A lot of mostly non-forgotten celebrities get to do theis schtick that they were famous for during their heyday, some going a bit over the top yet gaining laughs in this amusing farce about a college fraternity who is the scourge of the campus. In order to prevent their fraternity from having their charter revoked, they need to find a new house mother, and dean Charles Nelson Reilly (doing his trademark laugh every time he has a line) is determined to stop that so he can fill up the new expensive dormitory that has unnecessary luxury features. The students find their new house mother in exasperated pizza house waitress Connie Stevens, and that creates scandal among the administration which includes president Van Johnson, playing a friend fictional celebrity whose ego is as enormous as Stevens' cleavage. Jim Hutton gets the romantic lead role as a professor who finds Stevens' charms irresistible.
There are a ton of famous celebrities of Hollywood past including Gloria DeHaven as Johnson's wife (the reunion for them from their MGM days), Fritz Feld as another lip smacking waiter, Kathleen Freeman as an aggressive autographed seeker (she steals all but the restaurant table in her brief scene), Maudie Prickett as the previous house mother who quits in a rage, and Thelma Carpenter as the wisecracking (and certainly the most wise) cleaning lady who teaches Stevens a thing or two about dealing with college age boys. That's just a short list of the featured cast, giving this TV movie appeal to audiences both young and old in the early 70's.
Then there are the students, the most familiar to me being Mike Evans of "All in the Family" and "The Jeffersons", and the rest complete unknowns. They are a rambunctious group, not much different than most young fraternities but certainly no Delta House of "Animal House". The film itself is cartoonish but that is acceptable in this case because it is supposed to appeal to the "Gidget" crowd. Fans of "Grease 2" will be delighted to see the big haired Miss Mason (Stevens), and perhaps understand her appeal. Certainly not a great actress, she does have oodles of personality.
I have to chuckle at Reilly's performance, doing what he was well known for on "Lidsville" and "Mrs. Muir", basically playing a grown up version of his character but from from "How to succeed in Business" on Broadway. Johnson is spoofing his 40's hearthrob image, and DeHaven is deliciously over the top as an Auntie Mame like character who greatly embarrasses her husband in spite of the fact that she is a ton of fun. So if you go into this with the knowledge that it's a bit absurd and over the top and cartoonish, you'll truly enjoy it. This does seem to be a pilot for a series that never happened, but at least we got the TV movie to look back and laugh at and with.
There are a ton of famous celebrities of Hollywood past including Gloria DeHaven as Johnson's wife (the reunion for them from their MGM days), Fritz Feld as another lip smacking waiter, Kathleen Freeman as an aggressive autographed seeker (she steals all but the restaurant table in her brief scene), Maudie Prickett as the previous house mother who quits in a rage, and Thelma Carpenter as the wisecracking (and certainly the most wise) cleaning lady who teaches Stevens a thing or two about dealing with college age boys. That's just a short list of the featured cast, giving this TV movie appeal to audiences both young and old in the early 70's.
Then there are the students, the most familiar to me being Mike Evans of "All in the Family" and "The Jeffersons", and the rest complete unknowns. They are a rambunctious group, not much different than most young fraternities but certainly no Delta House of "Animal House". The film itself is cartoonish but that is acceptable in this case because it is supposed to appeal to the "Gidget" crowd. Fans of "Grease 2" will be delighted to see the big haired Miss Mason (Stevens), and perhaps understand her appeal. Certainly not a great actress, she does have oodles of personality.
I have to chuckle at Reilly's performance, doing what he was well known for on "Lidsville" and "Mrs. Muir", basically playing a grown up version of his character but from from "How to succeed in Business" on Broadway. Johnson is spoofing his 40's hearthrob image, and DeHaven is deliciously over the top as an Auntie Mame like character who greatly embarrasses her husband in spite of the fact that she is a ton of fun. So if you go into this with the knowledge that it's a bit absurd and over the top and cartoonish, you'll truly enjoy it. This does seem to be a pilot for a series that never happened, but at least we got the TV movie to look back and laugh at and with.