For Those Who Think Young

For Those Who Think Young.

On one hand it was the slogan for Pepsi-Cola advertising in the 60's. It was so popular in fact that an entire movie was built around it: United Artists' 1964 beach party knock-off entitled...you guessed it...For Those Who Think Young.  The producers figured it was a great way to not only cash in on the beach party craze sweeping the nation but to shamelessly plug Pepsi-Cola product along the way. James Darren stands in for Frankie Avalon and our lovely Miss Tiffin subs for Annette Funicello.

The plot is reed thin: Rich playboy "Ding" (yes, you read that right) Pruitt (Darren) falls and woos pretty college co-ed Sandy Palmer (Tiffin).  All the while his stodgy grandfather is scheming to close down the local college hang out where Sandy's uncles (Woody Woodbury and Paul Lynde) perform, a sultry stripper by the name of "Topaz McQueen" (Tina Louise) struts her stuff and where the gang hangs out to dance, laugh and drink their fair share of Pepsi-Cola. In between all this the viewer is subjected to the corny routines of Woody Woodbury.

Oh and James Darren warbles the title tune over the opening credits.

It's a rather brain-less affair and wastes the considerable talents of Pamela, James Darren, Bob Denver, Paul Lynde, Nancy Sinatra, Tina Louise and an up and coming actress named Ellen McRae, who would go on to greater fame as Ellen Burstyn.  The film is definitely a curiosity in the beach party movie genre but in my honest opinion it is not one of it's most shining examples.

Give me five straight viewing of Beach Blanket Bingo before having to endure this dog again.

I found it rather hard to sit through and to be honest the only reason I did was to see Pamela Tiffin at the height of her beauty.

In Tom Lisanti's excellent book, Fantasy Femmes of Sixties Cinema, Pamela is quoted as saying that she felt her co-star Tina Louise was one of the most beautiful women she had ever seen in her life and that her beauty was just a miracle of nature.

It takes one to know one.