Where the Boys Are

1960 "The hilarious inside story of those rip-roaring spring vacations!"
6.6| 1h39m| NA| en| More Info
Released: 28 December 1960 Released
Producted By: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Country:
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
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Good girls Merritt, Melanie, Tuggle and Angie - all students at mid-western Penmore University - are planning on going to Fort Lauderdale, Florida for spring break to get away from the mid-western snow despite not having much money to spend once there. On the drive down, they admit their real purpose is to go where the boys are.

Genre

Drama, Comedy, Romance

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Director

Henry Levin

Production Companies

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

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Where the Boys Are Audience Reviews

Scanialara You won't be disappointed!
Kailansorac Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.
Mathilde the Guild Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.
Zlatica One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.
bkoganbing It's Connie Francis, Dolores Hart, Yvette Mimieux, and Paula Prentiss who want to know Where The Boys Are in this MGM film which gave the studio a chance to display some of its young starlets. The answer is course Fort Lauderdale where the girls are on spring break.So are the boys and they consist of George Hamilton, Frank Gorshin, and Jim Hutton. The film has the girls as innocents looking for love and the boys as looking to score. In the end there's a bit of both involved.Of the female quartet I liked Paula Prentiss the best. She and Jim Hutton are both zany and droll as the comic relief in this film. Prentiss reminded me a great deal of her performance in Man's Favorite Sport which I think is one of the funniest films of the Sixties.One of the girls has an unfortunate encounter with a kid who was looking to score. One of them finds real true love. The others just have a good time.Connie Francis got one of those "and introducing" billings and she got a big hit record with the title song back in the day. I'm surprised it was not given an Oscar nomination.Where The Boys Are is a reflection of far more innocent times coming out in that transition period of the Eisenhower Fifties and the New Frontier. Definitely for fans who came of age in that era.
moonspinner55 Attractive locales and performers can't compensate for flimsy, uncharismatic story of college girls vacationing in Ft. Lauderdale in search of potential mates; all the gals are chaste except for Yvette Mimieux, whose flirtations are a signal to us that she's in for trouble! Comedy begins OK, but quickly degenerates as the kids start matching up (of all the couples, Connie Francis and Frank Gorshin, playing a nearly-blind jazz musician, are certainly the oddest). The slapstick finale is just stupid, and the cast (including Dolores Hart and Paula Prentiss) strain for laughs. Francis, singing-star making her movie debut, also croons the title tune--the only truly memorable thing in the picture. Remade as a cheesy T&A flick in 1984. *1/2 from ****
jjkaul I was hysterical when Frank Gorshin fell into the fish tank followed by the rest of the gang. "Where The Boys Are" is one of the best movies of the sixties. Anyone who came of age at that time can definitely relate to the magical love Merritt found, the tragedy that Melanie experienced, the wanting to be loved and accepted as did Tuggle and Angie. The suave George Hamilton made many a young girls heart race faster. Girl crazy Jim Hutton with his style setting baseball hats and comedic personality was simply hilarious. The title song, one of my favorites still gives me chills. I have seen this movie countless times and I love the nostalgia it brings back each time. When it airs, enjoy it at least once. You will love it, I promise.
Ed Uyeshima Forty-five years have elapsed since its original release, but it is amazing how this 1960 film introduced a particular genre that continues to be produced today granted in a far more explicit manner - the spring-break, beach-party movie where attractive teens go through a sun-drenched mating ritual and somehow love triumphs over carnal knowledge. Back then, the concept didn't seem quite as jaded as it does now, and consequently there is an entertaining naiveté about the timeworn story of four co-eds from a snowy Midwestern college who journey to Ft. Lauderdale for spring break to meet boys.The plot is based on the then-accepted notion that girls in college are only marking time waiting for husbands to come along, but the journey to that goal depends on the girl. The four in question are Merritt, a smart blonde who is not living up to her academic potential as she questions the moral code around premarital sex; Melanie, so deeply insecure she mistakes sex for love with a less-than-honorable Ivy Leaguer; Tuggle, a tall brunette who zeroes in on an even taller, eccentric hitchhiker; and Angie, the supposedly plain one who gets used to being ignored by men.Directed in a perfunctory fashion by Henry Levin, this is not the type of movie where you are terribly impressed with the performances, but I have to say the acting is certainly miles above subsequent beach-party movies. Elvis' former leading lady Dolores Hart plays Merritt credibly even as she is being seduced by a youthful George Hamilton wanly playing Ryder, a well-to-do Ivy Leaguer with a conveniently located yacht. As the most troubled of the girls, Yvette Mimieux (always loved her name) accurately captures the constantly forlorn, little-girl-lost state of Melanie, a teen-aged Blanche du Bois in the making.So pert and charming as Angie, Connie Francis actually seems miscast as a plain-Jane, especially when she sings "Turn on the Sunshine" with a stage polish completely out of character. The standout is Paula Prentiss who portrays Tuggle with her unique personality in full bloom and partnered the first of several times with Jim Hutton as the comically obnoxious TV. She is an under-appreciated comedienne with a loopy charm and vibrantly twangy voice all her own - it's a shame her career never really took off the way it deserved to.I think the film does make a valid, sometimes even perceptive attempt to address the confusion that Eisenhower-era girls had over sex and love. Girls were expected to function under a double-standard where the only way to attract boys was to have something to offer but at the price of their reputations. This point is hammered home when the tone shifts in the last portion to melodrama. At the same time, the film is filled with predictable comic scenes, including a contrived mêlée in an underwater tank with the zaftig and nasal Barbara Nichols as Esther Williams-wannabe Lola Fandango.Prentiss offers her services and remembrances to the alternate audio commentary track on the DVD, which also comes with a looking-back featurette which includes interviews with Prentiss and Francis. Who knew this film would launch a hundred imitations? The minute you hear Francis sing the title tune, it is hard for a baby boomer not to get nostalgic. If you have an interest in understanding the mid-century moral code enforced upon the youth of America, especially girls, I can think of worse films to see.