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
