Where the Boys Are is a 1960 comedy-drama film directed by Henry Levin.
Four young college women head off to spend spring break in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Merritt (Dolores Hart), the unofficial leader of the group, maintains that premarital sex is not by definition evil... although it's only a theory, as Merritt, like all of her friends, is a virgin. Her friend Melanie (Yvette Mimieux), who is sort of a shy, follower type, takes inspiration from Merritt and starts looking for boys as soon as they get to Florida. Tuggle (Paula Prentiss) is explicitly looking to land a husband on spring break, but somehow expects to do this without putting out. The fourth in their squad, Angie (Connie Francis), is an athletic type who's awkward around boys.
All four of them find boys. Merritt draws the attention of a handsome and extremely rich local guy named Ryder (George Hamilton). Tuggle spends the vacation in the company of a wacky goofball, "TV" Thompson, (Jim Hutton), who got that nickname because he wants to work in television. Angie falls in love with a jazz musician, Basil (Frank Gorshin, soon to be the Riddler on Batman ). For Melanie, things turn out considerably darker.
Film debuts of Paula Prentiss, then an unknown, and Connie Francis, who was already a major singing star. Francis sang the theme song, "Where the Boys Are", which was a big hit. Three years after this movie was released, lead actress Dolores Hart left show business to become a nun.
Loosely remade 24 years later as Where the Boys Are '84.
Tropes:
- And Starring: Connie Francis, who was already a big star in pop music, gets "And introducing Connie Francis".
- Blind Without 'Em: Basil appears to be straight-up blind after his glasses are destroyed. Angie has to lead him around by the hand.
- But Liquor Is Quicker: At least Ryder is honest about it. (Also, they're in a public restaurant and he's drunker than she is.)Ryder: I tried everything else and now I'm trying to get you blotti—eh—blottoed.
- Buxom Beauty Standard: TV is ogling one Lola Fandango, a busty swimmer who does a "mermaid" act in a club. Lola says "It's all a matter of breath control, you have to learn to control your lungs", followed by TV staring at her breasts and saying "What lungs!"Tuggle: It hasn't anything to do with her lungs. She's got a little hose down there she breathes through. You see?
TV: What lungs! - Coming of Age Story: The wild experiences of Fort Lauderdale, and an unexpected tragedy, cause the girls to do a lot of growing up over just a few days.
- Doing It for the Art: In-Universe. Basil is very serious about jazz. So serious that he says not only does his band not get paid for concerts, they actually pay themselves for the chance to play, so they don't have to be beholden to requests.Basil: Please, please! We don't want applause. Let's keep things as unfrantic and cerebral as possible. If you have any questions, ask them during the breaks.
- Driver Faces Passenger: The girls let TV do some of the driving on the way down, which Tuggle soon regrets, given how terrified she is by his habit of looking at her rather than the road.
- Establishing Character Moment: How do we know that TV Thompson is a goofball? The girls pick him up when they see him by the side of the road, holding a sign saying "Fort Lauderdale or I'll kill myself."
- Fanservice Extra: Lots of them running around the beach.
- Hangover Sensitivity: Melanie, who is partying way too hard, is extremely hung over after a night out with the boys.
- Height Angst: When TV first expresses an interest in taking Tuggle out, she demands he stop the car, then she stands up straight (it's a convertible) to demonstrate that she is "5-10 and a half." TV doesn't mind, possibly because he is still taller than she is.
- Later she hands a bartender fake ID that says she is 5'2".
- Inadvertent Entrance Cue: Right after expressing envy that Merritt's date shows up in a suit (see Sharp-Dressed Man below), Tuggle ruefully says "I never know what TV is going to look like from date to date." Cue TV at the hotel room door, wearing a bright pink shirt and a straw hat that says "I Remember Nassau."
- Maybe Ever After: Melanie getting raped puts a pretty serious damper on the Merritt/Ryder romance, and she leaves Ft. Lauderdale with her virginity intact. But as the film ends they are talking about maintaining a long-distance relationship.
- Minor with Fake I.D.: Technically Tuggle isn't a minor, but she still isn't old enough to be in a nightclub, which is why TV gets her a fake ID—which says she's 5-3 and she has red hair (she's 5-10 and a brunette). The club owner doesn't really care.
- Mood Whiplash: The film, full of wacky hijinx and (G-rated) sex talk and flirting and partying, takes a hard right turn into melodrama when Melanie gets raped by one of the boys she's been hanging out with.
- MRS Degree: In possibly the most mind-blowing scene in the movie, and definitely the most 1960 scene in the movie, Tuggle says straight up that she's in school to find a husband.Tuggle: Girls like me weren't built to be educated. We were made to have children. That's my ambition: to be a walking, talking baby factory. Legal, of course. And with union labor.
- Off-into-the-Distance Ending: Ends with Merritt and Ryder walking off down the beach together,
- Rape as Drama: Melanie gets raped by one of the boys she's been hanging out with over spring break.
- Running Gag:
- The girls get one room for the four of them, but strangers on spring break keep crashing in their room, and by the end they've got a dozen women sleeping in the cramped little suite.
- TV totes around a radio tuned to the police frequency, which broadcasts a series of crazy calls by the local cops.
"Car 7: Go to Paradise Hotel. A live hammerhead shark has been placed in the pool." - Sharp-Dressed Man: When a snazzily dressed Ryder shows up at the hotel to pick up Merritt, Tuggle says "Gads it must be nice to go out with someone who wears a suit."
- Skinnydipping: "Car 9: Students swimming in the nude at Silver Beach."
- Slut-Shaming: In the opening scene, the teacher at Merritt's all-female college is so offended by the very idea that women might have premarital sex that she throws Merritt out of the classroom and sends her to the dean. (And of course, of the four friends who go down to Florida, only one loses her virginity, and soon after she is raped.)
- The Smart Guy: Merritt is the most studious and serious of the bunch. While she advocates the ideal that women should be free to date guys and have sex, she herself is not man-hunting nearly as much as her friends are.
- Title Drop: The film opens with a narrator giving a brief spiel about how college boys go to Fort Lauderdale for beer and surf, while "the girls come, very simply, because this is where the boys are."
- Title Theme Tune: Written by Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield and performed by Connie Francis, it was subsequently released as a single and became a Top Five hit.
- Unusual Euphemism: Merritt refers to Auto Erotica as "backseat bingo".
- Video Credits: The end credits say "The Girls" and feature video clips of the four young ladies as well as Barbara Nichols (Lola the curvaceous swimmer), then "The Boys" followed by clips of Hamilton, Hutton, and Gorshin.
