The Party Crashers

This film is an effective drama with an attractive cast. It is mainly a story about frustrated teens acting out. Their parents are too busy living their own soap opera to give them proper guidance. So, as you see, society hasn't changed.

Tawdry, campy and melodramatic!

"The Party Crashers" doesn't waste a lot of time on drag races or fights and romance at the soda fountain or even teen rebellion, though these are certainly elements. It's an intergenerational semi-horror tale, that focuses its outrage on that era's older generation and carries this into the realm of the diabolical. The teens in this aren't very nice, but their parents and the rest of the suburban neo-affluent, post-war 30s to 50s crowd are a hell of a lot more scary.

The main young delinquent is played by handsome young Mark Damon, a charismatic young thug who leads fellow bored teens into the title weekend pastime, that of invading teen parties around the city and turning them into orgies of violence and vandalism. At his opening conquest, he captures the romantic interest of a good-girl-itching-to-go-bad, played by gorgeous young Connie Stevens. Connie uses emotional blackmail to drag along her square and decent boyfriend (the legendary ill-fated child star Bobby Driscoll, in his last role before wandering off to an early heroin death in an abandoned NYC tenement) into Mark's whirlwind of crazy kicks.

Along the way we get to know these kids' parents. Connie's a confused spoiled brat, with an indulgent but ineffectual father and a successful writer mother completely obsessed with her own career. Bobby's parents are kindly but socially clueless -- post-lobotomy Francis Farmer, also in her last role, plays his mother and there's a quiet poignancy to the scenes these two lost and tragic actors play together, that is downright heartbreaking. Then there's Mark and his home life, and suddenly we're more than aware of what has turned this kid into the monster he is. His father is a staggering drunk, drowning beneath the contempt of both his damaged son and evil wife (Doris Dowling, in the performance of her career), a hedonistic shrew who is both verbally and physically abusive, and explicitly exhibits incestuous yearnings. (You will truly not BELIEVE that this film was made, and released, in 1958!)

Though the film ends on a rather twee note that reflects the 1950s cautious obsession of playing to the censors, the final third leading up to it is freaky and ahead of its time. Mark, who has used his charms to entrap Connie and Bobby into his seductive delinquent thrill ride, picks the wrong party to crash, with horrific results.

On that (unrevealed) note, the film has a lot more in common with 1966's "The Chase", with its air of drunken angry "lost youth" hysteria, than the actual "angry youth" drive-in flicks of its period, and no wonder it's forgotten. 50s kids, to whom this film was marketed, preferred the focus to be on themselves, no matter how much they were demonized. "The Party Crashers" is a coldly adult movie, with its juvenile delinquency being matter of social cause and effect, rather than angry free choice on the teen's part, and that was likely a little bitter of a pill to swallow.

At any rate, the HIGHEST recommendation for fellow fans of unusual mid-century cinema.

Twig Webster (Mark Damon) and his gang of hoods show up at a nice party and soon end up trashing the place. They are uncouth jerks...and now Barbara Nickerson (Connie Stevens) is practically panting with obvious desire at this bad-boy, Twig. Through the course of the rest of the film, she keeps playing Twig and her boyfriend, Josh (Bobby Discol) against each other and you KNOW that sooner or later all this has to end in some sort of tragedy.

The film not only focuses on these three young people but their parents in order to give you an idea of their home lives and how this molded them into who they are. The most interesting is Twig's, where his dad is a drunk who is slapped around by his wife and she runs around on him constantly.

So is all this any good? Well, if you are looking for a sensationalistic exploitation film, this really isn't it. In other words, it's not cheap exploitation crap like so many 'youth run wild' films of the era. This one is trying to say a bit more and isn't as seedy...and the acting and production values are a bit better as well. Now I am not saying this is some must-see film...it's not. But it is reasonably entertaining and reasonably well made.

By the way, there are a couple interesting things about the film. Bobby Driscol was a very prolific and talented child actor...and this is his final film. Drinking, drugs and death all came at age 31! Also, his father in the film is played by Denver Pyle and it's interesting to hear him speaking without that strong southern drawl you usually associate with him.

Nicely produced, smoothly directed production from Paramount Studios, and a cut above the usual teen movies of the day (1958). Twig's (Damon) a hell-raising pack leader, getting kicks from crashing parties with his buddies. Good girl Babs (Stevens) is attracted to him despite her strait-laced rather meek boyfriend, Josh (Driscoll). Whether she will stay with the conventional Josh or risk a less conventional tie-up with the fun-loving Twig carries much of the plot. At the same time, there are subplots involving the parents of the three youngsters, where we supposedly get insight into the kids' respective behaviors. Naturally, by 50's standards, Twig has the most dysfunctional home life, while good boy Josh has the most stable, with Babs' parents somewhere in between.

It's an interesting cast, as other reviewers helpfully point out, but shouldn't overlook the exotic Doris Dowling (Twig's slutty mother). She of the wicked eyes had a promising career in noirs before moving to Italy (1947) to appear in several neo-realist classics before moving back. For sure, once you see her, you don't forget. Here she's perfectly cast with a decidedly unconventional look. Also, be sure to catch director Girard's imaginative camera work that spins with the wild dancing of the first party crashing. Such unconventional technique was unusual for the time, and rivets us to the mounting frenzy that we know has to end badly.

All in all, the movie's well-done, but very much a product of its time. Then too, if possible, catch this film along with its Damon-Stevens companion Young and Dangerous (1957). Between them, you get a good glimpse of 50's social norms, before the eruption of the 60's counter-culture.

I'm not sure what Frances Farmer was thinking if she thought her old studio Paramount was giving her a comeback vehicle with The Party Crashers. This film is one trashy youth exploitative flick from the late 50s. Not only was this not a comeback vehicle, but it was a last screen effort for two very tragic figures Farmer and former Disney child star Bobby Driscoll.

Denver Pyle and Farmer are Driscoll's parents and he's dating town tramp Connie Stevens when one night the brooding James Dean wannabe Mark Damon takes her from him. This starts a chain of events that leads to one death and one kid explaining things to the cops. It seems as though these are a bunch of rich bored kids who keep looking for parties every night. Nice to have money to indulge yourself like that.

The only one who has a meaty role of any kind is Doris Dowling who is Damon's mother with Onslow Stevens as his father. She's the adult version of Connie Stevens and her character has some bite to it. Dowling knows this is a turkey so she struts her stuff and gobbles.

Only Connie Stevens moved from The Party Crashers, she got a nice career with Warner Brothers very shortly.

Frances Farmer should have left with Son Of Fury being her last film.