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The Cool Ones (1967) More at IMDb Pro »

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10 out of 10 people found the following comment useful :-
Eminently watchable slice of 60's go-go pop, 13 September 2003
Author: Kenneth Anderson (efitness2@yahoo.com) from Los Angeles

Eminently watchable slice of 60's go-go pop that never gets as much attention as it deserves. "The Cool Ones" is not a good movie, but boy is it campy fun. From its first shots of the taping of a "Hullabaloo"-type teen TV dance show to its cornball conclusion with the lovers driving off into the sunset, "The Cool Ones" is a must for fans of "Austin Powers" or the 60's at its most faddish.

An oddly cynical tale of a go-go dancer who aspires to pop singing stardom, "The Cool Ones" boasts a musical score of tres-groovy songs by Lee Hazelwood (of Nancy Sinatra fame...by the way, that sounds like Ms. Sinatra dubbing Debbie Watson's vocals during "The Tantrum"...anybody know?), Teri Garr dancing up a storm, bad Sixties fashions, and male lead Gil Peterson (surely the model for the Ken doll) wearing the tightest pants humanly possible.

Roddy McDowall is good/bad as always, but my favorite is the scene - stealing Nita Talbot, who always seems to be two steps ahead of any movie she's in. Worth watching just to see the dance number in the ski lift...THOSE CLOTHES! Should be remade with Britney Spears in the lead!

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8 out of 8 people found the following comment useful :-
A true undiscovered gem!, 9 July 2000

Author: victrader from No Ho

This is a great movie - yes it is a bad movie, but it is great. A stellar cast, a great score and wonderful location shots all over Los Angeles and Palm Springs, circa 1966. Any movie that boasts a musical dance number in the Palm Springs Tramway can't be all bad.

The cast: Debbie Watson and Gil Peterson are perfect. Don't know where they came from, except that Debbie had her own TV series briefly, "Karen". And Gil has a great bod! Roddy McDowell - great as always. Phil Harris is wonderful. Nita Talbot all but steals the show as Roddy's Girl Friday. I mean, this woman is fierce! She shamelessly tries to steal every scene she is in - and does too. She should have been used much more in films. And you even get Terri Garr as one of the dancers. And I didn't even mention Mrs. Miller. This must be her only big screen appearance, so that alone is worth the price of admission.

The plot is a little hackneyed, but who cares. The original songs by Lee Hazelwood are fantastic. Hey, both Frank and Nancy covered "This Town" on their albums. As a spoof of the Hullaballo-type dance programs of the era as well as Roddys apeing of Phil Spector - this movie does try to say something. But that is not what it is about - it is just plain fun!!!

If you get the chance to watch this movie-just relax and enjoy-don't have to think hard here-just good clean fun! As you can see I LOVE THIS MOVIE.

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5 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
This movie is campy, yes. But I love it and so will you!, 26 December 2004

Author: TADA co from tadaco.com

Roddy Mcdowell is a gas in this musical comedy about a fun loving teenager, played coyly and sweet by the young Debbie Watson. The main character accidentally starts a dance craze by throwing a tantrum on the set of a televised dance show. The dance she creates is called, of course, "The Tantrum."

It is this campy humor that, while sometimes over the top, keeps you wanting more. There are also some great sequences shot on Olivera Street in Los Angeles and on the Palm Springs Tram. Glen Cambell is even in it.

The music is fun, that dancing a blast, it's hip and cool and ultra sixties...yeah baby! It runs on cable now and again...look for it.

This is on my list of movies you hate to love! A must see.

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3 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
A terrible, groovy classic, man!, 28 October 2003

Author: cocteauaddict from Los Angeles

Yes, this film is terrible- horrific and just plain bad. But I like it, and I'm not ashamed to say it! Normally, this is not my kind of film, as I prefer obscure classics. But this film is so bad, so truly bad- it's good. See how earnest the cast treats this dreck? They're really into it, man! And what a story! Don't you wish that your pals picked you up in their little red sports car on a free trip to Palm Springs after you screw up on the "Whiz Bang" TV show because you want to be a STAR? Gil Peterson, as the erstwhile mutant heartthrob, has to be one of the world's worst actors... and he has ever so much competition. My fave moments: Don't miss Teri ("Young Frankenstein") Garr as a go-go dancer! Don't miss Gil Peterson soulfully singing an uptempo version of that Doris Day classic, "My Secret Love." And please, don't miss my favorite character in the whole darned movie: that sad little dancer doing his darndest James Brown shake and shimmy- I nearly died from laughter.

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3 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
Amazingly bad relic of the swinging sixties, 3 March 1999

Author: otter from Mountain View, Ca.

Enjoyably bad: This supposed satire of the pop music scene could never have been good, the main character is intrinsically unlikeable. An ambitious and mean pop-singer wannabe gets her big break by brawling on a TV dance show and marries solely to further her career (of course she falls for him, otherwise there would be no plot).

What separates this from all the merely boring flicks out there are the performances.

The combination of the unbelievably horrid lead, the lively, cheesy music, the unbelievable costumes (seemingly designed to show off Ms. Watson's heavy thighs), and Mr. MacDowell make this as watchably bad as an Ed Wood movie.

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2 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
Hideously terrible, 16 August 2001

Author: simon_sparrow (simon.sparrow@samoa.com) from Truly terrible

All attempts to be cool fall horribly flat in this showcase for some of the weaker musical talents of the 1960's. Roddy McDowell delivers the worst performance of his career in a character as shrill as he is inconsistent. It then proceeds in tortoise-like fashion to an obvious conclusion. This is a worthy candidate for the worst big budget film in the history of the cinema.

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1 out of 1 people found the following comment useful :-
Roddy McDowall as Simon Cowell?, 3 July 2006

Author: ccmiller1492 (ccmiller1492@yahoo.com) from Falls Church, VA

"The Cool Ones" is definitely a second-string musical but it's more entertaining than many of the A-list musicals of the decade and doesn't deserve the obscurity to which it's consigned. It's well-paced, with lots of song and dance numbers, directed by Gene Nelson, who has a great feel for these elements. The real standout in this film is Gil Peterson who greatly resembles Grant Williams. He has enough charisma and talent to pull the whole thing together with a convincing performance and wonderful vocals. If his songs were dubbed, it is incredible how synchronized they were and how appropriately they matched his speaking voice. It's a mystery why this talented, handsome and energetic performer didn't achieve a more successful career.

Unfortunately there is far too much screen time and energy devoted to Roddy McDowall's annoying and overly fey portrayal of the promoter. Could this be an earlier incarnation of Simon Cowell?

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1 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
Bad, bad.....not bad, good., 15 June 2007

Author: dirty_dave from Australia

"The Cool Ones"..Hmm...Well the sixties cars were super cool as was Tonys'(Roddy McDowells)purple velvet lined office,complete with throne.I think the highlight of this "stinker" for me was Cliffs'(Gil Peterson) amazing ability,whilst singing, to dance like a "Thunderbird" puppet with it's finger stuck in a live light socket....(I'm wondering if he was the inspiration for the party scene in "Team America").A close second favorite was Cliffs' incredibly unlikeable character complete with immaculately groomed hair-do with not one hair out of place throughout the entire duration of the movie....Sorry gang,in my opinion this movie is just plain "badsville",I'm still not sure why I sat through it.

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