We don't have a television. We live better without the invading stream of swill. But there are times when I have a few free moments and my brain feels like jello and I just want to get passive and watch something stupid. It is when I want to watch something stupid that I miss the television just a little. Enter LikeTelevision.com it streams old drivel from T.V.for free and this morning I was really in need of some old drivel and even though I knew it was going to be stupid and frustrate me with its vapidness, I clicked on Beat Girl.
Oh man, you can see this one coming from a mile away from the very first shot of the lovely Gillian Hill, who plays Jennifer, wayward adolescent, you can see the "cautionary tale of the bad sixteen year old girl who gets in trouble because of sex" steaming your way like a rusty old tank. But, well, like I said, the brain is shot this morning (only got three hours of sleep silly me) and I had nothing better to do and so I stayed with it. Part of what kept me with it is the fact the Gillian Hill is quite the beautiful young lady and I believe she is in every scene of this movie, it being the story of a rebellious adolescent.
But please, even though this movie is from 1960, and about rebellious teens, do not confuse it as being anything like Rebel Without A Cause which manages to hold up under the ravages of time. Beat Girl just manages to get sillier and sillier. I do not believe for one moment that a girl in the basement of a jazz club ever quipped to her boyfriend, "Oh, fade out." Hearing it actually made me laugh. It is exactly the kind of thing that a very stupid screenwriter from say, 1960, would include in a movie about rebellious teens. If there is any pleasure in this movie, it is in listening to these forced quips the kids make to one another. Some may have actually been genuine slang like "cool, man" but others like, "he's the hotdog daddy-o" I just don't buy. What we get from this movie is not what kids were actually like in 1960, but what a few creepy adult filmmakers thought they were like. Or perhaps the filmmakers knew they were not "actually" like this and they portrayed them like this to titillate the audience. Does that sound likely? Yes. Very.
So, there I was, enjoying some of the little quips in the jazz club and the coffee bar when Beat Girl's hideous attempt at a plot rears its horrible head. Watch out, spoiler coming. I'm going to wreck the ending. Avert your eyes. You never would have guessed this: Beat Girl Jeniffer's rich architect daddy brings home a new twenty-four year old, dignified, French wife that Jennifer immediately despises. Attempting to connect with her new step daughter the new French mom, Nicole, intrudes into the coffee bar & jazz club scene. Jennifer is outraged and digs up this French woman's past which includes... yes... stretch for this... come on... prostitution! Oooh, daddy is not going to stand it. He married a whore.
Yes... it really is that bad.
The only face you might recognize in this movie is the face of a very young Christopher Lee, who plays a strip club owner who would like nothing more than to corrupt our lovely Gillian Hill and lead her into a good decade of stripping on stage before dumping her like used trash. If you don't know who Christopher Lee is then you never saw many great and creepy Dracula movies from the 1970s.
So... hmmm... let me recap: crummy acting, no script, ridiculous characterization, no plot... what's left? Ahh Cinematography... um, think Ed Wood. How about the score and soundtrack? How about not. Stupid. Maybe there were a couple rockabilly knockoffs in there but at that point in the movie I was shoving my cat into my ear to stop the pain of listening.
Dumbest gag in the movie: a kid falls asleep while drumming "to set the world record" and the last girl watching him walks off, quipping, "Well, not this time." What? Everything about this movie is stupid. Oh, and here's the ending I promised to wreck: It's a happy ending in which Jennifer is hugging the French woman and daddy and they are all one big happy family after the wicked Christopher Lee gets stabbed by some tramp.
I am pleased to be recording my thoughts about this movie because in five minutes I will have no recollection of it.
The history in my web browser will show trace signs that I watched it. I did a Google search for Gillian Hill and found out that she labored in the shadow of Bridgette Bardot but never achieved real stardom. Gillian made five albums that are remembered by French websites. No hits. In the 80s she disappeared due to an illness and when she reappeared she was married to the manager of the Scorpions. There is no Wikipedia entry for her and I believe there should be because she is a stunning little vixen in Beat Girland the only good thing about this movieand I do NOT mean her acting.
Oh man, you can see this one coming from a mile away from the very first shot of the lovely Gillian Hill, who plays Jennifer, wayward adolescent, you can see the "cautionary tale of the bad sixteen year old girl who gets in trouble because of sex" steaming your way like a rusty old tank. But, well, like I said, the brain is shot this morning (only got three hours of sleep silly me) and I had nothing better to do and so I stayed with it. Part of what kept me with it is the fact the Gillian Hill is quite the beautiful young lady and I believe she is in every scene of this movie, it being the story of a rebellious adolescent.
But please, even though this movie is from 1960, and about rebellious teens, do not confuse it as being anything like Rebel Without A Cause which manages to hold up under the ravages of time. Beat Girl just manages to get sillier and sillier. I do not believe for one moment that a girl in the basement of a jazz club ever quipped to her boyfriend, "Oh, fade out." Hearing it actually made me laugh. It is exactly the kind of thing that a very stupid screenwriter from say, 1960, would include in a movie about rebellious teens. If there is any pleasure in this movie, it is in listening to these forced quips the kids make to one another. Some may have actually been genuine slang like "cool, man" but others like, "he's the hotdog daddy-o" I just don't buy. What we get from this movie is not what kids were actually like in 1960, but what a few creepy adult filmmakers thought they were like. Or perhaps the filmmakers knew they were not "actually" like this and they portrayed them like this to titillate the audience. Does that sound likely? Yes. Very.
So, there I was, enjoying some of the little quips in the jazz club and the coffee bar when Beat Girl's hideous attempt at a plot rears its horrible head. Watch out, spoiler coming. I'm going to wreck the ending. Avert your eyes. You never would have guessed this: Beat Girl Jeniffer's rich architect daddy brings home a new twenty-four year old, dignified, French wife that Jennifer immediately despises. Attempting to connect with her new step daughter the new French mom, Nicole, intrudes into the coffee bar & jazz club scene. Jennifer is outraged and digs up this French woman's past which includes... yes... stretch for this... come on... prostitution! Oooh, daddy is not going to stand it. He married a whore.
Yes... it really is that bad.
The only face you might recognize in this movie is the face of a very young Christopher Lee, who plays a strip club owner who would like nothing more than to corrupt our lovely Gillian Hill and lead her into a good decade of stripping on stage before dumping her like used trash. If you don't know who Christopher Lee is then you never saw many great and creepy Dracula movies from the 1970s.
So... hmmm... let me recap: crummy acting, no script, ridiculous characterization, no plot... what's left? Ahh Cinematography... um, think Ed Wood. How about the score and soundtrack? How about not. Stupid. Maybe there were a couple rockabilly knockoffs in there but at that point in the movie I was shoving my cat into my ear to stop the pain of listening.
Dumbest gag in the movie: a kid falls asleep while drumming "to set the world record" and the last girl watching him walks off, quipping, "Well, not this time." What? Everything about this movie is stupid. Oh, and here's the ending I promised to wreck: It's a happy ending in which Jennifer is hugging the French woman and daddy and they are all one big happy family after the wicked Christopher Lee gets stabbed by some tramp.
I am pleased to be recording my thoughts about this movie because in five minutes I will have no recollection of it.
The history in my web browser will show trace signs that I watched it. I did a Google search for Gillian Hill and found out that she labored in the shadow of Bridgette Bardot but never achieved real stardom. Gillian made five albums that are remembered by French websites. No hits. In the 80s she disappeared due to an illness and when she reappeared she was married to the manager of the Scorpions. There is no Wikipedia entry for her and I believe there should be because she is a stunning little vixen in Beat Girland the only good thing about this movieand I do NOT mean her acting.