Released in theaters in 1965 during last season of his long-running family TV series, Ozzie Nelson's attempt to recast son Ricky and real- life wife Kris as slightly more risqué versions of their sitcom roles is a real weirdie.
Hard to imagine what Oz (who wrote, produced and directed) was thinking; it's almost as if this was his way to use all the story lines he knew would never get past the TV censors.
But did he really believe audience who'd made TV's most wholesome comedy a hit for more than ten years was dying to hear rockin' Ricky use (mild) profanity, see Kris perform a burlesque routine, watch Ozzie-surrogate Jack Kelly awkwardly guide Ricky through a teen-marriage sex talk (in which Ricky, a teen idol of many years and now well into twenties, seems to have biological knowledge of a dim- witted third grader, etc.)?
With cameos by O&H alums David Nelson and Skip "Wally Plumstead" Young as bystanders in a strip joint brawl (!), a creepy scene in which the teen newlyweds consummate their marriage in the groom's bunk bed, lots of exteriors shot on Universal's old Leave It To Beaver back lot set and a crazy ending wherein Rick serenades Kris in a hot rod. . . driven by a giant stuffed rabbit!
May not exactly be the "Rick 'n' Roll Riot!!!" the poster promised but still blandly bizarre in the extreme.
