High Time (film)

High Time is a 1960 American comedy film directed by Blake Edwards and starring Bing Crosby, Fabian, Tuesday Weld and Nicole Maurey. The film is told from the perspective of a middle-aged man who enters the world of a new generation of postwar youth.

In the years since its release, High Time has come to be viewed as a comedic study of the slowly emerging generation gap between the music and mores of an older generation and postwar youth, as well as an inadvertent time capsule of American adolescents and lifestyles in 1960.

Plot

Wealthy restaurateur Harvey Howard (Bing Crosby), a self-made man, widower and owner of "Harvey Howard Smokehouses", decides to go back to college at the age of 51 and earn a bachelor's degree. He faces opposition from his grown snobbish children, as well as a generation gap between himself and his much-younger fellow students. The first day in school he finds that just convincing older students, faculty and the admin personnel is a humorous task. He enrolls and receives freshman rooming, and is up front about his determination to be "just another freshman". Being assigned a quad rooming arrangement, this sets the standard for the upcoming years. Dealing with the student press, the dorm adviser and making that first toast with sauerkraut juice to seal their bond to complete their four years together.