Riffraff: Looking for Love (1964)

The ideas are there, very vaguely. I can see where they were trying to go with them but none of them work. This is because the script is terrible. The cast is more than competent but for the most part characters are so unlikable to the point where it hurts. It’s not their fault the script fails them. Seriously, this is a situation where a decent script could have gone a long way, but alas we are stuck with the mess we were given and no one can pull it over.

The movie also stars tons of guest stars that all probably had much better movies or projects to work on in 1964. The guest stars are Johnny Carson, George Hamilton, Yvette Mimieux, Paula Prentiss, and Danny Thomas. In order to apologize for this movie I would totally accept a movie that stars all of these people in something with a better script. There is even a scene where Connie Francis’s character has to kiss George Hamilton (a 1964 George Hamilton!) and she complains that she can’t do it because it’s George Hamilton (again, a 1964 George Hamilton!). Does she want to trade places?

Yes, this is a Connie Francis vehicle. She does her usual shtick: she sings and looks for love. I honestly don’t really remember any of the songs. One big, big problem to this is that her character is dislikable. She comes off as an egotistical character who will bulldoze anything for her happiness. The plot is that she wants to get married but ends up becoming famous through events that really aren’t worth explaining. She tries to land Jim Hutton’s asshole character (despite the fact that it is very clear that her best friend played by Susan Oliver is in love with him). In the meantime Francis meets Joby Baker’s grocery store boy character and you know they’re going to end up together because they literally meet by running into one another and causing a big mess. Clichés, what are those?

Again, one of the biggest problems with the movie is the script. Yet again, every character is pretty much an asshole. Jim Hutton’s character is a shallow womanizer that doesn’t seem to notice that two pretty girls want him. Francis’s character goes after him (because I guess she’s stupid) and overlooks the fact that her best friend Oliver has the hots for him. Oliver’s character is probably the only likable character in the whole movie. She may have something wrong with her for pursuing an asshole that doesn’t even know she exists but hey at least both actors look good together (I’m grasping at straws here, okay). She also is loyal to Francis’ character for some reason, but hey she’s the only one that doesn’t come across as an egotistical jerk but she may need to be tested for Stockholm Syndrome.

I’m never sure whether it is better to get a good cast in a bad movie because they can be the only saving grace of it or to get bad actors for a bad movie so no talent is wasted. It is hard to say especially when I have seen several movies of both kinds. In this situation however (because it does vary), the stars don’t lend any likability to their characters because the script fails them. Maybe Jim Hutton’s character is as likable as he can possibly be because he is played by Jim Hutton and the script would make him an asshole anyway, but it is hard to tell. It still to me feels like Hutton is being wasted more than anything else especially since he had a life that was cut short. Francis does have worthy vehicles so we know she’s capable of being in movies. Oliver was in BUtterfield 8 (1960), Your Cheatin’ Heart (1964), and the television series Peyton Place (1966-66). Baker had Gidget (1959) and would go on to play the casino gangster head in Blackbeard’s Ghost (1968). These actors couldn’t save the script and neither could the appearances of all the great guest-stars.

For all the shortcomings of this film, this is a FUN movie to riff. Yeah, it can be hard not to bitch about how unlikable some of the characters can be but what is there is impossible not to want to tear into. Our biggest recurring riff is how Hutton’s character was shallow. We constantly made him talk about cheap things like “beewbs” (because girls have them, right?). I also couldn’t help making it clear that when Hutton and Oliver stood together they looked similar to Major Tony Nelson and Jeannie from I Dream of Jeannie (we reference TV A LOT in these riffs of ours similar to the MST3K gang and usually make at least one reference to both The Simpsons and Frasier in each riff as those are our two favorite shows).

The movie as a whole is a mess but man it was certainly one of my favorite riffs. We riffed Where the Boys Meet the Girls (1965) (which I will get to at some point) pretty much right after this because we had that much fun ripping into this movie we wanted to tear into another Connie Francis movie. It has the clichés and situations to really poke fun at (again two of the characters meet by literally running into each other and causing a big mess!) and unlikable characters that you won’t feel bad poking fun at to an extreme extent. If you’re in a riffy mood and you don’t mind seeing some talent go to waste (it is easier to riff stars than non-celebrities anyway) make sure you look for love in all the wrong places with this movie.

~Virginia