The Jungle Book (1967), 8

Bagheera the Panther and Baloo the Bear have a difficult time trying to convince a boy to leave the jungle for human civilization.
1h 18min | Animation, Adventure, Family | 18 October 1967 | Color, ws
Director: Wolfgang Reitherman
Stars: Phil Harris, Sebastian Cabot, Louis Prima, George Sanders, Sterling Holloway, Chad Stuart.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061852/
Watched online, option 1; excellent print.

8 songs in the Soundtracks, but 2 are reprises.

I certainly had heard the Bare Necessities song before, and have liked other Kipling things, but don't think I've watched this whole film before. Am I going to learn to appreciate Disney after all?

I like the story: 1 evil cat (tiger, who's really just learned to hate man), 1 amazingly good cat (panther), a fun bear, a bunch o'monkeys including their king who wants to be human, some vultures from Liverpool (or at least their accents are), some imperialist elephants marching around, and a sssinister snake. The monkeys aren't actually helpful, but the panther, bear, vultures and elephants all want what's best for the boy, er, man cub.

Maybe my reaction is extra favorable because of the hideous film watched immediately preceding, with the predatory manager being so cruel to the band, and utilizing hookers left and right to manipulate them and others, and the band having to resort to trickery to get rid of him. Nice jungle animals make a stark contrast.

The voices are extra pleasurable, because I recognized all those I listed above except for Chad Stuart. He was one of the vultures (4 onscreen, but only 2 voice credits). He's half of Chad and Jeremy, who had a full episode on the Dick Van Dyke Show, as a British pop duo who get mobbed wherever they go, and the staff have to protect them.

Disc is on order; gotta have it (for the right price).

Disney, dir. Reitherman; 8

Blast-Off Girls (1967), 4

A sleazy record promoter tries to make it big with a local Chicago garage band and plans to make them famous while keeping the profits for himself.
1h 23min | Action, Comedy, Drama | 5 October 1967 | Color, ws
Director: Herschell Gordon Lewis
Stars: Dan Conway, Ray Sager, Tom Tyrell.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061408/
Watched online: part 1, part 2; poor video quality, image cropping, but that might have been part of the original release.

Nothing listed in Soundtracks, but plenty of noise performed.

I have no idea why the title of the film includes "Girls", since the band is completely made up of boys, and they don't particularly have fans or groupies or anyone hanging around of the female persuasion.

The band's manager/agent/promoter (whatever he is; he has a contract with them where he owns the name of the band and all their equipment and wardrobe) does have a resident hooker-type, who'll do whomever he points her toward. Later we see a handful of hired girls to scream and rush the boys onstage. And later still we see more hooker-types at a party.

The manager had done the band dirt, and they quit on him. He miraculously doesn't lash out at them as he usually does, but instead throws them a party. I did not have to look at the screen to see if he was throwing sidelong glances at his assistant; I knew it was a setup. At said party (where the bevy of hookers attend), pot is provided and a "cop" busts them. Amazingly, the manager is not there for the misdeeds, but arrives to offer help, if they sign a multi-year contract.

More time passes after they sign, and they're looking for a way out. The manager books them on a national Sunday TV show to perform (so it wasn't Bonanza), and they arrive "drunk" and can only play horridly. They drive the manager to fire them, and when he leaves, they play something well for the recording crew to show they were faking. The End.

The only worthwhile thing: a song performed with the lyric (to the manager) "Go ___ Yourself". I didn't watch to see if their mouths suggested the blank word, but it was self-censored (we heard music during the blank).

The drunken performance, and other bad recording/rehearsal sessions were really painful to hear. The music wasn't very good when well-played, and when badly played it was downright painful. Hence the ultralow rating of 4. (Recall that this is likely the lowest I can ever rate something, because below that I'll probably bail before the end,)

Amazingly, this and another film by the same director were rescued by Image Entertainment, a reputably restoration house, and put on a dvd together. Maybe the other film is better.

indie, dir. Lewis; 4

Good Times (1967),6-

Sonny and Cher spoof many Hollywood classic movie scenes.
1h 31min | Comedy, Musical, Western | May 1967 | Color, ws
Director: William Friedkin
Stars: Sonny Bono, Cher, George Sanders.
Andre Tayir ... choreographer

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061720/

6 songs in the Soundtracks, all by SB (b. '35). Cher (b. '46) sings on all, sometimes with SB.

1st of 19 film director credits for WF (b. '35).

GS makes 11 more films (of his 117 total) after this, dying in '72. Here he plays a businessman who sometimes makes films. 

First and only acting on film together for S&C, playing themselves. The seeming point of this film was to demonstrate why they should not be making a film.

They sign a contract with GS, and have script alteration rights. They don't like the script they're offered, so GS gives them 2 days to come up with an alternative. The film consists of the ideas SB is dreaming up and rejecting: 

• a western where he's the sheriff abandoned by his deputies and the townspeople (but without the Quaker wife and without any ending), Cher is a dance hall hostess/singer,
• a private eye yarn where he's the dick, and Cher is both the client who gets shot and his gf/nightclub singer,
• a Tarzan-type, whom the animals ignore when he calls for help.

If this were my only exposure to them, I would not have a clue why they made it big. It doesn't use enough of their hits.

It gets quite tedious after a while, but it has a very sweet ending, with a very different arrangement of I Got You, Babe sung by the pair.

distr. Columbia, dir. Friedkin; 6-

Doctor, You've Got to Be Kidding! (1967), 6

Heather is the lead singer for a band that is on its way to fame and fortune. Things get complicated when she becomes pregnant and has three men willing to be both husband and father. But her boss isn't one of them.
1h 34min | Comedy, Music, Romance | 10 May 1967 | Color, ws
Director: Peter Tewksbury
Stars: Sandra Dee, George Hamilton, Celeste Holm, Bill Bixby, Dwayne Hickman, Mort Sahl.
Earl Barton ... musical numbers staged by

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061585/
Watched online: part 1, part 2; blurry.

6 songs in the Soundtracks.

SD does not have a great singing voice, and she's delivering the songs.

Yes, the title refers to pregnancy, unwed, and they use the word. She knows who the father is, but refuses to tell him. Hence the 3 men who are willing to marry her.

It's not great comedy, but engaging enough. This can be cited as a film that needs a rating.

Nichelle Nichols is near the beginning of her Star Trek tenure ('66-'69); plays a secretary here.

distr. Columbia, dir. Tewksbury; 6

Double Trouble (1967), 6

When singer Guy Lambert goes on tour in Europe, he is pursued by two beautiful women, bumbling jewel thieves, and a mysterious killer.
1h 31min | Comedy, Crime, Drama | 5 April 1967 | Color, ws
Director: Norman Taurog
Stars: Elvis Presley, Annette Day, John Williams, The Wiere Brothers, Michael Murphy.

Alex Romero ... choreographer

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061595/
Watched online: part 1, part 2; ok print.

9 songs in the Soundtracks.

No, EP doesn't play a double role. He has 2 women after him, which is fewer than usual. But the story is focused on them, with extra junk built in.

Jewel thieves need to smuggle loot, so they randomly pick EP's suitcase to do so. Therefore they must chase him to get the jewels back.

The girl (age 17) pursuing EP is an heiress. Her uncle and guardian JW has been living off her funds for years. Now that she's a few days away from 18, he's getting nervous.

The woman pursuing EP has a hidden agenda.

EP and the girl travel together, trying to get her to safety.

MGM, dir. Taurog; 6

Easy Come, Easy Go (1967), 6-

A frogman working for the U.S. Navy dives for buried treasure.
PG | 1h 35min | Adventure, Comedy, Music | 14 June 1967 | Color, ws
Director: John Rich
Stars: Elvis Presley, Dodie Marshall, Pat Priest, Pat Harrington Jr., Frank McHugh.
David Winters ... stager: musical numbers

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061610/

Watched online: part 1, part 2; ok print.

8 songs in the Soundtracks.

EP is the frogman, and although it's not possible to sing while breathing with a regulator, it is possible to fight underwater. So in addition to our requisite bar brawl, we get a watery fight too.

I think it's only 2 girls chasing EP, with moderate pressure. Each is more interested in other things than romance.

PH is EP's old buddy. He collects phone numbers and photos of datable girls in swimsuits, and puts them on a wheel to spin for whom to call when. It's only used once, but he sings about it while his Navy buddies use it. Each photo also lists the girl's measurements: bust, waist, hips.

The problem with making films with multiple distributors is they don't coordinate release dates well. The next musical is another EP film, but from MGM.

Wallis-Hazen, distr. Paramount, dir. Rich; 6-

Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967), 7+

Millie comes to town in the roaring twenties to encounter flappers, sexuality and white slavers.
G | 2h 18min | Comedy, Musical, Romance | 22 March 1967 | Color.ws
Director: George Roy Hill
Stars: Julie Andrews, James Fox, Mary Tyler Moore, Carol Channing, John Gavin, Jack Soo, Pat Morita, Philip Ahn, Beatrice Lillie.
Joe Layton ... musical sequences

Buddy Schwab ... assistant: Mr. Layton

Jay Thompson ... assistant: Mr. Layton

Kitty Malone ... dance (uncredited)

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062362/

20 songs in the Soundtracks, but only 10 performed by principals.

The start of the film is weird, because it begins with a notice saying Overture, but then goes black for quite a while, still playing music. Eventually we get the first images and opening credits. At the end, after recapping the principals' credits, we get more black screen with exit music unannounced. Each blackout lasts multiple minutes.

I left the G rating on the summary above because the film was preceded by the MPAA rating (although that's still 1.5 years away), and because it's ludicrously low. This _IS_ a comedy about white slavery, and that's spelled out by newspaper headlines. I'd hate to think what other heinous crimes can be covered by comedy to earn a G.

I like the musical numbers, but the second act (and there is an intermission) has too few. Only the first chapter after the intermission has a musical number (I think; I used the chapter menu to decide that, not running through the film again.)

CC is a most welcome sight. This is her 3rd of 8 film credits, and of the last 4, 1 is a cameo and 3 are voice only. This is the only musical of the 1st 4. 

MTM (b. '36) acts the innocent ingenue well. The Dick Van Dyke Show ended in '66. Her series starts in '70.

JA (b. '35) did not convince me that she was young enough to stay in the hotel for "single young ladies". But her singing and acting is always welcome.

3 production numbers are worth noting: the social dance at the hotel early on where JF invents the "Tapioca", the Jewish wedding where JA sings, and the acrobat act with CC as a participant. And of course the elevator that requires dancing to move is loads of fun.

Universal & more, dir. Hill; 7+

How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1967), 7+

Armed with the titular manual, an ambitious window washer seeks to climb the corporate ladder.
2h 1min | Comedy, Musical | 9 March 1967 | Color, ws
Director: David Swift
Stars: Robert Morse, Michele Lee, Rudy Vallee.
Bob Fosse ... original musical stager

Dale Moreda ... choreographer

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061791/

9 songs in the Soundtracks, all by Frank Loesser. 

Favorites: I Believe in You, Brotherhood of Man.

One of the best things the TV show Mad Men (2007-15) did was cast Robert Morse as one of the ad execs. And I think they gave him a song a one point.

He really sings well. Not so you want an album of his singing, but so you want to see him in more musicals. Michele Lee is a true singer, but gets only the 1 song (I Believe in You), and it's not a solo. (She sang on at least 5 Tony Awards shows, but didn't even get proper credit on this 1 movie. I submitted a fix to the Soundtracks. And it's already done.)

The delightful churning of events makes this fun, as do the songs. Of course, the cynicism about big business is well-earned.

The ending makes me want the sequel, to see how he deals with being the top man.

The Mirisch Corp., distr. UA, dir. Swift; 7+

Camelot (1967), 8

The story of the marriage of England's King Arthur to Guinevere. The plot of illegitimate Mordred to gain the throne and Guinevere's growing attachment to Sir Lancelot, threaten to topple Arthur and destroy his "round table" of knights.
2h 59min | Adventure, Fantasy, Musical | 25 October 1967 | Color, ws
Director: Joshua Logan
Stars: Richard Harris, Vanessa Redgrave, Franco Nero.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061439/
Watched online, blurry.
Watched later on disc.

13 songs in the Soundtracks.

Much better than I thought, although I didn't get much from the visuals because of the poor video quality. I was impressed by the depth of emotion in this presentation, with the 3 principals all loving each other. Very clear what conflicts RH was having.

Nice voice for FN's singing; great not to have If Ever I Should Leave You sung instead of blasted, or at least that's how I remember Goulet doing it.

I might come back here if I see this on disc.

From watching my disc: I didn't get much more out of the visuals, because I still didn't just watch it, I played games too. However I listened closely, and got much more out of it. Knowing what would happen sharpened my listening, and in one lyric Lancelot declared that he had such strong will that had he been Adam, man would still live in Eden. Well, he certainly disproved THAT with his lust/love for Genny.

After Arthur first realizes Genny & Lance have strong inappropriate feelings, he says he is betrayed whether 'tis sin or not. Made me remember Jimmy Carter's lust in his heart, but contained there. Loved that Arthur first wanted revenge as a man, but remembered he was king and wanted to be a civilized one. Unfortunately, he doesn't appear to have sat them down to talk through the situation, because things become messier and messier over time.

I liked the 3 featurettes; I didn't really make it through the c.track without dozing.

I'm bumping my rating from 7+ to 8, and that may yet increase with repeated viewings.

VERY glad to have been on this quest.

Warner, dir. Logan; 8

Mary Poppins (1964), 8

In turn of the century London, a magical nanny employs music and adventure to help two neglected children become closer to their father.
2h 19min | Comedy, Family, Fantasy | 27 August 1964 | Color, ws
Director: Robert Stevenson
Stars: Julie Andrews, Dick Van Dyke, David Tomlinson, Glynis Johns, Hermione Baddeley, Reta Shaw, Elsa Lanchester, Arthur Treacher, Reginald Owen, Ed Wynn, Jane Darwell.
Marc Breaux ... choreographer
Dee Dee Wood ... choreographer

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058331/
Watched out of sequence because disc just arrived yesterday.

18 songs in the Soundtracks.

Favorite dance number: Step in Time, with the chimney sweeps. The c.track mentions that the choreographers worked with Michael Kidd. Unfortunately, none of the dancers are listed in the credits, and their faces are too dark to recognize anyone. Sometimes it's even hard to track DV.

The film's a little treacly, but the songs are very good and well used to illuminate character and/or story. And DV's dancing is terrific, and the ensemble in Step are amazing. 

The c.track and documentaries on disc 2 add to the enjoyment, because everyone interviewed are incredibly positive about the experience. My favorite moment: the clip of JA giving her Golden Globes acceptance speech for Best Actress in Musical/Comedy, winning out over Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady, when she thanked MFL's producer Jack Warner for making her win in MP possible. What an elegant way to say F.You for not choosing me. They show JL laughing, (She also won the Oscar for Best Actress, but AH was not nominated.)

Worst thing about the c.track: hard to tell whether JA is speaking, or the adult who played the girl in the film.

Glad I bought this, especially since I got a terrific price ($5.19) for the 40th anniversary edition; 45th & 50th were also available.

Disney, dir. Stevenson; 8

Ballad in Blue (1965), 7 b/w, fs

Ray Charles attempts to help a down-on-their-luck boozing family whose son is blind. He wants to finance the recovery of his eye-sight, but the family is afraid what might happen if something goes wrong.
1h 29min | Drama | 18 February 1965 | b/w, fs
Director: Paul Henreid
Stars: Ray Charles, Tom Bell, Mary Peach.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058935/
Watched out of sequence because disc just arrived today.

13 songs in the Soundtracks, 12 performed by RC. Most famous: What'd I Say?, Hit The Road Jack, Unchain My Heart.

This poster, for an alternate title used in the US, is highly misleading. Click on it to see the text above RC's name, and it makes this sound like it's all about romance. It is not.

Similarly, the synopsis (by an IMDb user) is very wrong. The "family" consists of mother and son, and mother has a boyfriend. Boyfriend is shown indulging in alcohol when frustrated, but I think it was only once. Don't remember that they discussed this as a pattern of his. Similarly, the family is not particularly down-on-their-luck. The mother is widowed, but I don't remember money being a big issue. She didn't want her son keeping the Braille watch RC gave him because it was expensive, but the kid is pretty young (6-8?), and I'd expect him to break it fairly soon.

The mother is very fearful and overprotects her newly (6 mos) blinded son. The boyfriend expresses frustration about this, as does RC as he gets to know the family. (He met the boy at the school for unsighted children where he did a solo concert.)

Her son wants mom to treat him more normally, and even goes out at night with a similarly-aged girl (her mom is his babysitter tonight, she's asleep) to the venue where RC is performing. When they find he's already gone, they go to his next destination: a nightclub where boyfriend is performing. He's a pianist/composer; mom's a dancer, and had invited RC to come hear him play. RC likes his stuff so much, he hires him as an arranger.

So RC gets more and more attached to the family, and contacts an expert eye surgeon to look at the kid. We end the movie without knowing the final result of the surgery.

I liked the story, but the acting wasn't great. RC is playing a character named Ray Charles, with his skills and songs, but I found it difficult to get involved with the mother & boyfriend. Then again she was over-reacting to everything, including the bf's desire to make them a family now that he had a steady gig. So maybe I just didn't like the people being portrayed, and they did a good job of it.

The 2nd disc was a cd of 5 songs, 4 of which nothing to do with this film. But it's a good, albeit very short, cd.

Fox (and other), dir. Henreid; 7

The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967), 9+

Two sisters leave their small seaside town of Rochefort in search of romance. Hired as carnival singers, one falls for an American musician, while the other must search for her ideal partner.
2h 5min | Comedy, Drama, Musical | 8 March 1967 | Color, ws
Director: Jacques Demy
Stars: Catherine Deneuve, George Chakiris, Françoise Dorléac, ..., Gene Kelly, Danielle Darrieux.

Maureen Bright ... assistant choreographer

Pamela Hart ... assistant choreographer

Norman Maen ... choreographer

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062873/

~19 songs in the Soundtracks.

Today I judged this to be a 9, but thought that was only because I've watched so much dreck recently. Nope, I agree with my rating from more than 16 years ago: rated 9 on 2006-01-02. 

The opening production number, with the carnies stretch/dancing on the transport bridge is so charming, and credits roll over them, including credit for the Hats. I remember laughing at that, and hoping I was in for the treat those things promised. I was.

Dir. Demy wrote as well as directed this. I love the silliness of the story, especially his withholding the various pairs of lovers meeting until the end, and the "most important" pair not meeting yet, but with the suggestion they must.

The costumes (especially the hats) are beautiful in color, 60's in design. The dancing is likewise. Always good to see GC, whose partner in the carnival has to match him step for step, but somehow I'm always watching GC instead. Other dancers do the more athletic moves, but there's plenty, and it's all good. 

GK dances also, with children, with men on the street, with FD. His singing is dubbed, unfortunately. But I think he was speaking the dialog. He looks marvelous.

I wonder if they'll ever find the English language version that was also filmed. Such a shame if all copies are really gone. I have a cd of (some of?) the songs.

I love this homage to the H'wood musical that is actually original on its own.

If I were forced to pick my top 10 musicals, this would most likely make the list. (I have 5 that are 10's and 15 that are 9's; yes, this would be in the top 5 of the 9's, so let me add a plus.)

French cie, dir. Demy; 9+

C'mon, Let's Live a Little (1967), 5-

Standard boy-girl malt shoppe doings, with a free speech on campus sub-plot dropped in.
1h 24min | Comedy, Musical | 3 March 1967 | Color, ws
Director: David Butler
Stars: Bobby Vee, Jackie DeShannon, Eddie Hodges.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061434/
Watched online; only 1h 12min, comment says it's missing 2 songs of JD; blurry, cropped to fs.

10 songs in the Soundtracks, no performers, all written by Don Crawford, his only soundtrack credit.

From IMDb trivia: "Director David Butler said about this picture: "I don't even want to talk about that. I tried to do a favor for somebody, and we made it so fast that I don't know what happened . . . They ran short of money to finish the picture. I never got paid a quarter for it.""

Butler (b. 1894) directed a LOT of musicals (this is the 25th in this quest), all the way back to Shirley Temple's early days, and others back to '27, 68 credits total. He even acted in silents: 67 credits. This is his last director, or any, credit.

I think Butler's statement gives a big hint as to why this is not worth watching. The synopsis tells you everything about the plot, except that it's the dean's son who leads the rebellion. At the point that he stages a rally (prefaced by several music acts who don't even know they're fronting for a rabble-rouser), as he's speaking onstage, his father gets up and walks toward the stage, to the silence of everyone. (Some in the crowd had booed the son.) JD, his daughter, runs out of the room assuming he'll be humiliated, which made no sense to me at the time. Later we learn he was brilliant and reached a compromise with the rebels. So they left out what might have been a good scene, likely because they didn't know how to write it. I didn't really understand what the rebels wanted, except that the son wanted to offend his father for some reason. (BTW, the son was dressed as an Ivy League square, not a hippie. According to Wikipedia, the first draft card burnings occurred 5'64.)

The music is boring. I didn't count the numbers to see if the 2 songs skipped were among the 10 in the Soundtracks; probably so. JD sang once, but it was with BV, so nothing special. She had some electronically enhanced hits in the 60s, but I don't really know what she would sound like singing a regular, acoustic song.

distr. Paramount, dir. Butler; 5-

Jack and the Beanstalk (1967) TV, 6+

A retelling of the popular fairy tale that mixes live action and animation.
51min | Animation, Family, Fantasy | TV Movie 26 February 1967 | Color, fs
Director: Gene Kelly
Stars: Gene Kelly, Bobby Riha, Ted Cassidy, Marni Nixon.
Alex Romero ... assistant choreographer

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061830/
Watched online, good print.

7 songs in the Soundtracks.

GK (b. '12) dances a bunch, although not so athletically as in the '50s, still with his panache. Jack (BR) keeps step with him in some scenes, but that's where you see GK's extra style.

The story has been significantly modified to include GK in the action, and give them excuses to dance. He plays Jeremy the peddler who trades the beans for the cow, and he comes by the next morning to make sure Jack is satisfied with his deal. They climb the beanstalk together, and deal with the giant together. The harp is really a princess attached to the harp by the giant's black magic, and says a kiss will release her. The goose is there too, and eventually flies away with them. I didn't notice what prevented the goose's escape before the guys arrived.

Extras also include a large number of mice in the giant's castle, and a couple of dodo-looking birds who dance just like GK (can you say rotoscope?) Also, we finally see Jack's mother after the giant has been felled, and she's young and pretty and Jeremy is attracted.

Good to see GK in fine form. Young Girls of Rochefort is 1 or 2 movies hence in this quest.

Hanna-Barbera Prod., distr. NBC, dir. Kelly; 6+

Schwanensee (1966), 6

Swan Lake, music by Tchaikovsky.
1h 52min | Music | 26 December 1966 | Color, ws
Director: Truck Branss
Stars: Margot Fonteyn, Rudolf Nureyev.
Rudolf Nureyev ... choreographer

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062236/

Watched online, ok print. 

It took a lot of self control not to shut this off. 

This is the great Nureyev and Fonteyn. Supposedly Fonteyn is past her prime, but I wouldn't know.

Nureyev is wearing a ton of makeup, which we get in closeup, not what it was designed for. 

But what bugged me from the start was the corps. If they're supposed to be doing the same moves at the same time, they should be in unison. They ain't. I don't know how much rehearsal time Nureyev had with this company, but it wasn't enough.

In act 1, Nureyev's movement was prancy, effeminate. If he did any good leaping, I missed it.

Again, I feel that ballet has a rigidity that turns me off. Part of it is the spine almost always being straight. But also, it's as though they can only move into positions that have names, and that is just too limiting.

The camera work was no treat either. One of Nureyev's leaps that I did catch chopped off his head. Any golden-era (studio) H'wood cameraman (and they were men, unfortunately) would have jumped the camera up with him. It's not like he improvised the jump. They did it again when he simply stepped up to his throne, and they stayed with him for several seconds with his head chopped at the eyebrows. It's not as though the queen would have been shorted if they moved the lens up. 

So this was not the performance to warm my heart toward ballet.

Seven Arts Prod. et al, dir. Branss; 6

Evening Primrose (1966) TV, 7

A man becomes part of a secret society of people who live in a department store and quickly falls in love with their leader's young maid.
51m | Comedy, Drama, Musical | Episode aired 16 November 1966 | b/w, fs
Director: Paul Bogart
Stars: Anthony Perkins, Dorothy Stickney, Larry Gates, Charmian Carr.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060384/

Watched online, ok print.

7 songs in the Soundtracks by Stephen Sondheim.

An episode of the series ABC Stage 67, which has 26 episodes on IMDb. Feels a lot like a Twilight Zone ('59-'64) episode pretty quickly, except with songs.

CC plays the young maid, and has been in the store since age 6 when she wandered away from her mother and fell asleep, and the leader of the hidden people wants a maid.

Flaws in the narrative: although we have a night watchman they dodge by freezing in place like mannequins, it's not clear where they are while the store is open. Also, when does the cleaning crew work? I didn't count, but the residents number more than a half dozen, so I'm wondering why the cafeteria doesn't notice the food shortages.

I won't reveal more about the plot, but the ending befits a TZ episode as well.

ABC, dir. Bogart; 7

Spinout (1966), 6-

Band singer/race driver Mike McCoy must choose between marrying a beautiful rich girl and driving her father's car in a prestigious race.
1h 30min | Comedy, Musical, Romance | 14 December 1966 | Color, ws
Director: Norman Taurog
Stars: Elvis Presley, Shelley Fabares, Deborah Walley, Jack Mullaney, Carl Betz.

Jack Baker ... stager: musical numbers

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061015/
Watched online, ok print.

9 songs in the Soundtracks.

Apparently reverse psychology always works, at least on this EP.

He's got 3 women who want to marry him: an heiress SF, a popularly read psychologist specializing in males pursuing women, and the drummer in his band DW, although she doesn't emerge as a contender until the end. He marries none of them, but they each get hitched at the end.

He wins the sports car race after ceding several minutes at the start. This is one of the races that the drivers have to run for their cars at the start, and extra people decide to drive. So he tries his sedan (no gas), and then a rival is disqualified because he car didn't start, but EP can start it. The minus on my rating is for this set of circumstances, especially since one rogue driver is highly incompetent, and therefore dangerous.

distr. MGM, dir. Taurog; 6-

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966), 5

A wily slave must unite a virgin courtesan and his young smitten master to earn his freedom.
1h 39min | Comedy, Musical | 16 October 1966 | Color, ws
Director: Richard Lester
Stars: Zero Mostel, Phil Silvers, Buster Keaton, Michael Crawford, Jack Gilford.
Ethel Martin ... dances by (as George and Ethel Martin)
George Martin ... dances by (as George and Ethel Martin)

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060438/

7 songs in the Soundtracks, but 2 are reprises.

IMDb rating is 7.0 with 7450+ votes.

Previously rated 5 on 2014-12-25, I see no need to change it today. This is a show whose point I do not get. I don't find it funny. I'm not offended, I just don't get it. And because I get bored early on, I can't recount the plot, or rather, the sequence of events.

Slave ZM wants to buy his freedom. He earns money however he can, for instance by gambling (cheating?). The son MC of his owners is soon to be initiated to the ways of love and/or married, and is smitten by a slave courtesan in the market next door. ZM negotiates with the market owner PS, and but she is already betrothed to a soldier of high standing. ZM tricks PS into believing she has the plague, so he releases her. Not sure what/who he was planning to give to the soldier. Not sure why ZM pretends to be PS, with PS's consent. 

Eventually ZM has the bright idea to substitute JG dressed as a woman, supposedly dead, to the soldier, who wants her cremated. Something prevents MC getting together with the original intended for the soldier. We get a scene in the colosseum where gladiators are training. Eventually JG and PS are revealed. Not sure how they get off the hook. BK, who's been wandering haphazardly looking for his long ago abducted children, happens on the scene, and because the soldier and his intended are both wearing rings (rings that they've had since childhood?) bearing the 7 geese, they are his children. Everybody sing again. The End.

Comedy is hard. And if I don't like the players, or acquire some reason to care about them, I don't know if I engage with the comedy. It's not that I don't like ZM; I like him fine in The Producers ('67), and his character is more despicable there. So I really don't know why I don't like this. Certainly it's sexist, with the use of women either as slave girls/courtesans or shrew wife (mother of MC). The "best" slave was the one who couldn't speak. But really, I'm not offended by those things; they're normal for this time. Maybe this is just not sufficiently absurd for me.

I had thought Gregory Hines (b. '46) was here. Silly me, that is History of the World, Part I ('81), which is his first film. Only off by a decade and a half. 

distr. UA, dir. Lester; 5

A Man Called Adam (1966), 7 b/w, ws

A famous jazz trumpeter finds himself unable to cope with the problems of everyday life.
1h 39min | Drama, Music | 3 August 1966 | b/w, ws
Director: Leo Penn
Stars: Sammy Davis Jr., Louis Armstrong, Ossie Davis, Cicely Tyson, Frank Sinatra Jr., Mel Tormé, Peter Lawford, Johnny Brown.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060660/
Watched online, ok print. Several interruptions during playback, disconnected site.

12 songs in the Soundtracks.

The first thing I did when it finished playing was see how much to buy a copy. (At least $11).

I don't know if I like the film. But it is very good. I want to see it again, uninterrupted.

SD is a very troubled, clearly sick (coughing) jazz trumpet/singing star. He's faced a lot of racism, and one night (10 years past) drove drunk and killed his wife and child, and blinded one of his sidemen, whom he still employs with him. So it should not surprise that he is self destructive.

We see some of the racism he faces, and his volatility. I'm surprised he's only hooked on alcohol, because something stronger would seem attractive in his situation.

4th film for CT. I didn't get any farther than IMDb's info to see when she was with Miles Davis, except that apparently she was on an album cover of his in '67; they were married in the '80s. I know she nursed him during his final years (d. '91). In this film, she was trying to nurse SD through his troubles, and I kept thinking of MD, also a trumpeter.

distr. Embassy Pictures, dir. Penn; 7

The Man Called Flintstone (1966), 6-

In this feature-length film based on the "Flintstones" TV show, secret agent Rock Slag is injured during a chase in Bedrock. Slag's chief decides to replace the injured Slag with Fred ... 
1h 29min | Animation, Action, Adventure | 3 August 1966 | Color, ws
Directors: Joseph Barbera, William Hanna
Stars: Alan Reed, Mel Blanc, Jean Vander Pyl.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060661/
Watched online, good print, but cropped for fs.

3 songs in the Soundtracks, but there are more. Per Wikipedia, the Soundtrack album has 12 tracks, but 5 are instrumental.

AFI agrees:

"Pensate Amore," "The Man Called Flintstone," "Team Mates," "Spy Type Guy," "The Happy Sounds of Paree," "When I'm Grown Up" and "Tickle Toddle," music and lyrics by John McCarthy and Doug Goodwin

Spy spoof with yabba dabba doo. As tedious as it sounds. The only thing that lives it up are the songs, but not so much.

Did all the "rock" and "stone" names sound clever to children, or anyone? The TV show ran '60-'66. I remember watching it. Don't remember loving it.

The animation here is as limited as the show's was; I suppose if the motion was more fluid, it wouldn't be faithful to the concept or the characters.

Hanna-Barbera Prod., distr. Columbia, dir. Barbera & Hanna; 6-

The Daydreamer (1966), 5 Color, fs

An anthology of fairy tales by Hans Christian Andersen: "The Little Mermaid," "The Emperor's New Clothes," "Thumbelina" and "The Garden of Paradise."
1h 41min | Animation, Adventure, Drama | June 1966 | Color, fs
Director: Jules Bass
Stars: Tallulah Bankhead, Victor Borge, Patty Duke, Jack Gilford, Sessue Hayakawa, Margaret Hamilton, Burl Ives, Boris Karloff, Hayley Mills, Cyril Ritchard, Terry-Thomas, Ed Wynn, Ray Bolger.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060283/
Watched online, ok print.

2 songs in the Soundtracks. Should not be a Musical.

Clearly aimed at children.

Some scenes are stop motion puppetry, some live action. I suppose the boy is supposed to he Hans Christian Andersen, called Chris here, because every time he falls asleep he dreams one of Andersen's tales, and he is a participant.

I really only remember the Emperor's New Clothes, and by the time that rolled around, I was thoroughly bored and not paying much attention, so I can't even say if that was well done.

distr. Embassy Pictures, dir. Bass; 5

Hold On! (1966), 5-

British beat group Herman's Hermits, on tour in the USA, is offered an opportunity to have a spaceship named after the group. Several people seem to care whether it happens or not.
1h 25min | Musical, Comedy | 12 August 1966 | Color, ws
Director: Arthur Lubin
Stars: Peter Noone, Shelley Fabares, Sue Ane Langdon, Herbert Anderson, Bernard Fox.

Wilda Taylor ... choreographer

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060512/
Watched online, good print.

11 songs in Soundtracks, 1 without performers.

I know this director from a bunch of Abbott & Costello films. This is his penultimate; the last is released in '71.

I'm rather unpleasantly surprised that I recognized Peter Noone's name. I wasn't a fan of Herman's Hermits, and I was 12 when this film was released. I don't think of them as being popular very long, but there were around enough that they imprinted on my memory.

SF plays girl that PN pursues. SL is an actress pretending to know HH so that she can get publicity. HA is a state department functionary/victim (he gets a lot of liquids dumped on him), and BF is the HH manager.

The Gemini space rocket is named HH based on votes by astronauts' children. Don't remember why the state dept had to get involved. HA needs to learn more about HH, perhaps to get bio info for P.R. purposes? (I can picture the scene where they're discussing this, but not the rationale.) Events lead State to think they can name the rocket something else, but youth stage protests, and HH is reinstated as the name.

Then HH is required to be in Florida for the launch, but they have a concert in the Rose Bowl at the same time. So the Air Force uses their new hyperspeed plane that travels 3k miles per hour, and shuttles the boy back and forth during the concert. (I don't think the time zones make sense here. I think of launches as being early in the day and concerts being at night, or late afternoon at least. Both are shown as daylight events.)

Good news: only 1 more HH movie in '68. IMDb users agree with me: rated 4.6 with 230+ votes.

distr. MGM, dir. Lubin; 5-

Fireball 500 (1966), 5-

Stock car racer Dave Owens plays into the hands of whiskey runners by agreeing to drive in a cross-country road race. He is assisted by Jane Harris and Sonny Leander Fox. 
1h 32min | Action, Comedy, Drama | 7 June 1966 | Color, ws
Director: William Asher
Stars: Frankie Avalon, Annette Funicello, Fabian.
Christopher Riordan ... choreographer (as Ronnie Riordan)

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060415/

Watched online, mediocre print.

6 songs in the Soundtracks.

This is heavy on the drama. Did people really want to see FA and Fabian fist-fighting? 

Harvey Lembeck is here, as is Michael Nader, briefly. HL plays a moonshine boss and race track manager/owner. MN is another driver who gets killed driving moonshine, and the contents are somehow stolen, even though the car crashed down a ravine. FA also crashes but survives, and his car's contents are also stolen down the same ravine. I wonder how prevalent moonshining was by '66. I remember the idea of a second tank for alcohol on cars like this, and not from this film. 

The race cars looked older than the poster shows. They were stock cars from the 50's. And they're just driving around a track, not cross-country. I think they also drive Daytona for the final race.

 AF is gf to Fabian. Another actress pursues and ends up with FA.

Really quite dull.

AIP, dir. Asher; 5-

Paradise, Hawaiian Style (1966), 6

Rick Richards is a helicopter pilot who wants to set up a charter flying service in Hawaii -- along the way he makes some friends, including a young Hawaiian girl and her father, romances Judy Hudson, and sings a few songs.
1h 31min | Musical, Comedy | 15 June 1966 | Color, ws
Director: Michael D. Moore (as Michael Moore)
Stars: Elvis Presley, Suzanna Leigh, James Shigeta.
Jack Regas ... stager: musical numbers

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059563/

Watched online: part 1, part 2, ok copy.

11 songs in the Soundtracks.

Pleasant surroundings, lots of songs, more individual girls than I could track (maybe 5?).

He's not making friends along the way. These are all established relationships, including the 5 girls around the islands. He cultivates them to send business his way; they all work where they meet people who want transport.

Drama is added by a charter of 5+ dogs, not in crates. The helicopter is a 2-seater, and the dogs are hungry and demanding attention, climbing all over EP and useful girl #n. They get in the way of flying the chopper, so he buzzes some pineapple pickers, an aviation official and his wife in a car, and also angers the dog owner since they get some cuts and bandages midflight on their way to a dog show.

So EP's partner is away all day trying to smoothe these troubles, and EP goes on a trip with his partner's 8 yo daughter. They meet another of EP's useful girls, who wants too much attention and tosses the copter key in the sand. They search for hours, only to find it when worried father also finds them. He angrily dissolves their partnership.

But on the way back home, pappa forgets to refuel, and crash lands, then breaks his leg. EP gets notified he's grounded for 30 days, but goes up anyway to find his friend. The aviation official forgives him. All the useful girls show up at the same party, and EP sings another song.

It's tripe, but it's fun tripe.

Wallis-Hazen, distr. Paramount, dir. Moore; 6

The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini (1966), 5-

A corpse has 24 hours to mastermind a good deed without leaving his crypt, to go "up there" and have his youth restored.
1h 22min | Comedy, Horror, Musical | 6 April 1966 | Color, ws
Director: Don Weis
Stars: Tommy Kirk, Deborah Walley, Aron Kincaid, Quinn O'Hara, Jesse White, Harvey Lembeck, Nancy Sinatra, Basil Rathbone, Patsy Kelly, Boris Karloff.

Jack Baker ... choreographer

Christopher Riordan ... assistant choreographer (uncredited)

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060457/

Watched online, ok print.

5 songs in the Soundtracks, far fewer than normal. NS sang once.

BK is not onscreen much; he plays the corpse. But he has to stay in his crypt; he has a former acquaintance (dead 32 years longer than he) who's doing his bidding. She is the titular ghost in the titular bikini. Said bikini is invisible because they used chromakey to make the bikini area disappear.

HL is again Eric von Zipper, along with his gang.

We have a replacements for Buster Keaton and blonde; the actor's face and name are unfamiliar.

BR is the primary baddie, as the lawyer for the estate who wants its proceeds. So he has a bevy of helpers haunting/attacking the heirs who've come to the mansion for the reading of the will. But he doesn't know where the treasure is hidden, so they all have to run around the grounds to find it and to survive.

We also have a double-decker busload of teens who are friends of PK's nephew, and they dance in bikinis, then in short nighties during the long end credits (AIP is still the only ones doing this).

IMDb rating 3.9 with 800+ votes. I already know I don't like Horror, and Comedy Horror isn't any more appealing. (You probably have to like or at least appreciate the original before you can like the spoof?) It might be insulting to say this didn't annoy me enough earn 4.

distr. AIP, dir. Weis; 5-

Frankie and Johnny (1966), 6

A riverboat singer with a weakness for gambling wants to find his lucky red head, but his girlfriend Frankie is not amused.
1h 27min | Comedy, Musical, Romance | 31 March 1966 | Color, ws
Director: Frederick De Cordova (as Frederick de Cordova)
Stars: Elvis Presley, Donna Douglas, Harry Morgan, Sue Ane Langdon, Nancy Kovack.

Earl Barton ... stager: musical numbers

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060429/

Watched online: part 1, part 2, ok print.

12 songs in the Soundtracks, all performed by EP.

I don't think EP got involved with SL this time; she's after his boss. But the boss is after NK, as is EP for luck. But DD is jealous, and she and EP are paired. SL - boss - NK - EP - DD. Need another man to make a hexagon, or a really progressive script.

For people who like to hear EP sing, this has you covered. If you like to see him brawl, you get some of that. If you want him to kiss some girls, another check.

The script is different enough from other EP movies to make it worth the price of admission.

And this is distributed by yet another studio. Maybe he needs to keep moving to collect different scripts? All this studio-hopping is very different than the older days, and has me confused.

distr. UA, dir. De Cordova; 6

The Singing Nun (1966), 6

Young and inexperienced Sister Ann has just arrived at her next posting at Samaritan House, a Dominican order located in a disreputable neighborhood of Ghent, Belgium. 
1h 37min | Biography, Drama, Family | 2 April 1966 | Color, ws
Director: Henry Koster
Stars: Debbie Reynolds, Ricardo Montalban, Greer Garson, Agnes Moorehead, Chad Everett, Katharine Ross.
Robert Sidney ... choreographer

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060983/
Watched online: part 1, part 2, good print.

11 songs in the Soundtracks, no performers.

According to her IMDb biography, the real Singing Nun, who gets songwriting credits here, quit being a nun and came to a tragic end in '85.

I just found some recordings of Dominque online, including one that's supposed to be the nun, and one of Gisele MacKenzie singing it. I think I remember GM singing it on the Ed Sullivan Show. He appears in this film recording the nun in Belgium for his TV show.

RM plays an overly enthusiastic priest who ropes DR into singing to benefit the convent/order financially, and to spread the prayers she sings.

DR is unsure of herself as a missionary, and does a poor job dealing with the local slum dwellers. Her ambition is to go to Africa, and she reaches it at the end of the film.

This is a pleasant film, with nice songs sung well by DR. I almost gave this a 7, because it's so much more pleasant than the bikini films. But it's really not something I'd recommend.

MGM, dir. Koster; 6

The Silencers (1966), 5

Retired agent Matt Helm is re-activated in order to stop an evil organization from exploding an atom bomb over the USA and starting WWIII.
1h 42min | Action, Adventure, Comedy | 18 February 1966 | Color, ws
Director: Phil Karlson
Stars: Dean Martin, Stella Stevens, Daliah Lavi.
Robert Sidney ... choreographer

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060980/
Watched online, blurry.

12 songs performed in the Soundtracks.

I haven't watched much James Bond, but this would appear to be imitating that, but infusing a bit of humor and a bit of singing.

Things are getting smuttier by the month, and the MPAA rating system doesn't start  until Nov 1, '68. Here we get some strippers during the opening credits, and one takes off her bikini bottom, hiding herself behind a large feather boa.

Cyd Charisse is here for a short time, also dancing & singing at this strip club, but not removing much. Nonetheless, one of her costumes was pretty tacky, although it revealed no skin. She gets killed mid-grind.

Also here briefly is Beverly Adams, who will apparently have more to do in the next Matt Helm flick.

Very brief appearance by Nancy Kovak, who gets killed off after only a few lines.

The plot is typical evil "genius" stuff, with some enemy taking over our firing of a test atomic missile, and DM is racing against time toward that scheduled launch. (Why can't our government delay it if they know it's at risk?)

Our side, including DM, can't seem know which people are agents. They think an innocent is an enemy agent, and don't realize one of their own is a double agent.

This isn't even appreciated by IMDb'rs, notoriously young males who should like this. The rating is 6.1 with 2k+ votes.

Columbia, dir. Karlson; 5

Inside Daisy Clover (1965), 7

A tomboy turned movie star deals with the cruelty of Hollywood.
2h 8min | Drama, Music, Romance | 22 December 1965 | Color, ws
Director: Robert Mulligan
Stars: Natalie Wood, Christopher Plummer, Robert Redford, Ruth Gordon, Roddy McDowall.

Herbert Ross ... musical numbers staging

Howard Jeffrey ... assistant to choreographer

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059314/

7 songs in the Soundtracks, only 2 performed (by NW).

Doesn't really qualify as a musical, but it is about a musical star.

I don't understand why H'wood makes these self-loathing studies. To be clear: it is H'wood that hates itself, not a particular person. They've made countless films about how horrid a showbiz career is, and this one targets the movie industry itself. Maybe with full disclosure about how badly you'll be treated if you join the H'wood industry, they can continue the abuse?

NW comes from a dysfunctional home. Mother RG is not quite sane, her husband left 7 years earlier, and NW (b. '38) is 15 when we meet her. She makes a record, sends it to a movie studio, and they send for her (she lives in a run-down Santa Monica-like pier district). The year is '36.

I won't recount all that happens to her, and it's not as abusive as it could be, but it's still pretty bad. 

The ending is sort of hopeful, but in a very dark way.

Warner, dir. Mulligan; 7

A Swingin' Summer (1965), 5-

Beach party escapade features a bookworm with glasses who learns to "groove", as she attempts to sing "Ready to Groove."
1h 20min | Comedy, Musical, Romance | 1965 | Color, ws
Director: Robert Sparr
Stars: James Stacy, William Wellman Jr., Quinn O'Hara, ..., Raquel Welch, Allan Jones.
Michael Blodgett ... choreographer

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059771/

Watched online, poor print: blurry, pan/scan cropped then stretched to ws again.

7 songs in the Soundtracks, 2 performed by Gary Lewis and the Playboys, 1 by the Righteous Brothers, 1 by RW, 1 with no performer. It seems like GL&P did more songs than that; they're all instrumental, no lyrics. GL does look like his dad.

RW is the bookworm; she looks a bit more Latina with glasses and her hair bound. This is her 4th of 37 film credits, the first where her character has a name.

AJ (b. '07) appears in 1 scene that I saw, and did not sing. He still looks good at this age.

This was a chore to watch, especially with the awful print. 

The plot is about the male duo of JS & WW trying to make a go of the dance hall at Big Bear/Lake Arrowhead. But they're college kids, and have only $200 to start, but need $1k. QH, gf of WW, has rich daddy, and she arranges the financing without WW's permission. 

They have no problem booking acts, hence the songs performed.

They run into various opposing locals. 1 challenges JS to a contest of chicken on water skis, where they somehow ski toward each other. Another hires some gangsterish thugs to attack WW during the dance. Other impromptu fights have happened before these.

Elvis films have plenty of fist fights, and maybe this was trying to imitate that. But here they got plenty dirty during a fight in shallow water, and with the extreme closeups caused by pan/scan cropping, then distorted by the widescreen stretch, it was extra unpleasant. During this fight, I really noticed that no one was calling for calm or for the fight to end. A bunch of people were standing there passively. And during the game of chicken, when 1 of them got knocked on his behind, looking unconscious, I cringed when they lifted him into the boat, wondering what modern rescuers would secure (neck/back).

So this is really unpleasant in many ways.

WW is really handsome, as is JS. I've seen JS previously, and his future motorcycle accident looms large in my mind, since he loses an arm and a leg.

indie, dir. Sparr; 5-

Harum Scarum (1965), 6

American singer Johnny Tyrone is enlisted by sinister forces to assassinate an Arab king whose daughter he has fallen in love with.
1h 35min | Comedy, Crime, Musical | 15 December 1965 | Color, ws
Director: Gene Nelson
Stars: Elvis Presley, Mary Ann Mobley, Fran Jeffries, Michael Ansara, Billy Barty.

Earl Barton ... choreographer

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059255/
Watched online, mediocre print.

10 songs in the Soundtracks, 2 without performers.

The songs were not dominant here, the plot was.  Movie star EP is recruited by the Assassins to kill the king of some remote territory that has not yet exploited its oil resources. (Why the brother MA couldn't kill his rival is not clear. He was in charge of his security. Loyal guards?)

The Assassins have a beautiful lieutenant FJ who distracts EP before he's kidnapped. The king has a beautiful daughter MM who EP meets in their summer palace where she'd hidden to avoid the Assassins. And EP meets a trio of beautiful gypsy/slave girls who want to do his bidding, including a 4th who is less than 10, but dancing in imitation of the older girls; cringeworthy.

Although we're clearly in Muslim territory (Ramadan is mentioned often), none of the women cover their heads. That would be inconvenient in an EP movie.

The print was blurry, so I didn't watch the action to see how well it was executed. EP was clearly in his martial arts phase.

This was a breath of fresh air after all the Beach and Beach' movies. But I can't say that I liked it.

distr. MGM, dir. Nelson; 6

Beach Ball (1965), 5-

Edd Byrnes tries to get an ethnic-music-studies grant to buy instruments for his rock and roll group, the Wigglers. College-finance-committee members Chris Noel, Gail Gilmore, Mikki Jameson... 
1h 23min | Comedy, Musical | 29 September 1965 | Color, ws
Director: Lennie Weinrib
Stars: Edd Byrnes, Chris Noel, Robert Logan.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058952/
Watched online, blurry and cropped to fs.

11 songs in the Soundtracks: 2 by The Supremes, 1 by (Frankie Valli and) the Four Seasons, 1 by the Righteous Brothers, 1 without performer.

I didn't recognize the song/voices of the Righteous Brothers, but I saw their faces. Frankie Valli's voice jumped out at me, but notice his name is not yet separate. The Supremes sang about surfing and about a beach ball; really bad songs, amazing that they're credited to Dozier/Holland/Dozier.

The plot, about the boys trying to get money to pay the installment on their instruments involves a college tuition loan organization run by gullible students, a car racing opportunity, a talent contest, attempted borrowing from skydiving and scuba diving friends while pursuing their sports.

It was awful, almost annoying enough for a 4, but not quite.

Those Beach movies must have been making big bucks for Paramount to try cashing in like this.

distr. Paramount, dir. Weinrib; 5-

Second Fiddle to a Steel Guitar (1965), 5-

This country music jamboree is noteworthy for being the last time that Leo Gorcey and Huntz Hall appeared in a movie together.
1h 47min | Comedy, Music | 15 September 1965 | Color, ws
Director: Victor Duncan
Stars: Arnold Stang, Pamela Hayes, Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059692/
Watched online, mediocre print, which looked fs.

Only 2 songs in the Soundtracks, but dozens were performed onscreen.

This is a countrysploitation film, with precious little plot. 

The plot was silly and badly executed: AS is a country music fan; his wife likes opera. She's a social climber who wants to make points by bringing an opera to Nashville. But the company she hired bails out, so AS gathers a bunch of country acts, readily available in Nashville.

HH & LG are her helpers, mostly handling brooms at the theatre.

The only country act familiar to me was Minnie Pearl. A couple of acts got cute, imitating their more famous brethren, like Johnny Cash.

Country music is too much about heartache, mostly caused by cheatin'. And the lyrics tell all the details. Not my favorite. One of the songs near the beginning was a little livelier, but the vast majority were exactly what the film title advertised.

indie, dir. Duncan; 5

How to Stuff a Wild Bikini (1965), 5

Frankie, on naval-reserve duty in Tahiti, doesn't trust Dee Dee to stay faithful, so he hires Bwana, a witch doctor, to help. Bwana conjures up a floating bikini, "stuffs" it with Cassandra... 
1h 33min | Comedy, Musical | 14 July 1965 | Color, ws
Director: William Asher
Stars: Annette Funicello, Dwayne Hickman, Brian Donlevy, Harvey Lembeck, Beverly Adams, Buster Keaton, Michael Nader, Mickey Rooney, Frankie Avalon, Elizabeth Montgomery.

Jack Baker ... choreographer

Christopher Riordan ... assistant choreographer (uncredited)

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059287/
Watched online, ok print.

12 songs in the Soundtracks, but some are Very brief.

Most of the Beach movies have an IMDb rating 5.n; this is 4.4 with almost 1k votes. I don't see the difference.

This time BK is the witch doctor (with non-speaking cameo as more powerful daughter by EM, dir. Asher's wife and current star of Bewitched ('64-'72, TV)). FA appears very little. He and BK are on/near the Navy base.

HL and his gang are here. HL goes for the stuffed bikini, namely BA (future Beverly Sassoon).

MR and DH are ad men (with BD as their boss), except DH lives at/near the beach, and he goes for AF, who is separated from FA by his reserve duty, and she intends to stay true. The ad men want BA for some campaign.

BK has sent a large pelican to track AF's activity for FA. Since it's magic, the pelican has access anywhere, not just outdoors.

There's a motorcycle race to "select" the boy&girl "next door". Something about enhancing the image of motorcycling? The brother of the creep who tried to saw Linda Evans in a prior film is on hand to try to rig the race, but HL can't remember the traps and tells BA to shut up when he gets reminders via the radio in his helmet.

When AF & DH win the race, she expects marriage before they go on the promo tour, but he refuses. So when FA returns (by magic to speed things up), they reunite.

Maybe this is a little worse than others. Still not annoying enough for 4.

AIP, dir. Ascher; 5

The Great Race (1965), 6- {nm}

A grand adventurous race takes place between the heroic Leslie and the despicable Professor Fate across three continents.
2h 40min || 1 July 1965 | Color, ws
Director: Blake Edwards
Stars: Tony Curtis, Natalie Wood, Jack Lemmon, Peter Falk, Keenan Wynn, Arthur O'Connell, Vivian Vance, Dorothy Provine.
Hermes Pan ... choreographer

Genres: Action | Adventure | Comedy | Family | Musical | Romance | Sport | Western

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059243/

Watched online, blurry print.

8 songs in the Soundtracks, 2 with performers.

Tagged as Musical, it's really, really not. Only the 2 songs with performers are "performed", and only as casual entertainment. Casablanca comes closer to being a musical. I've submitted a deletion, but will remove it from my list of musicals regardless. No idea what HP choreographed.

The only thing saving this from a 5 is that I rated it 6 before, and the print was very blurry. That's bad in a film with a lot of sight gags. And since that was a Netflix rating, it might deserve a 5 after all. 14k+ voters give it an average of 7.3.

The enormous pie fight at the end is quite the spectacle. I tried to imagine them shouting "Cut. Reset." and how long that reset would take, and how many people to clean the room and the costumes.

Warner, dir. Edwards; 6-

Ski Party (1965), 5

On a college ski weekend, Todd and Craig pretend to be Jane and Nora, a pair of English girls. Their reasons? To meet girls, and to learn to ski. 
1h 30min | Comedy, Musical | 30 June 1965 | Color, ws
Director: Alan Rafkin
Stars: Frankie Avalon, Dwayne Hickman, Deborah Walley, Yvonne Craig.
Christopher Riordan ... assistant choreographer (uncredited)

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059726/
Watched online, ok print.

7 songs in the Soundtracks.

Todd and Craig are FA and DH.

Annette Funicello makes an appearance, a couple of times, as the professor to this pair of guys. The book they're reading in the class is Fun without Sex.

We do manage to get a dance in bikinis. Just social dancing, indoors (at a pool?) at the ski lodge.

DH or FA does actually reference Some Like It Hot ('59) by name. This is a pale, anemic imitation of that.

This is very single-minded: the 2 guys want to learn how to get more action along sexual lines. That's it. The fact that a guy is attracted to DH as a girl just complicates things a bit.

The only things worthwhile in the whole film, saving it from being a 5-, are 2 songs:

• Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows, Performed by Lesley Gore 
• I Got You (I Feel Good), Performed by James Brown and the Famous Flames 

One more of these this year, one next year, and one in '87.

AIP, dir. Rafkin; 5

Tickle Me (1965), 5

A singing rodeo rider hires on at an expensive all-women dude ranch and beauty spa. He falls for a pretty fitness trainer who is constantly threatened by a gang who wants her late grandfather's cache of gold hidden in a ghost town.
1h 30min | Comedy, Musical, Romance | 30 June 1965 | Color, ws
Director: Norman Taurog
Stars: Elvis Presley, Julie Adams, Jocelyn Lane, Jack Mullaney.
David Winters ... choreographer

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056585/

Watched online, ok print.

9 songs in the Soundtracks.

I don't remember hearing anything in the film to justify the title. And the title is so bad, that you're expecting a horrid film, no?

It is horrid. It suffers from the too many plot strings, not enough weaving syndrome of the Beach films: rodeo (and he falls off every animal, because he's love-sick), diet ranch, hidden treasure, ghost town with ghosts (I didn't pay close enough attention to find out who they really were, probably the gang mentioned in the synopsis above), and to cap it all off, EP gets married at the end (that's new). At least that's what the sign on the back of his car says; we didn't see the wedding.

It feels like a bad Abbott and Costello movie, without competent comedians. JM comes close, and in the ghost town, he runs scared and screams a lot.

I think I'd rather watch the news than this, and I haven't watched the news for a month (it's so icky these days, even just the headlines).

Allied Artists Pictures, dir. Taurog; 5

Willy McBean and His Magic Machine (1965), 5

Little Willy McBean joins up with a Mexican monkey named Pablo to travel back in time and stop the evil Prof. von Rotten from changing history.
1h 34min | Animation, Adventure, Family | 23 June 1965 | Color, ws
Director: Arthur Rankin Jr.
Stars: Larry D. Mann, Billie Mae Richards, Alfie Scopp.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0192803/
Watched online, ok print.

9 songs in the Soundtracks.

Stop motion puppetry.

For a genius who invents a "magic" time machine, this professor has a poor sense of order. He has a list of events he wants to take credit for, but he hops around history in random fashion: Tombstone AZ to defeat Buffalo Bill at quick draw (I thought he was expert at sure shot), usurp Christopher Columbus as discoverer of the New World, supplant King Arthur, create the great stone monuments of Egypt in his image, invent fire (with his likeness painted on a cave wall). Seems like you should go in sequence, read the new history books to check the effect, then go to the next in sequence. 

But it doesn't matter, of course, because the monkey the inventor trained to speak has escaped his cage, and recognizing the inventor's evil, stole his plans and found a random little boy who understands relativity, the inventor's diagrams, and builds a duplicate "magic" time machine. So they chase the inventor through time, thwarting his efforts to take credit for these milestones of history. And the kid does this just so he won't have to relearn the new version of history. Fortunately, they're finished before he has to leave for the first day of school, and he's not even tired.

I wish I could say the songs had clever lyrics, or something was witty about this, but I really can't. No idea why it has a 7.3 rating on IMDb (with 58 votes). Not sufficiently annoying to rate 4.

indie, dir. Rankin; 5