Advertised at the time as "The Most Shocking Film of Our Generation!", the 1967 cult classic Riot on Sunset Strip depicts the clashing of generations between counterculture teenaged "longhairs" and the adult establishment in 1960s Los Angeles. Inspired by the real-life curfew riots that erupted along the Sunset Strip on November 12, 1966, the film's action centers on a group of restless teenagers who simply want to hang out at their favorite club, Pandora's Box, listen to music and party without being harassed by local law enforcement. Good girl Andy (Mimsy Farmer) is the new kid on the block at her high school and the product of a broken home. Estranged from her police lieutenant father (Aldo Ray) and caretaker to her alcoholic mother (Hortense Petra), she falls in with a fast crowd at school and begins a rapid descent down the wrong path. As conflicts mount between local Sunset Strip business owners, the Los Angeles Police Department and the local youth, the tension comes to a head one night when the teenagers take to the streets in protest.
Veteran producer Sam Katzman, nicknamed the "King of the Quickies" due to his lighting fast production schedules, had spent decades in Hollywood working in multiple genres and learning the film business from the bottom up. He produced westerns, science fiction, and action pictures as well as the Jungle Jim film series starring Johnny Weissmuller, the 1948 Superman serial and even a couple of Elvis Presley vehicles (Kissin' Cousins [1964] and Harum Scarum [1965]).
Katzman's specialty, however, was teenagers. Possessing a unique talent for always having his finger firmly on the pulse of youth culture, he made a series of financially successful low budget exploitation films such as Rock Around the Clock (1956) and Hot Rods to Hell (1967) that cashed in on various youth trends at the time. When the Los Angeles curfew riots took place in 1966, Katzman immediately rushed Riot on Sunset Strip into production in order to capitalize.
True to his "King of the Quickies" nickname, producer Katzman had the film ready for theatrical release through American International Pictures (AIP) in a matter of weeks with the help of the film's director Arthur Dreifuss. As expected, young audiences gobbled up the teen exploitation that spoke to their generation, making the low budget film quickly turn a healthy profit.
Just as quickly, Riot on Sunset Strip achieved cult status not only for its over-the-top tone of teenagers run amuck, but also for the vibrant musical acts that perform on stage at Pandora's Box throughout the film. Popular garage rock bands of the time The Standells and The Chocolate Watchband perform two songs each, while the lesser known group The Enemies perform once.
An entertaining time capsule of its era, Riot on Sunset Strip takes an amusing look back at the 1960s counterculture during which, according to the film's opening Dragnet-like voice over, "irresponsible, wild beat protest youth with nowhere to go, nothing to do, no goal in life [were] just searching for one thing they've demanded throughout the ages: the right of self-expression and recognition."
Look for screen legend Mickey Rooney's late son Tim Rooney in a small part as Grady, one of the youth crowd, as well as Hortense Petra (aka Mrs. Sam Katzman) as Andy's alcoholic pink-haired mother.
By Andrea Passafiume
