Blu Ray Review: For Those Who Think Young (1964)

Kino Lorber’s release of For Those Who Think Young offers us a disarming throwback to the 1960s just before the Beatles came to redefine the culture. This period is mostly represented by the Frankie Avalon-Annette Funicello beach movie series, which were so popular, other studios tried to find the same success. For Those Who Think Young is a good example.

They hired James Darren from the Gidget movies; Bob Denver whose gig as Maynard G. Krebbs on the Dobie Gillis TV show had just ended; the daughters of Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin (Nancy and Claudia, respectively), and filled in the cast with recognizable performers like Paul Lynde, Robert Middleton, and Sammee Tong. Woody Woodbury makes his movie debut telling corny jokes that can’t help eliciting laughter. And, there is a truly bizarre musical number with Bob Denver completely buried in the sand except for his mouth and chin – eyes and nose painted on it – as swimsuit-clad teens dance around him hollering “Ho, Daddy!” There are fun cameos by old timers like George Raft, Allen Jenkins, Jack LaRue, and Robert Armstrong, an early appearance by a young Ellen Burstyn, and the disjointed, episodic, truly meaningless sense of fun is utterly captivating.

I recall asking Bob Denver about this movie when I interviewed him in 1980, and he laughed upon being reminded of it. “I hadn’t signed for Gilligan’s Island yet, and had just finished my run on Dobie Gillis. So to get a movie was great. I didn’t realize that I would soon get the role I’d be asked about for the rest of my life.”

Some fun trivia: along with Denver, Tina Louise also appears in For Those Who Think Young, neither realizing they’d be destined to engage in their most noted roles later that same year.

James Darren is affable and amusing, Pamela Tiffin shows the natural comic talent she’d exhibited in the classic One Two Three, Bob Denver offers a fun extension of his Maynard character, and Nancy Sinatra is delightful as his girl.

Kino Lorber’s blu ray of For Those Who Think Young doesn’t have any bells and whistles. There are no special features other than some interesting trailers. But the movie itself will suffice, offering a colorful, amusing, energetic throwback to an era that has long since passed us by.

The blu ray is available here: For Those Who Think Young