The Impossible Years

Impossible years... some recognize-able names in this MGM film from tumultuous 1968. David Niven is Professor Kingsley, and the late 1960's were known for trouble and protests. and his own daughter has been arrested for protesting! and the running gag is that everyone Kingsley bumps into wants to know what was written on the sign that got her arrested. Ozzie Nelson is Dr. Fleischer, the next door neighbor. his son Freddie (Rich Chalet) is all over Linda, Kingsley's daughter (Cristina Ferrare... probably best known as wife of John DeLorean, the car guy). it's all about the story of the new, young, protesting generation versus the older establishment. it's okay. It's pretty much beach blanket bingo. there's even a scene of the teenagers dancing on the beach. Directed by Michael Gordon, who made two films with Doris Day.... Move Over Darling, and Pillow Talk. it's a fun snapshot of the protest years.. late 1960s.

Impossible to watch. But I managed to stick with it. Like an R rated Brady Bunch episode and with much the same low brow comedy writing as that show provided. This was dated in 1968 and looking at it in 2015 one can only wonder how did such an intensely unfunny, contrived and stupid film ever get made ? I'm currently reading Dream Maker The Rise and Fall Of John Delorean and DVRed this to see Christina Ferrare, his eventual third wife. Jr High school grade acting ability. Unfunny lines, ridiculous characters, lame slapstick: the only thing worth watching is David Niven's deftness in bringing believability to what he's saying. Should be interesting to see David Niven in Eye Of The Devil introducing Sharon Tate and compare her debut with Ferrare's back to back. The studio rock and roll tracks are typically annoying. Not even fun as a period piece. The abounding stupidity all around is a total amusement killer.

Okay,so this movie wasn't really that good to some people,but I for one liked it.A father who is a doctor(?) has two daughters:Abby who is the youngest and Linda who is the oldest(and has the raging libido).Yes,it's boyfriend after boyfriend for Linda,and her parents watch her wondering why their daughter jumps from one boyfriend to the next.It isn't until later when she moves out of the house and gets married,only to see her father trying to find out who her spouse really is.There is a favorite scene of mine where the Linda's parents are having a party and her boyfriend brings in a portrait of her that he painted.And when he shows the family and guests,it's revealed to be a * portrait,in which Linda didn't know!The rating is bad though.It acts more like a PG-13 movie than a G rated movie.Believe me.This is NOT something you wanna watch with your parents!

Corny swingin' 60s sex comedy has uptight psychology professor David Niven trying to control his liberated free-spirit 17-year old daughter, Cristina Ferrare. It's really a generational comedy with the square adults having a hard time understanding 1960's youth culture. The main problems with this film isn't the premise, but that the comedy is not all that funny. Both the square adults and the hip kids are presented in broad exaggerated versions of themselves, which could work, but does not here. I did laugh at one of-the-moment line when Niven's character is angry at a doctor friend and yells, "I'm glad they passed Medicare!" but outside of that there was not much that made me laugh.

While the film is greatly dated in viewing it today, as for someone that lived during the 60's, it was quite ground breaking in dealing with current trends in our society. Since themes such as this were something relatively new, they sort of skimmed around the issues, and weren't as hard hitting as they are today. Alond with this film, David Niven starred in another film of this genre also in 1968, "Prudence and the Pill". Even by 1968 standards this film was very silly and disappointing. It is ironic how Hollywood, tried to deal with society's changes by making them seem humorous and inconsequential.

I believe it was critic Leonard Maltin who called this, "the most obscene G-rated film of all time." He was right. And on top of that, it's a terrible film. It falls right in there with some of Bob Hope's late '60s and early '70s disasters. And that it corralled good old Ozzy Nelson to boot adds insult to injury. Sorry folks, but he only thing really worth watching are young Christina Ferrare, who at 17 or 18 was a genuine knockout, and Lola Albright, who played her mother opposite an incessantly befuddled and fit-to-be-tied David Niven. By the early-to-mid 1970s, this movie's morals were already dated. Dig it out every now and then so people could see a genuine curio from a by-gone era. But as for me, if I'm going to watch a comedy from that time,I'd rather watch The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes or Now You See Him, Now You Don't or something equally deep.

If memory is a testament to value then this is a really valued and fun movie for me. It was 1968 and I was 9 years old and I remember this movie well. Me and my friends went to the movies every Saturday and I saw this movie 5 times and enjoyed it every time. I loved Christina Ferrare (what a sweetheart),and her little sister Abby reading "Fanny Hill" I had no idea who that was but it sure upset the parents and lets face it, kids challenging old ideas with with free speech issues is what helps keep freedom alive. This movie may have seemed like a superficial romp yet it actually touched upon some very relevant issues and was a beautiful vignette of those times. It had spirit. It had heart and it was a lot of fun. It also brought out the humorous side to some tough issues, something that was needed in those days, and lets face it who couldn't love "smuts".