Considering that this was produced by the famously cheapjack and incompetent Sam Katzman, and is one of the 1960s MGM musicals often cited as contributing to the death of the genre, this halfhearted updating of "Girl Crazy" isn't as bad as I'd suspected. Plenty of Gershwin and a surprising amount of the never-good original book are left intact (though Herman's Hermits insist on singing "I'm biding my time/ 'Cause that's the kind of guy I AM," ruining the rhyme), and some amusingly incongruous guest stars -- Liberace, Louis Armstrong -- are thrown in. Heaven knows Connie Francis can't act, but she does fine by "But Not for Me" and "Embraceable You," and opposite her, Harve Presnell is strong-voiced, virile, and more at ease with acting than most tenors. There's a typical mid-'60s supporting cast featuring Fred Clark, Joby Baker, and Sue Ann Langdon (a good comedienne, but not here). Of course it's over-lit and underwritten and cheap-looking, but there's one honest production number for "I Got Rhythm," and the painted backdrops and fast-motion photography contribute some fun cheesiness. An amiable time-waster.
15 Reviews
Girl's Crazy Again
bkoganbing4 September 2017
This is the third version of the Gershwin Brothers popular musical Girl Crazy done for the big screen. Many forget and should and early version with Wheeler&Woolsey. Then there's the classic one Mickey and Judy did in the 40s. Now we have a third version starring Connie Francis and Harve Presnell with all generations of acts to accommodate everyone's taste.
You will accommodate when you get Herman's Hermits, Sam the Sham and the Pharoahs, Liberace, and Louis Armstrong in addition to Connie and Harve singing the Gershwin classics. Material for the guest artists is generously interpolated while the main songs that George and Ira wrote are retained for the leads.
Once again rich Danny Churchill is sent out west for a bit of discipline and he runs into cowgirl Ginger Gray. Such character players as Frank Faylen, Stanley Adams, Fred Clark, Russell Collins are all here. So is Sue Ane Langdon, Harve's golddigging former girlfriend who finds much deeper pockets to mine in the end. She's worth watching for herself alone.
Nice to see Girl Crazy done again this time as When The Boys Meet The Girls. Maybe we'll get another version yet.
You will accommodate when you get Herman's Hermits, Sam the Sham and the Pharoahs, Liberace, and Louis Armstrong in addition to Connie and Harve singing the Gershwin classics. Material for the guest artists is generously interpolated while the main songs that George and Ira wrote are retained for the leads.
Once again rich Danny Churchill is sent out west for a bit of discipline and he runs into cowgirl Ginger Gray. Such character players as Frank Faylen, Stanley Adams, Fred Clark, Russell Collins are all here. So is Sue Ane Langdon, Harve's golddigging former girlfriend who finds much deeper pockets to mine in the end. She's worth watching for herself alone.
Nice to see Girl Crazy done again this time as When The Boys Meet The Girls. Maybe we'll get another version yet.
When the Boys Meet the Girls was a pretty entertaining update of the Gershwins' "Girl Crazy"
tavm26 May 2014
Just watched this cheezy-corny musical comedy on DVD disc. Made in the mid-'60s when the British Invasion was taking hold of Rock-'n'-Roll, When the Boys Meet the Girls took advantage of that by booking Herman's Hermits who not only perform one of their hit songs but also one of the George-Ira Gershwin tunes, "Bidin' My Time". Based on George and Ira's Broadway success-"Girl Crazy"-which had previously been a Mickey Rooney-Judy Garland movie, this wasn't too bad a remake with Connie Francis playing the Judy part and Harve Presnell the Mickey one. They make a fine duo when singing "But Not for Me" or "I Got Rhythm" the latter with a chorus of dancers. We also get Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs, and-for, I guess, the more middle-aged audience stumbling into this-Louis Armstrong and Liberace! Quite an uneven mix but if one's game, it's quite enjoyable. Also liked Sue Ann Langdon as a sexy blonde wanting to marry Presnell, Fred Clark as a potential buyer, and-since I always like to cite a player from my favorite movie, It's a Wonderful Life, in another one-Frank Faylen as Ms. Francis' father. Also amused at some of the undercranking of chase scenes. So on that note, I say When the Boys Meet the Girls is worth a look. P.S. The drummer in Louis' band is one Danny Barcelona who-in an earlier film performance I watched on a Netflix disc called Louis Armstrong and Friends 1962-the Great Satchmo introed as his Filipino wonder though I just found out he was actually born in Hawaii.
It's Girl Crazy Again
lzf07 December 2001
This is the third film version of the Gershwins' Broadway hit, "Girl Crazy". The songs "Embraceable You", "Bidin' My Time", "But Not for Me", "Treat Me Rough", and "I Got Rhythm" have been retained from the original score. Added to this are specialty numbers written by or for Connie Francis, Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs, Herman's Hermits, Louis Armstrong, and Liberace. The idea of Louis and Liberace in the same movie is enough for a viewing. The screenplay merely suggests the original libretto. Connie Francis and Harve Presnell are acceptable musical comedy leads. The most interesting aspect of the film for comedy buffs is the stand-up specialty by the comedy team of Davis and Reese. They do an interview with a boxer routine which is reminiscent of, but not a copy of, the fighter routines done by Martin and Lewis and Allen and Rossi. Davis has some spark as a comedian, but Reese is an interchangeable straight man. He's not Bud Abbott, George Burns, Dean Martin, or even Duke Mitchell! This is one of the very few screen appearances of Liberace, and he is hysterical. I wonder if he knew he was that funny! Louis Armstrong is as welcome as ever and Joby Baker is wasted in his comic side-kick role. The film is an interesting mix of trying to integrate 30s musical comedy with rock 'n roll. It really doesn't work, but I give the film makers A for effort.
Bizarre! Hilarious and cringe-y.
lnoft9712 September 2019
This was made in the mid-60's when Elvis movies were still a big thing, 'teenagers movies' were an uneasy mixture of chubby beach bunnies chastely doing the frug on a Hollywood beach, but movie producers were about 5 years behind real life and felt moved to toss in some oldies but goodies for the older folks - 'insurance'. Meaning people like my aunt, a big Elvis fan (and I was no huge fan, he was passe as soon as the Beatles, etc. came along) would go see Mr. Harve Presnell, Miss Connie Francis, and...omg...Liberace! (It's almost like the Ed Sullivan Show here as far as casting!) . There is a tiresome old vaudeville act with a boxer for grandpa! oy! ... Herman's Hermits do a couple numbers. (Mr. Peter Noone, was JUST here at the NYS fair performing for the hundredth year in a row (beeyotch don't age) and he is THE big attraction in this for the youngsters out there, a bone thrown out for 'the teenagers'. (oh, and groovy Sam the Sham and the Pharoahs, for all the parents to point and laugh at.) .... Movies were slow to change in the 60's. One foot in the 50's, fear of those damm hippies and those new-fangled Englishmen bands. So you got odd mixtures of 50's frump and morals, and a token of the 60's freedom - but only a token! Little white gloves. A nightclub act with a song by a woman, 'Treat Me Rough', applauded approvingly by the audience...LOTS of warbling of old standards by Connie Francis...Liberace hamming it up in a gold glittering number; , Harve Presnell (with a nylon toupee) , and busty Miss Connie Francis were the BIG stars in these things. And tired old dogface Fred Clark, who has been in one billion movies and tv shows! - he looks the same age forever, never ever changing a single bit! ....kind of fun to watch, a real curiosity, not seen often.
All-star teen fracas headed by Harve Presnell...Golden Globe winner for Most Promising Actor
moonspinner558 October 2009
"Let's put on a show!" nonsense from MGM wastes some marvelous color film stock on witless, leering boy-girl hijinks unredeemed by the presence of co-star Connie Francis and the numerous music acts who pop up against their better judgment. Remake of the Judy Garland-Mickey Rooney musical "Girl Crazy" from 1943 (itself a remake of the 1932 version) concerns two college kids helping out a bankrupt Reno rancher and his busty daughter, who delivers the mail. When the two guys first meet Francis, wearing work clothes and a low-setting hat, they actually think she's a he (perhaps they flunked anatomy?). Later, when Francis looks into Harve Presnell's heavily made-up eyes and fake eyebrows and feigns a swoon, one can barely suppress a laugh. Presnell, Golden Globe winner as Most Promising Actor this same year for his performance in "The Unsinkable Molly Brown", must be the oldest college student in cinema history; with a copper-colored toupee and ascots around his neck, he looks like one of the college's faculty members. Francis has a pleasant singing voice--and she isn't a terrible actress--but the non-existent script and Alvin Ganzer's hopeless, leaden direction defeats her. Thank goodness grinning-like-mad Liberace is on hand to save this from the barrel's bottom. * from ****
Gershwin becomes gherkin
ptb-811 April 2004
Wow...how awful is this?! A rock and roll remake of Girl Crazy with the Gershwin songs included and sung, almost trad style inbetween boppy gems from Hermans Hermits. There seemed to be a theme in the early to mid 60s of making Elvis movies without Elvis....just everyone else who might have managed a support role were all clumped together in some hideous alternate version of GIRL HAPPY or TICKLE ME or ROUSTABOUT because WHEN THE BOYS MEET THE GIRLS is the mashed potato version of any two reels (strung together) of those films. MGM specialised in them and we were gleefully offered WHERE THE BOYS ARE or GET YOURSELF A COLLEGE GIRL or COME FLY WITH ME or whatever film was thought of that sounded like any of the above titles. It all becomes a ghastly bag of singing jellies after a while. For some bizarre reason (like trying to please EVERYONE, Bollywood style) this pic also has Louis Armstrong and Liberace good for some completely inappropriate appearances......and I defy anyone not to be constantly appalled every 5 minutes. Connie Francis screeches her way whether singing or, well screeching, and Harve Presnell (about 11ft tall and 35years old and apparently still at college) fresh from THE UNSINKABLE MOLLY BROWN) gets a ginger hair doo and does his best to avoid sounding like Chad Everett who should have been in this instead. You will occasionally Hurrumph and mostly exclaim horror to whoever you watch this with. I loved it.
So bad it is almost beyond belief
stancym-121 September 2019
Nothing in this film is remotely believable. Different genres and eras of music appear in the same settings......along with a stand up comic duo doing an overlong routine that isn't funny. It doesn't fit with the plot, and neither do many of the other performers. Wonderful Gershwin songs seem very out of place juxtaposed with an orange Nevada ranch, the English rock group Herman's Hermits,and Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs. Pick any two of those and you have incongruity. It is positively weird how nothing in this film makes sense or has a logical thread.
Connie Francis has a nice singing voice but that is not enough to carry the film. Harve Presnell as someone else said has a bad toupee, is too tall for her, and looks too old to be even a fairly recent college student.
Louis Armstrong and Liberace also appear, and what do they have to do with what is going on? The movie is not about stage life in a casino or about hiring or dealing with great performers or the performing life, in any way.
This might have been so bad it was campy fun, but alas, I did not have fun. I just could not believe how bad it was. I think my favorite bit was when Connie races back to the ranch on her horse and is thrown off it into a car. The director forgot to include the horse in the scene after the cut, so it looks like the horse has literally evaporated into thin air. One second there is a horse, and the next second, no horse! If this movie evaporates into thin air, it is no one's loss. Whose career was furthered in ANY WAY by this stinker?
Connie Francis has a nice singing voice but that is not enough to carry the film. Harve Presnell as someone else said has a bad toupee, is too tall for her, and looks too old to be even a fairly recent college student.
Louis Armstrong and Liberace also appear, and what do they have to do with what is going on? The movie is not about stage life in a casino or about hiring or dealing with great performers or the performing life, in any way.
This might have been so bad it was campy fun, but alas, I did not have fun. I just could not believe how bad it was. I think my favorite bit was when Connie races back to the ranch on her horse and is thrown off it into a car. The director forgot to include the horse in the scene after the cut, so it looks like the horse has literally evaporated into thin air. One second there is a horse, and the next second, no horse! If this movie evaporates into thin air, it is no one's loss. Whose career was furthered in ANY WAY by this stinker?
An Elvis film knock off
Ed-Shullivan25 January 2024
I could not help but think this film reminded me very much of one of the many successful Elvis Presley films in which there was always a bevy of beautiful girls that Elvis would be serenading and/or a love interest who could also sing and dance, as well as some elderly parents and/or business associates who disliked this new hip culture of singing and swinging hipsters.
Connie Francis has the voice of a songbird and when you add a few 1960's top ten pop charts sung by The Herman's Hermits and lead singer Peter Noone you add a certain required quality to the film such that it is worth watching, even if it is a knock off of the many Elvis Presley films.
Yes, there is a plot in which.a then thirty two (32) year old actor Harve Presnell who plays Danny Churchill is trying hard to pass as a younger twenty (20) year old drop out college architecture student who convinces.the pretty. Ginger Gray postal worker (Connie Francis) to build a brand new hotel resort to save her fathers ranch from getting into the hands of the gangsters who.hold the gambling debts of her father. It's not clear to me how they actually build this luxurious hotel and it gets filled to capacity all within a month or so, but heh, that's show business for you.
I give the film a respectable 6 out of 10 IMDb rating.
Connie Francis has the voice of a songbird and when you add a few 1960's top ten pop charts sung by The Herman's Hermits and lead singer Peter Noone you add a certain required quality to the film such that it is worth watching, even if it is a knock off of the many Elvis Presley films.
Yes, there is a plot in which.a then thirty two (32) year old actor Harve Presnell who plays Danny Churchill is trying hard to pass as a younger twenty (20) year old drop out college architecture student who convinces.the pretty. Ginger Gray postal worker (Connie Francis) to build a brand new hotel resort to save her fathers ranch from getting into the hands of the gangsters who.hold the gambling debts of her father. It's not clear to me how they actually build this luxurious hotel and it gets filled to capacity all within a month or so, but heh, that's show business for you.
I give the film a respectable 6 out of 10 IMDb rating.
Starring a beautiful red AC Cobra 289
jread-513 March 2021
The best part of this movie is the gorgeous red AC Cobra that is featured in a lengthy chase scene. The rest of the movie consists of 60s stars butchering a large number of Gershwin songs with performances by the likes of Liberace and Louis Armstrong interspersed.
It's magic!
estherwalker-3471013 March 2021
Warning: Spoilers
During the opening credits, Connie Francis does a great job of singing the title song. In fact, it's now my all time favorite song she ever recorded!(Well, along with "Kiss Me Goodbye". Take your pick: Connie's, Petula's or Tracy Huang's version. They're all superb)...............I haven't seen the 1932 film version of the Gershwin's stage show "Girl Crazy". I have seen several times the Mickey + Judy version, also titled "Girl Crazy". Perhaps, it is a better film than the present one, renamed so that 'boys' is in the tile, probably to suit Connie. However, this film also has a variety of reasons to view it, including the one I've already mentioned. ............ My review title isn't really meant to praise the film. Rather, it refers to the moment during the thrilling car chase on a windy backcounty road, when the 2 cars are about to collide head on. The screen goes black for a second, then, out of the rear window, we see the other car speeding away in the opposite direction, as it had previously been. It takes a bit of movie magic to do that! Like in an old silent movie comedy...............Harve 'too tall' Presnell and Connie 'too short' Francis play the Mickey and Judy parts, Harve has been sent to an obscure small college in dusty Nevada, by his wealthy father, who was concerned he was becoming a wastrel in his NYC home, with all the female distractions. Connie is the postmaster for this college. As well, she and her father have a farm, where she has her first meeting with Harve, under unfortunate(funny) circumstances. ............Together, they sing the Gershwin standards "But Not for Me" and "I Got Rhythm". When Harve offers to give her a ride, she tells him she wants to see him gone when she returns from dressing in her bedroom. But, the stubborn Harve instead sits at her piano and plays and sings the Gershwin's unforgettable standard "Embraceable You"(Sure, he can't compare to Jo Stafford's or Ella's versions). It works, as Connie gradually changes from combative to agreeable, when she opens the door. A victory for Harve! Harve learns that Connie and her father are about to lose their farm. Since their farm isn't far from Reno, he gets the brainstorm to convert it into a dude ranch where divorces can meet. It seems to work out, and he's a hero in Connie's eyes. .............The British rock group Hermen's Hermits then sings the Gershwin tune "Biding my Time". But, the most entertaining rendition of a Gershwin song was sexy 'funny girl' Sue Ane Langdon's "Treat me Rough". She sure was the right female to sing it! Her character was a hold over from Harve's NYC days, who had followed him, determined to bag a rich guy. She threatened to sue or extort him for false promise of marriage. The problem is that Harve has since fallen hard for Connie, and wants to shake this gold digger. Eventually, she settles for a middle-aged sugar daddy.(Incidentally, I didn't misspell 'Anne'. That's the way she spelled it.)...............Along with Herman's Hermits, the rock groups Sam the Sham and the Pharoahs, and The Standels are given a bit of exposure............... Incongruously, old timers Liberace and Louis Armstrong are also featured. Liberace's "Aruba, Liberace" performance was a nothing. However, the two performances by Louis and his ensemble were decent. Louis also finished the film with a memorable short rendition of a Gershwin tune. You can't complain there's a lack of variety in music styles! There was also a couple of mass dancing productions..............I enjoyed the stand up comedy act by Davis, where he pretends to be a no good punch-drunk has been boxer, who gets questions wrong, giving wacky answers. Also, he calls Rocky Marciano(the only undefeated heavy weight champ) Rocky Marshmallow, even though admitting Rock beat him up..............Connie was still in her glory period. But, without the dogged persistence of her father and Dick Clark, on American Bandstand, it's clear Connie would never have gotten started on her phenomenal singing career. Her life turned tragic in the 70s and 80s, with her near fatal rape, left for dead, the gangland slaying of her brother, losing her singing voice for 4 years, and her numerous forced stays in psychiatric hospitals over 8 years, only to find that she had been misdiagnosed as bipolar, actually suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome, from her several traumas.(I've had a rather similar experience, and consequently don't think much of the psychiatric profession). In her 80s, she's still with us, presumably still working on her several charities.
weird musical
SnoopyStyle22 January 2024
Playboy Danny Churchill (Harve Presnell) causes yet another scandal for his father and his company. A girl is threatening to sue. His father sends him away to remote Cody College in Nevada. He almost drives into postal worker Ginger Gray (Connie Francis) and falls for the fallen rider.
I don't know how many horse riding mail person there are especially in a place with roads. I only know Harve Presnell as an old veteran actor and he's good (not here). His boy scout personality can't sell the playboy character. I also know Connie Francis, but mostly as a singer. Her acting is questionable. So, this is an odd pairing to begin with. I could never guess that Harve could sing. The movie is a reworking of Girl Crazy while retaining the George and Ira Gershwin music. It's all a mess with a lot of random performances. The movie would follow a Louis Armstrong performance with a long Pepper Davis comedy bit. The central story is not that compelling. This is left to a lot of interesting but somehow wrong musical performances. For example, Connie Francis does a long number but is stuck sitting in her car surrounded by head-bopping boys. She is literally just sitting there and nobody is dancing. It's weird staging and it's not the only time. Just when they seem to be going traditional, they send in Herman's Hermits and again it's weird. The kids need to be slow-dancing that song. It's all rather messy and weird and maybe that's why it's fascinating.
I don't know how many horse riding mail person there are especially in a place with roads. I only know Harve Presnell as an old veteran actor and he's good (not here). His boy scout personality can't sell the playboy character. I also know Connie Francis, but mostly as a singer. Her acting is questionable. So, this is an odd pairing to begin with. I could never guess that Harve could sing. The movie is a reworking of Girl Crazy while retaining the George and Ira Gershwin music. It's all a mess with a lot of random performances. The movie would follow a Louis Armstrong performance with a long Pepper Davis comedy bit. The central story is not that compelling. This is left to a lot of interesting but somehow wrong musical performances. For example, Connie Francis does a long number but is stuck sitting in her car surrounded by head-bopping boys. She is literally just sitting there and nobody is dancing. It's weird staging and it's not the only time. Just when they seem to be going traditional, they send in Herman's Hermits and again it's weird. The kids need to be slow-dancing that song. It's all rather messy and weird and maybe that's why it's fascinating.
Remake that is out of date
dsmith-2500030 September 2021
Warning: Spoilers
The third time this story was made. Earlier versions were done before WW2 where the story-line made sense.
This one centered around changing around a Reno ranch into a divorce warehouse. But by 1965, Reno was no longer the divorce capital as other states were liberalizing divorce laws.
The hero went west running from a breach-of-promise to marry a gold-digging girlfriend. But breach-of-promise to marry ended in most states in the mid 1930's.
Some nice songs, but not enough to really enjoy.
This one centered around changing around a Reno ranch into a divorce warehouse. But by 1965, Reno was no longer the divorce capital as other states were liberalizing divorce laws.
The hero went west running from a breach-of-promise to marry a gold-digging girlfriend. But breach-of-promise to marry ended in most states in the mid 1930's.
Some nice songs, but not enough to really enjoy.
Waste of Time
cockezville14 June 2022
Even Connie Francis hated this turkey in fact she makes fun of all of her movies, as she never wanted to make them. This remake of Girl Crazy has Connie singing well on Gershwin songs. It's a shame she just didn't record a Gershwin album instead of making this. Harve Presnell is lost and Connie looks embarrassed . Of her 4 movies, and her last this was the worst. She could sing the phone book though. Great chops.
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