The Impossible Years
5.6 /10 1 Votes
Country USA | 5.4/10 IMDb Duration Language English | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Release date 1968 Tagline The Battle of the Ages! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Impossible Years is a 1965 comedy play and a 1968 movie, based on the play.
Contents
The play was written by Robert Fisher and Arthur Marx, son of famed comedian Groucho Marx. After two previews, the Broadway production, directed by Arthur Storch, opened on October 13, 1965 at the Playhouse Theatre, where it ran for 670 performances. The original cast included Alan King, Sudie Bond, Bert Convy, Neva Small, and Scott Glenn. Sam Levene and Ed McMahon succeeded King later in the run.
The impossible years
Plot
The comedy revolves around Jonathan Kingsley, a teaching psychiatrist at the local university, his wife, and their two teenaged daughters. Complications arise when the older one develops an active interest in the opposite sex and her younger impressionable sister begins to emulate her misadventures.
Film adaptation
The 1968 film version, which premiered December 5, was adapted by George Wells and directed by Michael Gordon. It starred David Niven, Lola Albright, Chad Everett, Ozzie Nelson, Cristina Ferrare, Gale Dixon and Darlene Carr. The eponymous theme song was written by The Tokens and performed by The Cowsills.
Synopsis
Jonathan Kingsley is the teaching psychiatrist at the local university. He and wife Alice have two teenage daughters; their eldest, Linda, falls for Jonathan's teaching assistant Richard.
Cast
Production
MGM bought the film rights to the play in 1965 for $350,000. George Wells completed the script by March 1966. MGM announced it for production in August 1966. The movie was greenlit by the team of Robert O'Brien and Robert M. Weitman. Filming took place in October 1967.
At one stage, Peter Sellers was announced for the lead but by May, David Niven had been signed. Christina Ferrare, who played Niven's nubile daughter, had been under contract to 20th Century Fox for a year. The film featured the final movie performance of Ozzie Nelson.
Reception
The movie was a hit, earning $5.8 million in rentals in North America., making it the 17th most popular movie at the US box office in 1969. Nevertheless, critical reaction was overwhelmingly negative.
In 1970, it was reported Jackie Cooper and Bob Finkel had written a pilot script for a TV adaptation of the play for NBC.
References
The Impossible Years WikipediaThe Impossible Years IMDb The Impossible Years themoviedb.org