You hear that "The Cool Ones" is "The groovy movie with the hip hit tunes" (an official tagline), so you want to dig the scene, right? Not really. The scene is a confusing mixture of pop cultural references as written by a committee of older businessmen. If you were not around in 1967, when the movie was released, you will probably have difficulty knowing what references really were "cool" in 1967 and which were manufactured, or warmed over fare from years before. If you were around in 1967, the movie is somewhat fun--despite being bad--to pick apart and reminisce about.
In my opinion, this film is a musical. Musical numbers are staged in the middle of scenes, and the characters break out in song when not on a stage. Trying to create a teen movie musical is a bold undertaking, but this is no "Bye Bye Birdie". It features a young go-go dancer(Debbie Watson playing Hallie Rogers) and a former singing idol (Gil Peterson playing Cliff Donner) who meet in a supposedly hip club called "Stan's Cellar" and are persuaded by a young pop music guru (Roddy McDowall) to combine forces to capture the imagination of gullible teen fans. They even create what they hope will be a new dance craze: The Tantrum.
Donner is supposed to be a jaded singer who once had screaming fans. He performs in the "Cellar" with a group called The Leaves. Some of the numbers performed by musical groups in this film are not bad and are authentic to the theme of the movie. But Donner is often stuck singing old tunes that are arranged in a (not so) cool way: "What is This Thing Called Love", "Secret Love", and--incredibly--"The Birth of the Blues". There is one scene where Glen Campbell sings "Just One of Those Things". Not cool. No teen with an edgy persona in 1967 would be embracing those gems. This is three years after the Beatles conquered America!
Surprisingly, the choreography is often of good quality and on a par with other musicals.
Things to look for, even if some seem out of place in a movie about "cool ones":
*The Petula Clark poster on the wall.
*The dance performed to music reminiscent of "The Hand Jive".
*The kids snapping their fingers like the cast of "West Side Story"--cool man!
*The red Mustang. Now that was a cool car!
*The mod look--the colorful London-based chic that some of the kids dress in.
*Small smatterings of psychedelia.
*The "dirty old man" who looks all of 27.
*The "draft board" reference.
*The unexpected occasional lapses into slapstick.
*The laughable computer reference. The public had so little knowledge of computers that anything will flashing lights and beeping sounds could pass. And they often performed feats that are nothing short of mystical.
*Actor Phil Harris who seems to be playing the part of "obligatory adult whose purpose is to thwart the coolness of teens".
*Actress Nita Talbot, who plays Dee Dee Howitzer and somehow manages to have screen presence despite a limited role.
*The proposal scene in the back of a bus. One might be reminded of the iconic back-of-the-bus scene in "The Graduate", also released in 1967.
This is no time capsule of 1967 in particular, but as a reminder of many disparate cultural references from the previous decade or more, it could be a fun watch.
