The Pleasure Seekers

The hair, the clothes, the accents, the song and dance numbers by Ann-Margret -- really, what's not to love in this film? Yeah, it's silly, yeah, it's little outdated in gender relations, but who cares? The styling is excellent, Ann-Margret sings her heart out, and the guys are cute. I wanted to buy this DVD the first time I saw the film, but haven't been able to find it for sale anywhere. Please, powers that be, make this film available for sale!!!!!!

Granted ---this movie is sooo 60's! But, I thought it was a fun film. Granted, there was a mad attempt to recapture the 50's here (DID NOT WORK)---but it was easy on the eyes and entertaining----PLUS Ann-Margret was indeed Ravishing! ---especially in that PINK ruffled dress singing the title tune! Worked For Me!!!

I liked this one, too. Beautiful locations and great stars! I was a kid when this came out, but it was neat to see a movie about young women who weren't all in a "Bachelor in Paradise" situation. You know, just old men with young girls! (Although, I guess Maggie had to figure her way out of a similar situation! Didn't we all?)

Oh well, Madrid was beautiful! I loved Ann-Magret singing "The Pleasure Seekers" and the end song when she sings "your standing there and your grinning, like you don't know you not winning and all the time we're beginning the next time" (It just came to me- its called "The Next Time!)

I did wish that Pamela Tiffin's character's wasn't so dumb- but then, all of her characters in films were dumb.

This film was mentioned in a book I have about bad movies. No, these are not incompetent films or films with horrible production values, but ones that are sleazy and over-the-top--sort of like guilty pleasures--and that is definitely true of "The Pleasure Seekers".

What the producers of the film did was take the 1950s film "Three Coins in a Fountain" and inserted a lot of sexual innuendo--at least, as much as they could get away with in 1964. While I liked the original film, "The Pleasure Seekers" was far inferior because it lacked heart and subtlety--replacing it was bedroom scenes and talk about premarital sex.

The film is about three young American ladies who live in Madrid and are trying to have healthy relationships while strenuously avoiding premarital sex...at least sometimes. Carol Lynley plays a career girl who has her sights set on a married man (Brian Keith) as well as a single guy. Pamela Tiffin plays a stereotypical beautiful but dumb lady. She falls for an over-sexed rich playboy (Tony Franciosa) who promises marriage but really wants another notch on the bedpost. Ann-Margret plays a woman who is infatuated with a doctor who obviously has a secret, as he plays hard to get!! After all, this IS Ann-Margret and he either must be gay or married to resist her many charms.

Towards the end of the film, it appears that the three have struck out in love and two of them are preparing to go back to America. However, because this is a Hollywood-style film, you know that at least some of these relationships will work out for the best. Tune in for yourself to see where these high-minded ladies land in this trashy soap.

Overall, the film sure looks nice. It was filmed in and around Madrid and is pretty just like the original film (which was filmed in and around Rome). The music is also very nice and evocative. As for the acting and writing, it all seemed rather fake--like the people were playing caricatures instead of real people. Not a whole lotta depth with these folks--just a lot of raging hormones and inconsistent behavior. It is truly a guilty pleasure--the sort of titillating fare that they no longer make but was popularized in the late 1950s to mid-1960s--just as the Production Code was on the way out.

Deep and insightful? No way,...but still worth a peek. For a similar experience, try watching THE BEST OF EVERYTHING (1959) and PEYTON PLACE (1957)--two films that manage to tell similar stories but in a bit better way.

Witless remake of "Three Coins in the Fountain" with songs looks like a glossy, Saran Wrapped time-capsule in Easter egg colors; for connoisseurs of vintage cars and pre-groovy fashions and hairstyles, it's a must, although no audience is likely to be enthralled with this inane plot. Three American honeys (one a very naïve virgin) are on the lookout for men in Madrid, available or not. With its uneven mix of on-location footage and interiors likely shot on the Fox lot, the movie isn't very useful as a travelogue, though the ladies are certainly lovely to look at. Titian-haired Ann-Margret gets to sing on the beach in a bikini; baby-voiced Pamela Tiffin falls for girl-chaser Anthony Franciosa; while faux-jaded Carol Lynley has eyes for her much-married boss, Brian Keith (leading to the only strong scene in the movie, a showdown in the ladies room between Lynley and neglected wife Gene Tierney). Edith Sommer's screenplay, via John H. Secondari's novel "Coins in the Fountain", is weighed down with soap opera-ish confrontations laden with some real howlers (Tierney: "How dare you feel sorry for me, you little tramp!"). The clothes and cars and hairstyles are a '60s dream, but I didn't believe the match-ups at the finale--only the fact that Ann-Margret's singing and dancing at a party would definitely silence the crowd. ** from ****