A Swingin' Summer Swings No More

I suspect that many of you have experienced the disappoint-ment of re-watching a once-cherished movie that has been tarnished by time. I wouldn't classify A Swinging' Summer as a "cherished" movie, but there was a time in my youth when I found it to be a pleasing entertainment. Thus, when I recently discovered it on Amazon Prime, I was enthused about seeing it again. Oh, woe!

The plot is not the problem since many Beach Party knock-offs of the 1960s were held together with string, sealing wax, and other fancy stuff. Rick, his girlfriend Cindy, and his pal Mickey plan to work at a Lake Arrowhead dance pavilion during their college summer break. They don't even reach their destination before they hear on the radio that the pavilion will not open. Undeterred, Rick proposes that the trio take charge and run it themselves. After all, Rick happens to have a friend who is a talent agent. Surely, they have enough money between them to stage the first dance.

William Wellman Jr. & Quinn O'Hara.

As it turns out, they need a lot more cash upfront! Without telling Rick, Cindy has her rich dad guarantee the finances. However, Rick turns into a workaholic, so Cindy flirts with a lifeguard who looks like trouble. Meanwhile, Mickey encounters a pretty scholar (Raquel Welch) who decides she wants to study him. There's a big fight between Rick and the lifeguard. And, oh yeah, there's a lot of music.

Frankly, the music is pretty good, but we'll get to that in a minute. The problem is that the viewer has to suffer through 50 minutes of the picture's 80-minute running time before the rock'n'roll shifts into high gear. As the film's star, William Wellman, Jr., the famed director's son, makes Frankie Avalon look like Ronald Colman. He has no screen charisma and it's hard to fathom why Cindy doesn't dump her crappy boyfriend and just stay with the lifeguard. (Yes, I admit that I sometimes wondered why Annette didn't drop Frankie, but he had some charm...and could sing!) Wellman, Jr. even looks pathetic in the big fight scene with the lifeguard, which is horribly staged and goes on for far too long.

Quinn O'Hara.

Scottish-born redhead Quinn O'Hara is pleasant enough as the female lead. She later had a small part in The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini, the last Beach Party movie. She did lots of TV in the 1960s and allegedly dated Frank Sinatra and Fabian in real life. Her other co-star, James Stacy, is best remembered for the Western TV series Lancer and for marrying Connie Stevens and later Kim Darby. His acting career was temporarily derailed when he lost an arm and leg in a motorcycle accident. He staged a remarkable comeback, but it was short-lived and he was later convicted of child molestation. Stacy served six years in the prison in Chino, California. That incident casts a dark cloud over his lighthearted scenes.

Despite its amateurish build-up, A Swingin' Summer ends on a high note with musical performances by Gary Lewis and the Playboys, The Rip Chords, Raquel Welch, and The Righteous Brothers. I had forgotten how successful Gary Lewis's band was--it charted twelve Top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. That's actually the same number as The Righteous Brothers, who are better remembered today. The duo sing "Justine" in A Swingin' Summer, which was not a hit. However, its follow-up on the chart was the iconic "Unchained Melody."

A studious Raquel Welch.

A Swingin' Summer was Raquel Welch's third film and provided her biggest role to date. She wouldn't get to demonstrate her modest singing talents in another movie. However, she later earned good reviews for her Vegas act and for replacing Lauren Bacall on Broadway in the musical Applause. Incidentally, Raquel was on her way to stardom when A Swingin' Summer was released overseas. So, the film's title was changed to La Calda Notte, which translates to The Hot Night and features Raquel alone on the poster.

The Five Best Spring Break Movies (excluding the Beach Party Series)

What? No Beach Party movies and no Gidget? We excluded the Beach Party films from this list for two reasons: (1) they have already been covered extensively at the Cafe; (2) they would dominate this list and we wanted to promote some of the other "spring break movies." As for Gidget, while it may have been the first mainstream feature about surfers, it was a coming-of-age film and not about young people on spring break.

1. Ride the Wild Surf (1964) - The premise, borrowed freely from Three Coins in the Fountain, has three young men arriving in Hawaii in search of the “big wave” at Waimea Bay. What they find initially are three pretty girls and plenty of teen angst. Despite their successful pop hits, stars Fabian and Shelley Fabares (shown on right) don't warble a single song. They do manage a couple of effective dramatic scenes and receive fine support from Tab Hunter, Susan Hart, Peter Brown, and Barbara Eden (as a dark-haired tomboy). Although the climax goes overboard on surfing footage, it's still a rare opportunity to watch some of the greatest real-life surfers of the 1960s.

Dolores Hart (who later became
a nun) and George Hamilton.

2. Where the Boys Are (1960) - This was the movie that introduced the premise of teens (well, young adults) heading to the beach in search of sun, fun, and romance. It differs from other 1960s spring break films in terms of its female focus and solemn conclusion. The plot starts out in lighthearted fashion with a quartet of young women (Dolores Hart, Yvette Mimieux, Connie Francis, and Paula Prentiss) heading to Fort Lauderdale for a good time. However, the film takes a serious turn at the climax--a jarring change in tone that, while effective, makes one feel somewhat guilty for enjoying the earlier playful proceedings. Connie Francis had a huge hit with the title song, which was written by Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield.

Ty Hardin and Connie Stevens.

3. Palm Springs Weekend (1963) - As soon as Troy Donahue starts crooning "Live Young" over the opening credits, it's clear that you'll either find Palm Springs Weekend to be nostalgic fun or a dated disaster. I fall into the former camp, in large part because of the young Warner Bros. cast that includes: Donahue, Connie Stevens, Stefanie Powers, Robert Conrad, Ty Hardin, Jerry Van Dyke, and a young Billy Mumy. Written by Earl Hamner, Jr. (who would later create The Waltons), Palm Springs Weekend is a silly, but entertaining lark (though it's notable for showing parents in a positive light).

Raquel Welch.

4. A Swingin' Summer (1965) - Three college pals try to a save a dance pavilion in Lake Arrowhead by staging a rockin' concert. Meanwhile, a gang of local hooligans aim to cause trouble and Raquel Welch plays a bookworm that wears thick glasses and keeps her hair in a bun. I'm not giving away any of the plot by revealing that the hooligans are defeated, the pavilion saved, and Raquel Welch lets her hair down and transforms into...Raquel Welch! A Swingin' Summer is diverting entertainment well played by its likable cast (James Stacy, Quinn O'Hara, and William Wellman, Jr.). However, it's best-known for featuring music performances from Gary Lewis & the Playboys, the Righteous Brothers, and Donnie Brooks. While the Rip Chords sing, too, Marshall Crenshaw in his book Hollywood Rock notes that the voices belong to Bruce Johnston (former Beach Boy who wrote "I Write the Songs") and Terry Melcher (Doris Day's son, who produced for The Byrds and Paul Revere & the Raiders). (March 2019 update: I just watched A Swingin' Summer again and would now remove it from this list. Time has not been kind to it.)

5. The Girls on the Beach (1965) - A trio of girls try to raise $10,000 to save their sorority house--but their questionable fundraising efforts (e.g., a bake sale, a beauty contest) fail miserably. Then, they meet three guys who--trying to sound impressive--claim to know Paul, John, George, and Ringo. The girls decide that a Beatles concert is a surefire way to save the Alpha Beta House! It's easily the weakest film on this list and yet it's undeniably fun if viewed in the right frame of mind. And again, it features some terrific music--this time from the Beach Boys, Leslie Gore and the Crickets (who continued after Buddy Holly's death). Carol Connors, who dubs for actress Noreen Corcoran on a couple of songs, was the former lead singer of the Teddy Bears ("To Know Him Is To Love Him"). A decade later, she co-wrote the Oscar-nominated "Gonna Fly Now" from Rocky.