Directed by Richard Thorpe for MGM, and shot on location on the French (Cannes) and Italian Riviera, Follow the Boys is MGM’s second film for top recording artist Connie Francis after the huge success of Where the Boys Are (1960).
Grade: C+ (*1/2* out of *****)
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While Francis’ role in the earlier film had been secondary, she has a central role in Follow the Boys playing Bonnie Pulaski, a newlywed traveling the Riviera visiting ports-of-call in hopes of a rendezvous with her naval officer husband (Roger Perry), summoned to active duty from their honeymoon.
Missing the original point and time of rendezvous in the port of Nice by a few minutes, Bonnie follows the ship to Italy. She’s accompanied by veteran navy wife Janis Paige and two of the sailors’ girlfriends, played by Francis’ Where the Boys Are co-star Paula Prentiss and by French actress Dany Robin.
Happy endings for each of the ladies are delayed by a series of romantic and comedic misunderstandings.
Paige’s husband is played by Ron Randell, and Richard Long and Russ Tamblyn are the respective love interests for Robin and Prentiss.
Follow the Boys was the first time that Prentiss and her husband Richard Benjamin performed in the same film, though Benjamin’s part as Aide to the Admiral was cut in the editing room.
Fluffy and lacking the novelty and songs of the 1960 movie, Follow the Boys is a mildly enjoyable, but ultimately unsuccessful hybrid of a service comedy and a romantic meller.
Cast
Connie Francis as Bonnie Pulaski
Paula Prentiss as Toni Denham
Janis Paige as Liz Bradville
Dany Robin as Michele Perrier
Russ Tamblyn as Lt. Smith
Richard Long as Lt. Langley
Ron Randell as Lt. Cmdr. Bradville
Roger Perry as Billy Pulaski
Credits:
Directed by Richard Thorpe
Written by David T. Chantler, David D. Osborne
Based on story by Lawrence Bachmann
Produced by Lawrence Bachmann
Cinematography Ted Scaife
Edited by John Victor-Smith
Music by Ron Goodwin, Alexander Courage
Production company: MGM
Distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date: February 27, 1963
Running time: 95 min.
