The Party Crashers

This was a movie that I had seen as a youngster, when I was around the age of twelve. The story was about a bunch of older teenagers (a lot older than me at the time) that got their kicks by "crashing" parties, in other words, upsetting others' enjoyment for their own personal satisfaction. Not to divulge, but I will say they finally crashed a party run by people old enough to be their parents, or by folks that knew how to really have a good time (for themselves). All of a sudden, the "crashers" seemed to behave like little elflings... It's a true reflection on behavior. Nothing has changed... this movie still makes a lot of social sense. Try to find it.

I guess the intent of this film is to show that kids are screwed up because their parents are screwed up. But what the film really shows is that its producer, director, and writer are screwed up.

Mark Damon, playing a character named Twig Webster (no relation to Branch Rickey) leads a group of hooligans who like to crash parties. He and his - er, ruffians - arrive at one party and he immediately sets his radar on Connie Stevens. Stevens' boyfriend, Bobby Driscoll, is not amused. It doesn't take long before Damon and his - er, malcontents - trash the place. Connie finds all this strangely exciting; I find it hack. The cops arrive on the scene about ten seconds after being called, probably because there is a Dunkin' Donuts shop around the corner. However, almost everyone gets away so the film can continue.

In short order, we get to meet everyone's parents. Driscoll's parents are played by former screen beauty Frances Farmer and future old guy Denver Pyle. Stevens' parents are played by Onslow Stevens (fortunately for Connie, no relation) and some old bag preparing a speech called "The Natural Grain of Life." For some reason, Onslow acts rather effeminate, so maybe this marriage was arranged. Damon's parents are played by former screen siren Doris Dowling (as the town ho) and character actor Walter Brooke (as the town lush). After spending 5 minutes with any of these pairs, you'd be thankful for being an orphan.

As the film progresses, Damon makes the inevitable move on Stevens, who isn't sure how to react, but does string him along while Driscoll huffs and puffs. In the finale, all the kids decide to crash a party. Damon is horrified to discover that his mother is one of the hors d'oeuvres. The adults running it are real bad-arses, so another rumble ensues. For trivia buffs, one of the adults is played by Michael Ross, who had two roles in "Attack of the 50-Foot Woman" (bartender and very large alien). I won't give away the rest, but somebody goes tumbling down a flight of stairs, and it ain't Ralph Kramden. The fade-out is pretty phony.

The acting is okay, for the most part. Connie is cute as ever and Damon is repulsive as ever. Driscoll is actually pretty good in an uninteresting part, but is overshadowed by his co-stars. Farmer still looks good, but shows almost no emotion when reading her lines. Knowing her history, I guess we should give her a pass on this one. Brooke is a little too over-the-top as a drunken weenie. Dowling has the juiciest role, and also has the creepiest scene in the film, when it appears she is about ready to make out with Damon.

Middle-class teen troublemakers stir things up with the country club set; their bad boy leader (Mark Damon) is hot-tempered--likely due to mom-and-dad issues--but one of the rich girls (Connie Stevens), bored with her privileged life, finds him alluring. Rather nasty variant of "Rebel Without a Cause" and its ilk is otherwise well-acted and written, with the threat of an Army draft hanging over the boys. The three screenwriters--Bernard Girard (who also directed), William Alland, and Dan Lundberg--steer clear of the usual j.d clichés, although their misty-eyed, semi-happy ending is groaner (someone here got cold feet). The cast includes Frances Farmer and Robert (Bobby) Driscoll as mother and son (this was the final feature film for both); however, Stevens as the suburban princess/daddy's girl is the standout (never resorting to Lolita-isms or rich girl bitchery, the newcomer is a natural, showing incredible self-assurance). ** from ****

Twig Webster (Mark Damon) and his gang of hoods show up at a nice party and soon end up trashing the place. They are uncouth jerks...and now Barbara Nickerson (Connie Stevens) is practically panting with obvious desire at this bad-boy, Twig. Through the course of the rest of the film, she keeps playing Twig and her boyfriend, Josh (Bobby Discol) against each other and you KNOW that sooner or later all this has to end in some sort of tragedy.

The film not only focuses on these three young people but their parents in order to give you an idea of their home lives and how this molded them into who they are. The most interesting is Twig's, where his dad is a drunk who is slapped around by his wife and she runs around on him constantly.

So is all this any good? Well, if you are looking for a sensationalistic exploitation film, this really isn't it. In other words, it's not cheap exploitation crap like so many 'youth run wild' films of the era. This one is trying to say a bit more and isn't as seedy...and the acting and production values are a bit better as well. Now I am not saying this is some must-see film...it's not. But it is reasonably entertaining and reasonably well made.

By the way, there are a couple interesting things about the film. Bobby Driscol was a very prolific and talented child actor...and this is his final film. Drinking, drugs and death all came at age 31! Also, his father in the film is played by Denver Pyle and it's interesting to hear him speaking without that strong southern drawl you usually associate with him.

I'm not sure what Frances Farmer was thinking if she thought her old studio Paramount was giving her a comeback vehicle with The Party Crashers. This film is one trashy youth exploitative flick from the late 50s. Not only was this not a comeback vehicle, but it was a last screen effort for two very tragic figures Farmer and former Disney child star Bobby Driscoll.

Denver Pyle and Farmer are Driscoll's parents and he's dating town tramp Connie Stevens when one night the brooding James Dean wannabe Mark Damon takes her from him. This starts a chain of events that leads to one death and one kid explaining things to the cops. It seems as though these are a bunch of rich bored kids who keep looking for parties every night. Nice to have money to indulge yourself like that.

The only one who has a meaty role of any kind is Doris Dowling who is Damon's mother with Onslow Stevens as his father. She's the adult version of Connie Stevens and her character has some bite to it. Dowling knows this is a turkey so she struts her stuff and gobbles.

Only Connie Stevens moved from The Party Crashers, she got a nice career with Warner Brothers very shortly.

Frances Farmer should have left with Son Of Fury being her last film.