How Sweet It Is! (1968) We hadn't viewed this one since its original 1968 release...........surprisingly, it came off less grotesque and antiquated than the usual cinematic 1960's time capsules we unearth for this blog......
Once again, a director and writers weaned on 1950's situation comedy make a woeful, clueless attempt to depict the youth rebellions of the late 60's.........but they keep everything moving along so fast, you hardly notice the museum-piece quality of the filmmaking.
So the result here doesn't quite descend to the smarmy depths of something like '68's "The Impossible Years" (see our post on 5/7/20).......
And ultimately, the movie isn't even all that interested in its half-hearted portrayal of teenage fledgling hippies........other than a few exhausted gags....(the hippies-in-training giving themselves groovy highs by watching horizontal and vertical static lines on TV)......
What it's really about, especially in its final third, is the mid-life crisis of a 40-something married couple (Debbie Reynolds, James Garner).......
They seem to enjoy a robust sex life, complete with fantasy role playing and a hula skirt for Debbie, but a trip to Europe upends them.......
They're chaperoning their teen son and a gaggle of teen girls....(the son's a simpering, whimpering hippie-in-training who needs a Dwayne Johnson-sized shot of testosterone.) Garner's there to photo-shoot the girls for a magazine, while Debbie's parked in a Riviera villa owned by an overly amorous French lawyer (Maurice Ronet)
We're skipping the laborious plot machinations, which sends us to sleep just thinking about them.....except for Debbie's attack of Middle Age Crazy, which puts her in a raincoat and a blue bikini for almost the entire final half hour of the film........
Once in the bikini, she at first shyly hides behind shrubbery, but in no time at all, she's rockin' the outfit......and using the raincoat accessory to flash views of a her belly like a pre-1980's Times Square pervert........(so you can hardly blame a frenzied French chef, who when flashed by Debbie, immediately starts motorboating her midriff)
More rib-tickling riotous wreckage ensues, (that was sarcasm, by the way).....leading to the film's penultimate sequence - a full scale Bordello melee featuring embarrassed customers fleeing with their pants on backwards and whores dressed up as Little Bo Beep......complete with sheep.
Despite the tumultuous year of its release, "How Sweet It Is" remains steadfastly 1950's Hollywood product.......with Debbie and Jim happily reconciled and back on their way to all-American hula skirt humping in Suburbia......
The only way you'd know for sure it was made in 1968 is the tell-tale split-screen montage of Garner posing the teen girls in front of the Mona Lisa........accompanied by a typically overwrought, syrupy Jimmy Webb song......(don't blink and you'll spot a young Penny Marshall as one of the girls).......
And one moment truly startled us....... Garner's wormy son prattles on about how unafraid he is to tour Europe on his own, because Hippie Love will change life ''all around the world",
.......to which Garner replies, "I've been around the world, son. Take a gun"
Wow........ for a few fleeing seconds a time capsule artifact like "How Sweet It Is!" stands ahead of its time......2 stars (**)
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