THE SEVEN YEAR DITCH

Wasn't there one like this in Tommy?

MY EYES ABHORRED YOU; or, JERSEY SORE

Although Jersey Boys has received the sort of mixed reviews that suggest it will not be topping many Best Ten lists at year's end, only six months into the current movie year the chronicle of the Four Seasons appears to be a shoo-in for honors in one field yet not recognized by Academy Award voters: Namely, Best Achievement in Anachronisms, a distinction best appreciated by fuss-budget film goers who love nothing better a period picture that turns modern history into chronological chowder.

Consider:

In one time-tripping sequence set in 1951, Frankie's girlfriend squawks because he won't take her to see The Blob...perhaps because he realizes it won't be released until seven years later.

In the same time frame, one of Frankie's pals references the song "Earth Angel," which wasn't even recorded until 1954.

And the Way-Back Machine slams into reverse in the same segment when the pal delivers a cheesy Ed Sullivan impression in which he "introduces" Topo Gigio, the Italian rodent puppet who didn't appear on Sullivan's show until 1964. (It doesn't help that later in the movie, while making their debut on The Ed Sullivan Show, the band doesn't even know who or what Topo Gigio is.)

Flash forward to 1960, where the most prominent piece of artwork in a record exec's house is a large framed image of a Campbell's soup can...which Andy Warhol didn't unleash on the art world until 1962.

When the group makes it debut appearance singing "Sherry" (1962) on the Sullivan show, much is made of the fact the program is being aired in color...even though the show was actually broadcast in black and white until late 1965.

When Valli and Bob Gaudio (now sporting long hair and wearing an Easy Rider-era fringed suede jacket) drop into a diner in the late Sixties- early Eighties, the beanery advertises a 25-cent plate lunch. This at a time when a quarter wouldn't even buy a burger and a Coke at McDonald's.

And, after hearing an account of one band member's horrible hygiene, disgusted Mob boss Christopher Walken utters "Thanks for sharing" decades before that became an all-purpose sarcastic rejoinder to too-much-information.

Yes, thanks to careless writing and sloppy set decoration, the Jersey Boys were indeed ahead of their times...in more ways than one.