The Pleasure Seekers
A trio of gorgeous American tourists hope to find love while vacationing in Spain. Secretary Maggie Williams falls hard for a married newsman named Paul Barton while fighting off the advances of one of his employees. Singer Fran Hobson sets her sights on a handsome European doctor. And coed Susie Higgins receives an unexpected proposal from smooth-talking womanizer Emilio Lacaya.
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- Cast:
- Ann-Margret , Anthony Franciosa , Carol Lynley , Gardner McKay , Pamela Tiffin , André Lawrence , Gene Tierney
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Reviews
I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much
To me, this movie is perfection.
That was an excellent one.
The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.
Ann-Margret, Pamela Tiffin, and Carol Lynley star in "The Pleasure Seekers," about three young women and their love affairs in Madrid. The film also stars Brian Keith, Gardner McKay, and Tony Franciosa.The star, of course, is Ann-Margret as Fran, and she's positively gorgeous with her beautiful figure, red hair, and singing and dancing ability. Fran is trying to make it as a performer. Vivacious Carol Lynley is Maggie, who works for a news service and is in love with her boss (Brian Keith), though she's been around the block. Pamela Tiffin is Susie, with beauty queen looks and makeup to match; she plays the naive young woman looking for love who joins Ann-Margret and Lynley in Spain.The somewhat jaded Fran finds love with Dr. Andres Briones (Andre Lawrence), but there are complications. Susie falls for a real playboy (Franciosa) so she has her work cut out for her. And Maggie has to contend with her feelings for her married boss, and those of his wife (Gene Tierney).Directed by the same director, Jean Negulesco, who directed Three Coins in the Fountain, The Pleasure Seekers follows a similar plot - three girls in a foreign country, falling in love and becoming depressed. I saw a review on this site that complimented the music - frankly I found Ann-Margret's numbers tuneless, worse than the music of Valley of the Dolls.Ann-Margret is the show-stopper, but Lynley had the acting chops, and the beautiful Tiffin was -- well, Tiffin. Three women, each talented in her own way, made for an enjoyable film.There were three handsome men in the '60s that I was aware of, but I'm not sure I could ever tell them apart as I was too young and didn't follow their TV shows: Grant Williams, Van Williams, and Gardner McKay. McKay, who was an artist and writer, plays a reporter, Pete, in this, who is a confidant of Maggie's. (By the way, the totally hot one was Van Williams.)I have two quibbles besides the music: one is the casting of Brian Keith. To see Carol Lynley and Gene Tierney fighting over Keith was curious, to say the least. A better choice would have been someone like Barry Sullivan. My other quibble is personal. Gene Tierney did look good, and she looked terrific in Advise and Consent, but she was such a goddess in the '40s - knowing of the turmoil in her life, it was sad to see her. Plus the studios used to encourage the actresses to smoke to lower their voices, and Tierney died of emphysema.Filmed in color, with the beautiful Spanish scenery and beautiful actors, The Pleasure Seekers is a real treat, especially for those of us who remember the '60s.
*Contains spoilers*In "The Pleasure Seekers," three young American women, played by Ann-Margret, Carol Lynley, and Pamela Tiffin, share an apartment in Madrid in 1964. Notice how each of their bedroom doors are lined up in a row, and just happen to open onto one huge living room, making it so convenient for the filmmakers to film the girls scooting in and out of each others' rooms. Ann Margret, whose character speaks virtually no Spanish, actually works, and supports herself, as a night club singer! When Carol Lynley is en route to the airport to pick up Pamela Tiffin, and her taxi is involved in an accident, she just happens to be spotted by Pamela Tiffin who is in another taxi!When Pamela Tiffin goes to a museum, she is picked up by Tony Franciosa (struggling to play a Spaniard), whose character just happens to have had an affair with Carol Lynley! And why is Tony Franciosa even in this film? Imagine if his role of a Spanish heartthrob had been played by Francisco Rabal. That is, if Rabal would have been willing to appear in such garbage. At the finish, we're expected to believe that Franciosa is ready to give up his sex addiction and marry - and remain faithful to - the sweet virgin Pamela Tiffin.Carol Lynley plays a sarcastic, pseudo-sophisticated and pseudo-jaded "bad girl" - the most fully-developed character in the film - but she does it in such a way as to annoy the living daylights out of the viewer, and Gardner McKay looks as if he were struggling with some kind of eye infection throughout the making of the film. A particularly sickening line: Franciosa's mother says to Pamela Tiffin: "Why you're American! How charming!" Is it really "charming" to be an American?The horrors of Spain under Franco are unseen throughout the entire film.Ann-Margret, however, is sexy, beautiful, and undeniably talented; the music is good, the lyrics are clever, and some of the scenery and photography is impressive.
This film was mentioned in a book I have about bad movies. No, these are not incompetent films or films with horrible production values, but ones that are sleazy and over-the-top--sort of like guilty pleasures--and that is definitely true of "The Pleasure Seekers".What the producers of the film did was take the 1950s film "Three Coins in a Fountain" and inserted a lot of sexual innuendo--at least, as much as they could get away with in 1964. While I liked the original film, "The Pleasure Seekers" was far inferior because it lacked heart and subtlety--replacing it was bedroom scenes and talk about premarital sex.The film is about three young American ladies who live in Madrid and are trying to have healthy relationships while strenuously avoiding premarital sex...at least sometimes. Carol Lynley plays a career girl who has her sights set on a married man (Brian Keith) as well as a single guy. Pamela Tiffin plays a stereotypical beautiful but dumb lady. She falls for an over-sexed rich playboy (Tony Franciosa) who promises marriage but really wants another notch on the bedpost. Ann-Margret plays a woman who is infatuated with a doctor who obviously has a secret, as he plays hard to get!! After all, this IS Ann-Margret and he either must be gay or married to resist her many charms.Towards the end of the film, it appears that the three have struck out in love and two of them are preparing to go back to America. However, because this is a Hollywood-style film, you know that at least some of these relationships will work out for the best. Tune in for yourself to see where these high-minded ladies land in this trashy soap.Overall, the film sure looks nice. It was filmed in and around Madrid and is pretty just like the original film (which was filmed in and around Rome). The music is also very nice and evocative. As for the acting and writing, it all seemed rather fake--like the people were playing caricatures instead of real people. Not a whole lotta depth with these folks--just a lot of raging hormones and inconsistent behavior. It is truly a guilty pleasure--the sort of titillating fare that they no longer make but was popularized in the late 1950s to mid-1960s--just as the Production Code was on the way out.Deep and insightful? No way,...but still worth a peek. For a similar experience, try watching THE BEST OF EVERYTHING (1959) and PEYTON PLACE (1957)--two films that manage to tell similar stories but in a bit better way.
Swivel sticks in sexy drinks, tinkly lounge music, bachelorette pads, the bossa-nova, Ann-Margret: all touchstones of the 1960s, all included here as three American honeys prowl for lovers in Madrid. Not particularly witty, and not very useful as a travelogue (there's an extended stop at a Spanish art museum, yet most of the overall action takes place indoors); however, the breathless beauties (A-M, Pamela Tiffin and the cynical, jaded Carol Lynley) are worth-watching, as are Gene Tierney (in a small but commendable part) and rock-solid Brian Keith (always a pleasure, even when he's a maybe-playboy). It's a decent, if talk-heavy piece of fluff, a remake of "Three Coins in the Fountain" with songs, and good watching on a rainy afternoon. Finally available on DVD April 2014. *** from ****