CINEMA RETRO COLUMNIST TOM LISANTI RELIVES THE MIXED PLEASURES OF ELVIS PRESLEY'S 1965 HIT GIRL HAPPY
Elvis Presley (Rusty
Wells), Shelley Fabares (Valerie),
Harold J. Stone (Big Frank), Gary
Crosby (Andy), Joby Baker (Wilbur), Nita Talbot (Sunny Daze), Mary Ann Mobley (Deena), Fabrizio Mioni (Romano), Jimmy Hawkins (Doc), Jackie Coogan (Sergeant Benson), Peter Brooks (Brentwood Von Durgenfeld), John Fielder
(Mr. Penchill), Chris Noel (Betsy), Lyn Edgington (Laurie), Gail Gilmore (Nancy), Pamela Curran (Bobbie), Rusty Allen (Linda), George Cisar (Bartender at the Kit Kat Club), Nancy
Czar (Blonde on the Beach), Jim
Dawson (Muscle Boy), Mike De Anda (Burt), Darren Dublin (Driver), Tommy Farrell (Louie), Ted Fish (Garbage Man), Milton Frome (Police
Captain), Norman Grabowski (‘Wolf
Call’ O’Brien), Dan Haggerty (Charlie),
Alan Hanley (Waiter #1), Ralph Lee (Officer Jones), Richard Reeves (Officer Wilkins), Olan Soule (Waiter #2). Not credited: Lori Williams, Beverly Adams,
Theresa Cooper, Stasa Damascus, Hank Jones, Kent McCord, Julie Payne (College Boys and Girls).
Continuing with my Sixties Hollywood surf movie survey, it
seems everyone tried to cash in on AIP’s Beach
Party during 1964-1966 even Elvis Presley who starred in the Spring Break
musical, Girl Happy.
Produced by Joe Pasternak for MGM, Girl Happy was a combination of the studio’s Where the Boys Are and Beach
Party. Elvis along with his band
members Joby Baker, Gary Crosby, and Jimmy Hawkins are sent on spring break in Fort Lauderdale to
secretly chaperone coed Shelley Fabares, the daughter of tough club owner
Harold J. Stone, and other two nubile friends, Chris Noel and Lyn Edgington. Elvis thinks he hooks Fabares up with safe
bookworm Peter Brooks and can enjoy his time in the sun. But every time Elvis gets cozy with sultry
Mary Ann Mobley in a park or his hotel room, Fabares winds up in some sort of
predicament like getting drunk with amorous Italian playboy Fabrizio
Mioni. Elvis and his troupe have to abandon
their girls and rush to her rescue. Trying
not to make the trip a total disaster, Elvis volunteers to “court†Fabares to keep
her away from Mioni. Naturally, he falls
for Shelley but when she learns about his deal with her father, she gets plastered
again and does a striptease at a club, which leads to her arrest and a stint in
the big doll house. Elvis, of course,
comes to Shelley’s rescue and they both confess their love to each other. You didn’t expect it to end any other way now
did you?
Compared to the Frankie & Annette films of this genre, Girl Happy is severely landlocked. Despite the ad campaign, there aren’t many
scenes on the beach. In fact, Elvis is
seen on the seashore only briefly in a montage sequence and a nighttime
production number where he sings “Do the Clam†on a makeshift sand dune. On its own however Girl Happy is pleasant fare and one Elvis’ better post-Viva Las
Vegas movies despite its wafer-thin plot. Though filmed mainly on the back lot, the
colorful production is first rate, the action never lets up, and the film has
that glossy vibrant MGM sheen to it.
Director Boris Sagal keeps the story moving briskly and surrounds Elvis
with a perky, talented supporting cast including standouts Jimmy Hawkins as
naïve Doc and Mary Ann Mobley as a frustrated vixen. Presley seems comfortable with his role and
plays it breezily. He and Shelley
Fabares make a charming couple and have a few tender scenes together.
Though this is a supposed beach movie where the flesh should
be on display, Elvis, sporting a fit and trim physique, is never seen in shorts
or a bathing suit! The film features a
number of handsome actors all who remain covered up. Not so for the gals though as Girl Happy
lives up to its title. There is an array
of bikini-clad cuties on display from the leads Shelley Fabares and Mary Ann
Mobley to the featured performers Chris Noel and Lyn Edgington to bit players
Nancy Czar, a knockout in a leopard print bikini, and Gail Gilmore a.k.a Gail
Gerber.
The popular soundtrack is one of the King’s most varied and
best from this time period. From the
touching “Puppet on a String†to the swinging “Do the Clam†to the romantic “Do
Not Disturb†the songs help buoy the movie and make it fun for Elvis’ core
audience. But despite the enjoyable
soundtrack, Elvis at his mid-sixties peak, and a bevy of gorgeous bikini girls,
hardcore beach party fans may still want to skip this one. For everybody else, Girl Happy is available on DVD and can be ordered by clicking here.
-Tom Lisanti/www.sixtiescinema.com
Look for my new book Trippin’
with Terry Southern: What I Think I Remember, A Memoir by Gail Gerber, with Tom Lisanti next spring