Où sont les mecs?

La fièvre du printemps (1983), at the time the film was made, brought students from hundreds of colleges across the country. Each year, an estimated 250,000 students would descend upon the resort region of Fort Lauderdale in Florida, USA, turning it into a collegiate carnival that has become both a tradition and a phenomenon. It is believed to have begun in 1938 as a local swimming meet. Someone had the idea to invite other colleges outside the area. A tradition was born and continued long after the competitive events gave way to the more free-wheeling activities. In the post-World War II euphoria, "Spring Break" grew and grew, receiving another big push in the 1960s with a novel and its movie adaptation, Ces folles filles d'Ève (1960). This picture was remade about a year after La fièvre du printemps (1983) with its title being "Où sont les mecs? (1984) '84." As travel became easier and cheaper, the numbers of youth going to "Spring Break" kept going up. Students kept flying, driving, biking, boating, and thumbing their way to Fort Lauderdale. Then to Daytona and other Florida resorts, to Bermuda, Balboa Island, and Palm Springs, to the Rockies and the Laurentiens for the Snow Belt, anywhere that could give students an uninhibited release from text books and an unequaled opportunity for looking for fun and sex.

Featured in At the Movies: Where the Boys Are/Iceman/Champions/Kirov (1984)