Look in Any Window

I'm almost surprised that Paul Anka, who was a hit teen singer when he made this, didn't worry about being type-cast forever as a peeping tom, even though his parents are pretty worthless. Nevertheless, this little exploitation (TEEN) flick about social generation-gap stuff is right on the money, especially since most of the actors were professions.....But this has some creepy (not really sleazy) scenes but they always lead into TRYING TO DEAL WITH THE PROBLEM. The parents are drunks, cheating on their spouses, unattentive, and Paul Anka's character is similar to Tony Perkins in PSYCHO except he's not crazy or a murderer..he's just curious how other people live. Ruth Roman..I won't even go into how "cool" they cast the adults in this (for once) and the teenager characters do a good job.

This is not some Perv movie or anything (even for then) and I'm in my 50's and am an artist and Don't thinks it's some creepy thing...AND THERES VERY little humor to fake it. It's unfortunate how real these families in this little movie were (at the time in America) in an affluent, I guess, neighborhood, with the adults (FOR REAL) kind of being the screw-ups, teen-agers, lost, whatever), but if you can find it. I don't know if it's on DVD or Video, but it's a slice of somebody's life (well told) with a Zero budget..Check it!

Flabby Paul Anna needs love but he's going about it all wrong. He is given a bunch of bad examples. All the adults are in love - with someone else's spouse.

Filmed in the San Fernando Valley town of Reseda. It used to be your basic lower middle class neighborhood. Now it is an absolute dump.

Although this movie contained some unrealistic moments, I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was like a time capsule of 1961, a time I well remember! Women were expected to be only housewives, the men cheated, and the cops! The movie is an off-beat criticism of the era (which deserved criticism, believe me), and had strong performances, including by Paul Anka.....Who knew he could act? It also had a pretty good screen play with some good lines.... It captured the claustrophobic angst of the era, when women were trapped in marriages, and all of the old traditions were on the line. It was inexpensively made, I know, and this added to the gritty realism of the result. More money and technicolor would have ruined it, I'm sure.

People can comment all they want about this being low, sleazy, sensationalistic, et cetera, but I found it a very thought provoking and disturbing film. Paul Anka's character Craig Fowler seemed to be such a great symbol as the neighbor Carlo (played by George Dolenz) explains, of the evils of everyone who voyeurs hours away watching the lives of strange people the media tells us are so important. Craig is soon unmasked, and it tells the characters they are as guilty as he might be to give him bad examples that feed his endless urge to spy and pry. Citizen Kane might have given William Alland some material to use for this movie since he played a reporter there who was always watching the drama unfold with his back turned to hide what he looked like. Plus, it always gave me a tent pole in junior high school to watch Jack Cassidy kiss Ruth Roman in the car before they sped away to Las Vegas.

A heat wave in suburbia arouses a Southern California community. Feeling hot and not knowing what to do with it, bullied teenager Paul Anka (as Craig Fowler) becomes "The Masked Prowler" - actually, he's a "peeping Tom" sleazing out for looks at women who've been dressing down for the warm weather. Scaling fences in his tight tee-shirt and frightening mask, Mr. Anka is a hoot and a holler. His lack of sexual socialization skills may be due to poor parenting - specifically, they are flirty frustrated mother Ruth Roman (as Jackie Fowler) and alcoholic mechanic father Alex Nicol (as Jay Fowler). Anka's papa gets laid off and his mama gets laid on - by amorous and available neighbor Jack Cassidy (as Gareth Lowell)...

Newly arrived Italian widower George Dolenz (as Carlo) wants to take care of Mr. Cassidy's "lonesome" wife Carole Mathews (as Betty Lowell) while Anka aches to make their daughter Gigi Perreau (as Eileen Lowell) squeal on a trampoline. Hoping to catch Anka in action, veteran policemen Robert Sampson (as Lindstrom) and his amateur psychologist partner Dan Grayam (as Webber) investigate. It all leads to a boozy 4th of July pool party. This may your only chance to see the fathers of future "Screen Gems" contracted singer/actors Micky Dolenz (of "The Monkees") and David Cassidy (of "The Partridge Family") in the same film. You'll also hear Anka's relatively rare, moody "Look in Any Window" title song.

*** Look in Any Window (1/29/61) William Alland ~ Paul Anka, Ruth Roman, Alex Nicol, Carole Mathews