The Impossible Years (1968) watch online HD

College psychiatry professor David Niven (as Jonathan Kingsley) and wife Lola Albright (as Alice) are shocked when beautiful 17-year-old daughter Cristina Ferrare (as Linda) is arrested at a campus protest. She is charged with disturbing the peace, inciting to riot, resisting arrest, and unlawful assembly on university property. Ms. Ferrare is also caught carrying a picket sign with an unsavory word written on its backside. She claims to have never turned the sign around to see the naughty word - an impossible plot detail, unless she's lying. Ferrare also smokes cigarettes, gets caught speeding, and keeps a messy room.

"The Impossible Years" comes across like it's daring to fight "the sexual revolution" along the "generation gap" front. But, like many 1960s sex comedies, nothing really untoward actually happens. It's a smoke and mirrors story with a good cast - including highly likable supporting TV stars Chad Everett and Ozzie Nelson. Near legendary photographer William Daniels and director Michael Gordon do a good job with the limited sets. Since Mr. Gordon is the grandfather of accomplished actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt, you've got to wonder if, eventually, everyone in movies will be proved related.

The "picket sign" title sequence is nicely done, and features a catchy title song sung by The Cowsills. The tune was finally released on the underrated group's 1994 CD reissue of their first LP "The Cowsills"; previously, "The Impossible Years" was hidden away on a 45 RPM B-side. After the opening, you can stick around for beautiful bikini-clad Ferrare and her young friends. The comedy is dated, innocent, and not so funny, except for an occasional line; it's interesting to hear "I'm glad they passed Medicare!" was once a way to irk the family doctor.

***** The Impossible Years (9/13/68) Michael Gordon ~ David Niven, Cristina Ferrare, Lola Albright, Chad Everett

If you're looking for a film which aspires to be "high art" or convey "deep meaning", forget it..."The Impossible Years" is a lightweight romp with David Niven, Lola Albright, Chad Everett, etc. that will make you laugh, giggle, and smile. It's an hour and 45 minutes of escapist fare that will make you forget about your troubles for a while. Not everyone will appreciate the slapstick humor here, but I sure did! Much in the same vain as the Beach Blanket and Gidget films of the time. This movie won't win any Academy Awards for high-brow acting or directing, but then, I don't think it was ever intended to be a deep message film. Just pure fun!!!

just had to say, i saw this movie as a kid and i watch it now and then. it is one of my all time favorites! the teen is a little over dramatic. but i love this movie and if anyone knows where i can get it on DVD i would sure love to know! it is a good movie about a father and a daughter and how their relationship effects everyones lives around them. but no one more than the father himself. he is about to lose his mind. the daughter is getting out of control. and then when she poses for a nude painting he really flips. not realizing it is a nude he reveals the painting in front of all their friends at their home. the daughter is a little surprised herself since she had a bikini on when she posed for it. the movie is a real hoot! and just when the daughter gets what being an adult is about and is pulling herself together... they leave you with the fact that their second daughter has just turned into a teen! i love this movie! thank you, Shannon

I saw this one when it first came out in 1968. Loved it then although now it's as dated as a beach blanket bingo movie. David Niven actually throws a fit because his 17 year old daughter might have lost her virginity. Like, "Heavens to Betsy!" Pretty dated even then. Worth watching for the funny performances and the warm nostalgia for the 60's. Christina Ferrare is stunning and I'll never understand why she didn't become a bigger star. Film suffers from a cheap low budget back lot appearance. They even used rear projection for the beach scenes! Too cheap to go to the ocean? But I still recommend it for the warm nostalgic feeling for the times.

If memory is a testament to value then this is a really valued and fun movie for me. It was 1968 and I was 9 years old and I remember this movie well. Me and my friends went to the movies every Saturday and I saw this movie 5 times and enjoyed it every time. I loved Christina Ferrare (what a sweetheart),and her little sister Abby reading "Fanny Hill" I had no idea who that was but it sure upset the parents and lets face it, kids challenging old ideas with with free speech issues is what helps keep freedom alive. This movie may have seemed like a superficial romp yet it actually touched upon some very relevant issues and was a beautiful vignette of those times. It had spirit. It had heart and it was a lot of fun. It also brought out the humorous side to some tough issues, something that was needed in those days, and lets face it who couldn't love "smuts".

I believe it was critic Leonard Maltin who called this, "the most obscene G-rated film of all time." He was right. And on top of that, it's a terrible film. It falls right in there with some of Bob Hope's late '60s and early '70s disasters. And that it corralled good old Ozzy Nelson to boot adds insult to injury.

Sorry folks, but he only thing really worth watching are young Christina Ferrare, who at 17 or 18 was a genuine knockout, and Lola Albright, who played her mother opposite an incessantly befuddled and fit-to-be-tied David Niven.

By the early-to-mid 1970s, this movie's morals were already dated. Dig it out every now and then so people could see a genuine curio from a by-gone era. But as for me, if I'm going to watch a comedy from that time,I'd rather watch The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes or Now You See Him, Now You Don't or something equally deep.

Okay,so this movie wasn't really that good to some people,but I for one liked it.A father who is a doctor(?) has two daughters:Abby who is the youngest and Linda who is the oldest(and has the raging libido).Yes,it's boyfriend after boyfriend for Linda,and her parents watch her wondering why their daughter jumps from one boyfriend to the next.It isn't until later when she moves out of the house and gets married,only to see her father trying to find out who her spouse really is.There is a favorite scene of mine where the Linda's parents are having a party and her boyfriend brings in a portrait of her that he painted.And when he shows the family and guests,it's revealed to be a nude portrait,in which Linda didn't know!The rating is bad though.It acts more like a PG-13 movie than a G rated movie.Believe me.This is NOT something you wanna watch with your parents!

Trouble in suburbia: the teenage daughter of a natty psychiatrist gets arrested for demonstrating on a college campus--holding up a sign with a "dirty word" written on it. This being a plushy, G-rated comedy-of-ills, we never learn the word, and the film has so little imagination that we can't even guess what that one word might be. David Niven is miscast as the girl's harried father. He's the wrong sort of actor for this part; clipped and dry, his impeccable manner never shows signs of sweat. Based on a hit play, the film is full of sitcom-static, with stagy and/or awkward supporting performances that are as irrelevant as the outcome of the plot. There's a kid next door who plays trumpet like Al Hirt, and Ozzie Nelson as his father, who stands "shaking" in his driveway because he wants to wallop the kid. Who wrote this stuff? It's filled with one-liners which ring out loud and empty. * from ****

Perhaps the smuttiest "G"-rated film ever, The Impossible Years is a tiresome, unfunny series of innuendos centering around a father's determination to find out who deflowered his not-yet-18 year old daughter. The girl's idiotic parents cannot conceive that their daughter "may no longer qualify as a spinster" let alone utter words like pregnancy or virginity. This dilemma is treated on the level of a Doris Day movie i.e. a big screen sitcom complete with Ozzie Nelson as an unprofessional medical doctor, an overbearing Darlene Carr as the kid sister, Medical Center's Chad Everett, and Lola Albright as Donna Reed. Talented Albright has never been worse, just watch Lord, Love a Duck (66), Joy House (63) or A Cold Wind in August (61) to see how misused she is. David Niven playing a psychiatrist who seems in need of counseling cannot make his character's actions palatable. Direction, pacing and purpose don't exist here. And though Christina Ferrare is a decidedly mature and attractive late teen, The Impossible Years is a decidedly immature and unattractive film.

While the film is greatly dated in viewing it today, as for someone that lived during the 60's, it was quite ground breaking in dealing with current trends in our society. Since themes such as this were something relatively new, they sort of skimmed around the issues, and weren't as hard hitting as they are today.

Alond with this film, David Niven starred in another film of this genre also in 1968, "Prudence and the Pill". Even by 1968 standards this film was very silly and disappointing.

It is ironic how Hollywood, tried to deal with society's changes by making them seem humorous and inconsequential.

I can't remember the last time I laughed so heartily and often during a movie as I did while watching The Impossible Years. The play, written by Arthur Marx and Robert Fisher, was a smashing success on Broadway, and when Hollywood came calling, it couldn't have found a more perfect lead than David Niven. Without him, the movie-no matter how funny George Wells's script adaptation was-wouldn't have been very good. It shows off his incredible comic timing like no other movie ever has, and even though he's a wonderful dramatic actor, this hilarious performance is one of his best. Simply put, The Niv is amazing.

He plays a college professor and psychiatrist, working with Chad Everett to write a book called The Impossible Years about how to successfully raise teenagers during the spirited 1960s. Of course, Niven's oldest daughter, Cristina Ferrare, drives her parents crazy with her free-loving rebellious teenage behavior. Ironically, the plot reminds me of Shirley Temple's Kiss and Tell-a rambunctious teenage girl has a silly boyfriend next door but longs to grow up, the parents and neighbors fight about whose kid is a bad influence on the other, and they were both based off fast-paced, situationally comedic Broadway plays-which Niven starred in the sequel to.

Yes, the plot is a little dated, since teenage problems have changed since the 1960s, but as long as you remember how things were, or can imagine, you'll be able to appreciate the hilarity behind the script. The quick-paced jokes, silly gags, and set-ups that pay off are all extremely funny, but again, without David Niven, it would have dragged. He's energetic, flawless without coming across as rehearsed, and utterly believable as a frazzled dad who can't get a handle on his kids. This could become your favorite David Niven movie, and if it's the first of his you watch, this role will be the one you always associate him with. Taking off my love goggles for a moment, because I'm the first to admit I'm biased when it concerns The Niv, this is still an incredibly funny movie starring a very talented comic actor. Hands down, it's one of my favorite of his movies. But if you watch it, get ready to put on your own pair of love goggles.

Copyright 1968 by Marten Productions, Inc. New York opening at the Radio City Music Hall: 5 December 1968 (ran four weeks). U.K. release: 15 September 1968. Australian release: 10 December 1968. 8,795 feet. 88 minutes.

COMMENT: "The Impossible Years" is not half as bad as its critics claim, thanks mainly to the work of a skilled and accomplished cast. David Niven, who is rightly top-billed, is absolutely tops. With his expert timing and amusing double takes, he manages to make even his feeble lines sound fairly funny. He is given expert assistance from the other players, particularly Ozzie Nelson (in a minor role as a hypochondriac doctor) and a great assortment of idiotic suitors for the lovely Christina Ferrare, who makes her film debut here (according to the credits anyway).

Miss Ferrare, in fact, was a great "find"! A pity she debuted in a film that, coming at the tale end of a whole spate of "generation gap" comedies, was a box-office failure in every territory but the U.S.A.

Trimming the movie would possibly help, but all the players are so convincing and compelling, it would be a difficult job. All the same, the film does tend to be dialogue-bound. Despite efforts to disguise the movie's stage origins by using jump cuts and multiple screens, it's quite obvious that the stage set for all three of its Acts was Kingsley's living-room.

The play was very well received. It opened on Broadway on October 13, 1965 and ran for a most successful 670 performances. The movie itself was one of M-G-M's top money-makers of the year in the U.S.A., but it failed in all other markets.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed it immensely. For the most part, Michael Gordon's direction displays some really expert timing. My only quarrel is that the climactic slapstick chase is not only feebly contrived, but its impact is considerably lessened by obvious under- cranking.

In almost every decade, Hollywood produces films that threaten to explore important issues of their day, including changes in gender roles. And most of those films are bits of fluff. Many of these films also promise--with their trailers--to titillate. Consider the films of Doris Day and Rock Hudson. With a title like "Pillow Talk", the viewer might reasonably expect two people talking in the same room. Or how about those split screens that suggest a couple simultaneously in a bathtub.

In 1968 there were plenty social movements to tackle--the war, race relations, sexual empowerment. "The Impossible Years" is the story of a teenage girl whose sexual experience is the concern of her parents. Like other films, it nibbles around the edges of the topic with occasional "edgy" moments like mentioning that she's now a "C cup".

But this is s comedy and no real issues must interfere with the wackiness. Unfortunately, this film (like most of its time) comes from the Erma Bombeck school of comedy--a slapstick style that takes farce and reduces it merely to scenes of bedlam. People trip, they swing things at each other, they slam doors.

The opening credits are accompanied by the eponymous song by The Cowsills--an unfortunate pairing. I like The Cowsills. Their version of "Hair" is catchy and evokes the time period. But they also sang the theme song for "Love American Style", which also was a catchy tune, but here it forms a thematic bridge between that pseudo-titillating series about romantic relationships and this film, further reminding the viewer that he can expect nothing but pap and silliness.

Even David Niven as the father cannot save the film from its mediocrity. He represents the older generation and father and daughter are meant to talk past each other more than to each other.

Well, those not familiar with actor David Niven film work of worthy of awards is his role in a Oscar Award nominated 1958 "Separate Tables" psychological drama great cast American-British main actors American Burt Lancaster, Rita Hayward, British Deborah Kerr David Niven which won Best Actor as well in a romantic comedy "The Moon Is Blue." Also, appeared in latter part of "The Pink Panther" film series after Peter Sellers died in 1980 called " The Trail of the Pink Panther" "The Curse of the Pink Panther" last, which Niven was terminally ill. along with these movie flops, famous director Blake Edwards tried re-resurrect series. This father & daughter theme film does not measure up with others from "Fiddle on the Roof" to "Magnolia" or "Traffic." This situation comedy Niven plays a teaching psychiatrist (Jonathan Kingsley) at local university married to wife (Alice Kingsley) played by Lola Albright, have two daughters, oldest (Linda) played by Christina Ferrare and her sister (Abbey) played by Darlene Carr. Also, surprised me was Ozzie Nelson as an adviser/neighbor (Dr.Herbert Fleischer) who tries to help Niven's role as father, the difficulty of raising the two teens especially one of them. Geez, enough to GIVE YOU GRAY HAIR or GO BOLD! Yikes! Consider this was revolutionary sixties.1963 "Take Her She's Mine" is similar 6/10 as well.

Impossible to watch. But I managed to stick with it.

Like an R rated Brady Bunch episode and with much the same low brow comedy writing as that show provided.

This was dated in 1968 and looking at it in 2015 one can only wonder how did such an intensely unfunny, contrived and stupid film ever get made ?

I'm currently reading Dream Maker The Rise and Fall Of John Delorean and DVRed this to see Christina Ferrare, his eventual third wife. Jr High school grade acting ability.

Unfunny lines, ridiculous characters, lame slapstick: the only thing worth watching is David Niven's deftness in bringing believability to what he's saying.

Should be interesting to see David Niven in Eye Of The Devil introducing Sharon Tate and compare her debut with Ferrare's back to back.

The studio rock and roll tracks are typically annoying.

Not even fun as a period piece. The abounding stupidity all around is a total amusement killer.

Corny and unfunny swingin' 60s sex comedy has uptight psychology professor David Niven trying to control his liberated free-spirit 17-year old daughter, Cristina Ferrare. It's really a generational comedy with the square adults having a hard time understanding 1960's youth culture. The main problems with this film isn't the premise, but that the comedy is not all that funny. Both the square adults and the hip kids are presented in broad exaggerated versions of themselves, which could work, but does not here. I did laugh at one of-the-moment line when Niven's character is angry at a doctor friend and yells, "I'm glad they passed Medicare!" but outside of that there was not much that made me laugh.

Corny swingin' 60s sex comedy has uptight psychology professor David Niven trying to control his liberated free-spirit 17-year old daughter, Cristina Ferrare. It's really a generational comedy with the square adults having a hard time understanding 1960's youth culture. The main problems with this film isn't the premise, but that the comedy is not all that funny. Both the square adults and the hip kids are presented in broad exaggerated versions of themselves, which could work, but does not here. I did laugh at one of-the-moment line when Niven's character is angry at a doctor friend and yells, "I'm glad they passed Medicare!" but outside of that there was not much that made me laugh.

As those who have read my reviews on his films before, David Niven carried more mediocre films on the strength of his charm than any other leading man I know. In this case he had something of a built in advance sale on a role, as The Impossible Years had a respectable two year run of 640 performances on Broadway. Would you believe that Alan King played the role on Broadway and I'm sure the interpretation was vastly different. In fact I'm sure King had to reach for his conception as part and parcel of his standup comedy routine was his experiences in suburbia as the father of two teenage sons which he was in real life.

The unflappable Niven plays a psychologist who has written on the subject of teens, but in his own life he and wife Lola Albright are having no better or worse time than thousands of others raising adolescents. Daughters Christina Ferrare and Darleen Carr are driving both of them to the edge. Especially the 17 year old Ferrare who has a lot of young males in heat buzzing around her. And one of them has rounded home and scored.

The play had to have been a bit more realistic to have enjoyed the run it did. The Code was down, but obviously this was being marketed to a family audience and a lot of it just didn't make sense. Most of all Ferrare's choice of male partner.

The Impossible Years is just plain impossible.