MovieChat Forums > Any Wednesday (1967) Discussion > Dated little time-killer. things were ch...

Dated little time-killer. things were changing In 1966!

posted 8 years ago by lnoft97-412-316846
3 replies | jump to latest

In 1966, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones had many hits. Young women were wearing hippie regalia (fringey vests, sandals, bell bottom jeans) or London fashions (mini-skirts, white go-go boots, pale lipstick). Society was beginning to change, slowly, but surely.
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And here is this movie with fluttery silly Jane Fonda in elaborate chiffon frocks and a huge sprayed-to-death hairdo (looks an awful lot like a wig) and the ancient story of a choice young morsel being mistress to rich men in suits.

Movies lagged behind society in the 60's, falling back on sure things. Elvis movies,
Doris Day!/Rock Hudson! - romantic comedies, farces, well-groomed young ladies in hats and white gloves like Sandra Dee, and movies based on plays. Like this one. Matrons from Long Island went to Tha City on weekends to see plays like Any Wednesday, so they made a movie of it to appeal to just that age group.

It was like two separate lifestyles were going on at the same time. When a movie like Easy Rider came along, it was a shock! About the complete opposite of the colorful, mild, snickeriy time-killers, like Any Wednesday.

[–] [email protected] 8 years ago

I disagree with your overview of the year 1966 and the trends accompanying that year. The baby-boomers that were just coming of age in the year 1966 did wear those fashions and embraced new ideas about morality but Jane Fonda was born in 1937, and being 29 in 1966, she was a member of the "Silent Generation" that preceded us baby boomers.

The "Silent Generation" are those Americans born between 1926 and 1946. They were small in number as few babies were born during the Depression and WW2 and were an overwhelmingly conformist generation. That is why the "Beats" and the early rock and rollers stood out so much from their peers who were the generation youngest to marry and to have children.

Jason Robards, being born in 1922, was a member of the "Greatest Generation".

[–] karnevilelp 8 years ago

The "Silent Generation" are those Americans born between 1926 and 1946

Thank you for bringing them up. My Dad was born in 1930 and he absolutely *hated* LSD-taking, Jimi Hendrix listening free-love hippies. People like him were responsible for Nixon getting elected in 1968 and many other examples. Easy Rider was made in 1969, but the way Fonda and Hopper's characters end up was a reflection of that.

[–] spookyrat1 7 years ago

And here is this movie with fluttery silly Jane Fonda in elaborate chiffon frocks and a huge sprayed-to-death hairdo ...

... just playing a big girl. It is quite ironic and much as I like Jane, I can understand why she feels this is one of her lesser roles.🐭