most poignant and serious moments come from the character played by Yvette Mimieux, who has been having sex with a guy, thinking he loves her. When she arranges to meet him in a motel, she finds he's sent one of his friends instead, after telling her she's easy – and gets raped. By my count, she tells him "no" 9 times as he advances, all smiles, about to force himself on her. None of it is shown, we just see her despondently walking into traffic, a scene which is ridiculously overplayed. Unfortunately (and outrageously) the moral has nothing to do with the guys who took advantage of her and devastated her – neither of them are seen again, presumably happily traveling north having "gotten some" – it's her ruing meeting a guy in the future who'll find out she's no longer a virgin because of her Spring Break escapades. Sigh, and grrr. And, with the Code being in effect, where evil was not allowed to win – it's clear, that this was not considered rape and not considered evil. What a horrible, horrible message buried within this silly movie. And how opposite it is to the initial premise that women should not have to "wait until marriage".
If you can watch it just for the goofiness – like guys picking up and moving a car, and characters jumping in to a giant tank of water in a nightclub and making silly faces – you will probably enjoy it. You have a poor man's Marilyn Monroe (Barbara Nichols), poor man's jazz (Frank Gorshin of Riddler fame, sporting Coke bottle glasses), and a dapper George Hamilton in a black polo shirt on the beach. You have very well dressed guys and girls on the beach and on dates. You have Connie Frances making her debut and singing. I have to say, it held my interest, but I can't help but feel it could have been so much better if it had been more serious in one of its directions instead of lukewarm in all, and been a little more ahead of its time. It's certainly retrograde by today's standards.