Tuesday, October 04, 2016

Forgotten Movies: BECAUSE THEY'RE YOUNG

Waiting to become a teen, this was my favorite movie of 1960. Dick Clark plays a new teacher at a high school loaded with cool and troubled kids. There were so few good movie for young teenagers then. The beach blanket sorts just didn't speak to all of us. SPLENDOR IN THE GRASS was probably my favorite. What movies spoke to the teenage you?





What I loved most about this one though was probably the theme song, sung by Duayne Eddy.





18 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think it's interesting, Patii, how teen films change over the years, but still speak to the same anxieties, hopes, and so on. This is one I hadn't seen before - thanks for sharing.

Jeff Meyerson said...

Tuesday Weld and Roberta Shore were actually teenagers. All the guys were in their mid-20s.

The song, one of my favorites, was, of course, an instrumental.

When John Farris wrote HARRISON HIGH, the book the movie was based on, he was still a teenager himself.

Unknown said...

I love this one, and the book it's based on (HARRISON HIGH) is even better. I think I may even have done a post on this one, myself.

pattinase (abbott) said...

I could not get the song on here by itself. Yes those instrumentals were popular. Does anyone do them anymore?

Jeff Meyerson said...

I like the way Bill does the song of the day on his blog. I always thought if I did a blog I'd have different songs each day: one day would be instrumentals, one for one-hit wonders, etc.

The late '50s and early '60s was a great period for instrumentals as many made the top 10 or top 5.

Because They're Young, Duane Eddy.

pattinase (abbott) said...

It just won't post on my blog. Never happened before.

Anonymous said...

I don't remember specific "teen" movies during my teen years (the 1970s). Movies like "Bless the Beasts and the Children" were popular with some teens because of the empowerment message, but the movies I liked best came at the very end of my teen years: Animal House, Saturday Night Fever, etc.

Deb

pattinase (abbott) said...

I remember seeing the trailer for SNF and thinking 'well, that will never work"

Rick Robinson said...

I was 14 in 1959, and in that year the movies I saw and loved (though I can't say any of them "spoke to me") were:(yes, I looked up lists on IMDB)

SLEEPING BEAUTY
RIO BRAVO
JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH
THE HORSE SOLDIERS
A SUMMER PLACE
GIDGET
OPERATION PETTICOAT
GREEN MANSIONS

pattinase (abbott) said...

I loved them all , Rick!

Jeff Meyerson said...

THE VIKINGS
JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH
MIGHTY JOE YOUNG (I watched it on Million Dollar Movie incessantly)
20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA
BEN-HUR
THE 7th VOYAGE OF SINBAD

pattinase (abbott) said...

All movies I saw but would not rate among ones that spoke to me. Too male-oriented. Women were just eye candy.

Jeff Meyerson said...

Remember, in 1959 I was 10 years old. I wouldn't pick the same ones today.

Cap'n Bob said...

I was out of my teens when I saw it, but a movie about teens that always stuck in my head was called IF. It was about an English boarding school and a student who was fed up with the rules.

Anonymous said...

Somewhat off-topic, but going back to Jeff's comment about instrumentals, we have a great 5-CD set from Rhino called Rock Instrumental Classics. There's a CD each for the 1950s, 60s, and 70s, plus one for surf and one for soul instrumentals. Everything from Duane Eddy's "Rebel Rouser" to Apollo 100's "Joy" to the Chantay's "Pipeline" to (my personal favorite) the T-Bones' "No Matter What Shape Your Stomach's In". Great stuff--highly recommended.

Deb

J F Norris said...

When I was a teen I didn't seek out movies or shows specifically about teenagers or teen life. During the 1970s all we had was THE BRADY BUNCH and similar TV shows plus all those Disney movies with kids in them. I really wasn't interested in watching teen life in the movies at all. I sure didn't need movies to speak to me was I was clueless teen. I just wanted to be entertained. I saw THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE and loved it. Probably my favorite movie as a youngster. I was 11 then so not quite a teen. I don't know how I got in to see it but I definitely saw it in a theater in 1975. My older brother must've looked old enough to be our "guardian". For weeks afterward my friends and I would reenact the death scenes on the playground jungle gym during recess. That's the weirdo kid I was. Movies didn't "speak to me" until I was in college. Up till then it was just entertainment.

pattinase (abbott) said...

Well, I sought out movies with cute guys so that's the same thing. Pure entertainment of some sort.
It wasn't until I started dating Phil at 17 that I started taking film seriously. That was the time for that. The first art houses were springing up.

Steve Oerkfitz said...

WHERE EAGLES DARE (1969) and KELLYS HEROES (1970) two of Clint Eastwoods finest and most entertaining movies, i lost count of the number of times i watched them on VHS back in the 80`s.