Story Of The Beach Boys' Failed Feature Film, 1965-66

[guitarfool2002]

I might be wrong, but this never-made film is a part of the Beach Boys' history I haven't seen told in much detail if at all through all the years. I found a handful of clippings and articles from that time in 1965 which tell the story. You have to wonder what would have been different had this feature film been made. The film starring Sonny and Cher was completed and released but never reached its potential, so leave it up to speculation.

To put this into context, "California Girls" was the single of note in fall 1965, the "Summer Days" album was still current with "Party!" being the latest album release, and the Boys in general were still considered one of the top American pop acts, if not the top at that time.

Here is the story:

In July 1965 this column appeared touting the popularity of the Rock film, coming on the heels of the Beatles' huge film success:

7/10/65


This led record labels to look for film opportunities featuring their top pop and rock acts. "Follow The Leader" is a popular game in show business. Capitol turned to the Beach Boys to be the stars of their first feature film, and it was announced in October 1965:

10/16/65


It was big news that Capitol had approached producer Steve Broidy to helm the new rock films they had hoped to make. The fact that Broidy was hired by Capitol was apparently big news in Hollywood and worthy of another article in late October 1965:

10/30/65


Some of the teen music papers and magazines soon picked up the news and within weeks of being reported in the trade papers, they broke it to their fans in gossip columns:

11/6/65


...and within full articles and news items, some of the quotes copied directly from the trade papers:

11/20/65



However, just a few weeks later the news was broken that the deal had fallen apart due to differences between Broidy and the band, in one instance suggesting the band members themselves had internal disagreements about this film:

12/4/65


I found no other reference to this stalled project until a brief mention in May 1966, where Capitol was still getting into the film business and the project surrounding the Beach Boys' feature film is mentioned and reported as still on the shelf.

5/21/66



That brief mention might serve as the obituary of the Beach Boys' feature film that was never scripted, because at least in my own research I have found nothing further on the Broidy-Beach Boys film, or any remnants of it.

It is an interesting note to the Beach Boys' story - as they did have the clout and the popularity to be Capitol's first choice for a feature film, at least one article would almost suggest squabbles within the band could have been a factor in the failure of this project, seemingly before a working script was made for the band to review. Or maybe it was precisely the review by the band of a script idea presented to them which they did not want to do on screen.

Whatever the reasons, the story of the "feature film that never was" doesn't seem insignificant enough to be omitted from nearly every history of the band I've seen, heard, or read.

[Steve Mayo]

yeah...we discussed this last summer. using google books and looking at old bilboards i saw this article. google books is great.... 

 link: http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php/topic,8837.0.html

[guitarfool2002]

yeah...we discussed this last summer. using google books and looking at old bilboards i saw this article. google books is great.... 

 link: http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php/topic,8837.0.html

I wasn't around last summer, so it was all new to me. Maybe others will find it new too, so for those folks I'll leave it up.

It's amazing what a few accidental finds while searching for research-like material will turn up.

[Fun Is In]

The Wikipedia biogrpahy of Steve Broidy makes no mention of Tower Pictures, Tower Productions or working w/ Capitol Records.

Instead it says he left his job as pres of Mongram in 1965 to form "Motion Pictures International". None of the films mentioned for that job are music related.

http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php?action=post;topic=9970.0;num_replies=2

[guitarfool2002]

The Sonny And Cher film was made and released, though, whether Broidy was still involved with it by the time it was finished is something I don't know. Sonny And Cher's movie had greater expectations than what it delivered at the box office, and it seemed to get hung up a bit in production from what the papers were reporting.

Interesting that Broidy seems to be known as much to history as a philanthropist as his record as a producer, so whatever his film projects were made him a wealthy and generous man. He didn't seem to fit with Capitol's ideas for their music movies in 65-66.

[Cam Mott]

IMDB lists Broidy as Executive Producer for "Good Times".

[Jon Stebbins]

Late 1964 was their window for getting this done in a successful way, their box-office potential had seriously dissipated in the U.S. by '66. The thing is they needed to do this when they were trendy, and they were not trendy anymore in late '65 to '66. They were passe.  Once the initial AIP deal fell through in the All Summer Long period, any chance of a Beach Boys film seeing production was practically nil. Its typical that there were industry entities behind the curve, and grasping at straws, because the Beach Boys were a big money operation. But no way they were gonna do A Hard Days Night/Help level of business, or even close, unless a BB's film had hit the market in say Xmas 1964...that may have had a chance to be very big. Six months or a year later...no way.

[Roger Ryan]

I seriously don't think any of the Beach Boys could carry a movie the way the Beatles, the Monkees or Sonny and Cher could. They probably were on par with the Dave Clark Five or Dick Dale and a bit better than Roy Orbison when it came to film personalities!

Hey, I'm a fan of Dennis' low-key naturalism in TWO-LANE BLACKTOP, but I just don't see him or the rest of the boys making any kind of impression on film circa '65. I do think that Brian does a passable cartoon voice-over characterization these days!

[guitarfool2002]

Interesting that the one article mentions "leader" Brian Wilson being offered other film projects after the Broidy project fell apart. And another period article mentions a publishing company Brian had set up as a partnership...to me it seems like Brian was already being singled out for what we might consider "solo" projects as early as this time in late '65, then soon to be followed by his solo credit on the "Caroline, No" single release. Not to mention article after article spotlighting him as the BB's producer.

These papers are full of rumors, but are there any indications who was offering projects to Brian in film at this time or what the roles/projects were? Or is it just rumor that never happened?

[Chris Brown]

Interesting that the one article mentions "leader" Brian Wilson being offered other film projects after the Broidy project fell apart. And another period article mentions a publishing company Brian had set up as a partnership...to me it seems like Brian was already being singled out for what we might consider "solo" projects as early as this time in late '65, then soon to be followed by his solo credit on the "Caroline, No" single release. Not to mention article after article spotlighting him as the BB's producer.

These papers are full of rumors, but are there any indications who was offering projects to Brian in film at this time or what the roles/projects were? Or is it just rumor that never happened?

I've never read anything about specific offers, but it was seemingly one of the avenues that was considered/discussed upon the formation of Brother Records.  Anderle spoke about Brian going into films in his interview with Vosse as well, in a hypothetical manner ("you know this man is going to go into films," etc.).  It was probably one of Brian's many aspirational ideas that never came into fruition, or more likely, that he subsequently lost interest in.

It's too bad, I think Brian would have had a knack for film scoring if he had the inclination or the time to dedicate to it.  Especially around the Pet Sounds/Smile era, he was incredibly adept at creating a mood through his music in a way that wasn't cheesy or artificial sounding.  He could have done some interesting stuff in that area.

[PhilCohen]

Remember: just because a group has fabulous musical & hitmaking skills doesn't mean that they can neccessarily be great actors. The Beatles were lucky, in that they had distinct personalities, charisma & a natural sense of humor that served them well in "A Hard Days' Night" & "Help".
                            I recall that The Cowsills wanted to get into the movies, but when early auditions showed that they were not satisfactory actors, the producers instead created a series about a fictional group based on The Cowsills........The Partridge Family.

[guitarfool2002]

Remember: just because a group has fabulous musical & hitmaking skills doesn't mean that they can neccessarily be great actors. The Beatles were lucky, in that they had distinct personalities, charisma & a natural sense of humor that served them well in "A Hard Days' Night" & "Help".
                            I recall that The Cowsills wanted to get into the movies, but when early auditions showed that they were not satisfactory actors, the producers instead created a series about a fictional group based on The Cowsills........The Partridge Family.

I can see this point - the camera does unusual things to people, and it was just a stroke of luck, I think, that The Beatles as people could basically play themselves on film and create one of the best films of the 1960's. Watching that clip of the Beach Boys skit with Jack Benny and Bob Hope, the Beach Boys didn't seem as natural reading a script in front of the camera as they obviously were playing music.

But I also think of all the other rock and roll films of the 1960's, and I'm thinking just how strong were these as actors or personalities when you had bands like Herman's Hermits and Dave Clark 5 making feature films? It didn't seem to matter in some cases. With The Beatles it was John, Paul, George, and Ringo - how many people apart from the most ardent fans can name any other Hermits besides Peter Noone? I think the acting skill and personality was an issue for the companies producing these films to some degree, but I also think they'd put a hot band in any scenario to make a few bucks off the popularity. There were also rumors at this time of a similar scripted film featuring The Rolling Stones, imagine the results of that had it happened.

[Jon Stebbins]

The Stones vehicle went beyond the rumor stage. There are screen tests of the individual five Stones, and a few minutes of a group screen test as well. Rave did a feature article on it as well. Here's a few press blurbs.

Billboard May 28, 1966 Nicholas Ray will direct the Rolling Stones' movie, "Only Lovers Left Alive."

1966 
Rolling Stones manager/producer Andrew Loog Oldham announces his clients will get $1 million to be in "Only Lovers Left Alive."

The Rolling Stones will receive $1 million for making their acting debut in the movie “Only Lovers Left Alive.” Their business manager, Allen Klein has also negotiated a $3 million recording contract with Decca for the music. The story is from a novel by Dave Wallis, about an imaginary takeover of England by violent and rebellious teenagers

[bgas]

Perhaps not the easiest to see , but here's a two page ad from the july 9, 1966 Record World: 

[Roger Ryan]

Wow - With Ray directing, that film could have been pretty good and would have beat a similarly-themed IF... by about three years.

The screenwriters, Willis Hall and Keith Waterhouse, also wrote the very well-respected edgy British play/film BILLY LIAR. This one looks like a missed opportunity.

[PhilCohen]

Remember: just because a group has fabulous musical & hitmaking skills doesn't mean that they can neccessarily be great actors. The Beatles were lucky, in that they had distinct personalities, charisma & a natural sense of humor that served them well in "A Hard Days' Night" & "Help".
                            I recall that The Cowsills wanted to get into the movies, but when early auditions showed that they were not satisfactory actors, the producers instead created a series about a fictional group based on The Cowsills........The Partridge Family.

I can see this point - the camera does unusual things to people, and it was just a stroke of luck, I think, that The Beatles as people could basically play themselves on film and create one of the best films of the 1960's. Watching that clip of the Beach Boys skit with Jack Benny and Bob Hope, the Beach Boys didn't seem as natural reading a script in front of the camera as they obviously were playing music.

In The Dave Clark Five movie, only Clark himself showed any real skill for acting, and he had a background in the movie industry(albeit as a stunt man). Later, after the DC5 disbanded, he went to acting school, only to ultimately never pursue it as a career. He (and the DC5) had been offered other movie work while the group was still together. Clark declined.

But I also think of all the other rock and roll films of the 1960's, and I'm thinking just how strong were these as actors or personalities when you had bands like Herman's Hermits and Dave Clark 5 making feature films? It didn't seem to matter in some cases. With The Beatles it was John, Paul, George, and Ringo - how many people apart from the most ardent fans can name any other Hermits besides Peter Noone? I think the acting skill and personality was an issue for the companies producing these films to some degree, but I also think they'd put a hot band in any scenario to make a few bucks off the popularity. There were also rumors at this time of a similar scripted film featuring The Rolling Stones, imagine the results of that had it happened.