Movies - Girls Town

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	Movies - Girls Town

Girls Town was a 1959 film produced by MGM, starring Paul Anka and Mel Tormé. A juvenile delinquent is sent to a girls school run by nuns, where she finds herself unable to help her sister. The film capitalizes on the 1950s rebellious teen exploitation films, full of catfights, races, Paul Anka and Platters music, and sexy outfits. Unfortunately the plot and acting are subpar. A shower scene was said to cause a rash of complaints from the Catholic Church and was supposedly removed before release.

Girls Town was lampooned in September 1994 on movie-mocking television series Mystery Science Theater 3000. About 15 minutes of the actual film was cut from this version.

Plot

The movie opens as a young woman, fending off her grabby date, watches him accidentally fall over a cliff to his death. Circumstantial evidence places juvenile delinquent Silver (Mamie Van Doren) at the scene and she is sent to Girls Town, a rehabilitation village run by a group of nuns; since Silver never actually DID anything wrong to begin with, the theme of her "rehabilitation" seems rather pointless. There she lives with Serafina (Gigi Perreau) and two tough chicks. Trouble and misunderstandings ensue. Troublemaker Fred (Tormé) saw the cliff incident from a distance and realizes it was Silver's sister who was there: Mary Lee (Elinor Donahue, from Father Knows Best). Fred blackmails Mary Lee into being his partner in deadly "hands-off drag racing," then prepares to take her to Tijuana to sell her into the slave trade. Silver finally wins the respect of her Girls Town friends, but can they rescue Mary Lee?

A side plot involves Serafina swooning over famous singer Jimmy (Anka). While visiting town, as well as Girls Town, he sings "Lonely Boy", "It's Time to Cry", "Girls Town Blues", and "Ave Maria". A scene set in a night club features The Platters singing "Wish It Were Me".

Trivia

There is a climactic drag race scene filmed in the Los Angeles River, reminiscent of the film Grease
.
In the drive-in restaurant scene, reflections of the camera crew can be spotted.
Van Doren was 27 when this film was produced, and she played a 16-year old.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Girls Town ]

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