Random Movie Project: 'Palm Springs Weekend'
This is a definite change of pace from last week's creepy women-in-prison flick. It also serves to further confound those wily clerks at the video store.
"Hey, you know that guy I was talking about? The one who rented that 'Women's Penitentiary' movie? Yeah, well he's here again. I'll bet you he rents a gay porn or something. What a weirdo... wait, wait here he comes!"
Palm Springs Weekend (1963)
Director: Norman Taurog
Screenplay: Earl Hamner Jr.
The movie's in Technicolor, but this is one of the only pictures I could find.
Summary:
It's Easter weekend in Palm Springs, CA, and that means the resorts will be full of college kids from Los Angeles. This also includes a bus full of college basketball players, a Hollywood stuntman from Texas, a daddy's-little-rich-girl from Beverly Hills, and a tomboy-ish, sexually frustrated girl from wherever who just wants a man - all of whom seem to be vying for the attention of a member of the opposite sex with whom to enjoy a fleeting, Palm Springs Weekend love affair.
But can the local sheriff keep his blood pressure in check long enough to keep his own daughter out of trouble? Boy-trouble, that is...
Impressions:
What's the deal with teenagers and college-age kids in movies from the fifties and sixties? It's something that has been noted by many and discussed at length by the cast of "Mystery Science Theater 3000." That is, they all seem to be in their thirties. Often, they're older that that. Sometimes, they look like they're middle-aged. Let's take one of the members of the college basketball squad, and the comic relief in this movie, Jerry Van Dyke, brother of the brilliant Dick Van Dyke and coach Hayden Fox's hilarious assistant coach, Luther Horatio Van Dam on ABC's "Coach." According to IMDb.com, he was born in 1931 which would have made him thirty-two at the time of this film's release. Robert Conrad was in this movie, too, when was only a couple years away from his role as James West in the TV series "Wild, Wild West." Oh, well. I'm sure it's all about Hollywood politics. At least it gave me a chance to see the "young" Jerry Van Dyke in an early role. He was pretty funny. He even played a banjo! He tries to woo a young girl with his banjo-playing skills but is ultimately foiled by the hunky Texan stuntman Doug 'Stretch' Fortune (played by Ty Hardin) and his big ol' acoustic guitar. Classic.
As for the rest of this movie, it's a pretty mindless and silly comedy. It's pretty typical of the early-sixties teen comedy genre, before movies (and audiences) became as cynical and pretentious as they are today. It had a certain Beach Blanket Bingo vibe which is mildly entertaining. Except it was set in the desert, so there was no beach... or blankets, for that matter. Just swimming pools and patio furniture. What more do you need?
I actually stopped paying close attention about three quarters of the way through, so barring some scene I may have missed featuring voyeurism hi-jinks with full-frontal nudity or Jerry Van Dyke getting caught masturbating, I pretty much caught the gist of the story. It came to a fitting end with relationships forged, hearts broken, life experience gained and plenty of pool water splashed as Van Dyke gets pushed in at least four times.
D' oh!
Next week's movie: Page 404, Line 34
"Hey, you know that guy I was talking about? The one who rented that 'Women's Penitentiary' movie? Yeah, well he's here again. I'll bet you he rents a gay porn or something. What a weirdo... wait, wait here he comes!"
Palm Springs Weekend (1963)
Director: Norman Taurog
Screenplay: Earl Hamner Jr.
The movie's in Technicolor, but this is one of the only pictures I could find.
Summary:
It's Easter weekend in Palm Springs, CA, and that means the resorts will be full of college kids from Los Angeles. This also includes a bus full of college basketball players, a Hollywood stuntman from Texas, a daddy's-little-rich-girl from Beverly Hills, and a tomboy-ish, sexually frustrated girl from wherever who just wants a man - all of whom seem to be vying for the attention of a member of the opposite sex with whom to enjoy a fleeting, Palm Springs Weekend love affair.
But can the local sheriff keep his blood pressure in check long enough to keep his own daughter out of trouble? Boy-trouble, that is...
Impressions:
What's the deal with teenagers and college-age kids in movies from the fifties and sixties? It's something that has been noted by many and discussed at length by the cast of "Mystery Science Theater 3000." That is, they all seem to be in their thirties. Often, they're older that that. Sometimes, they look like they're middle-aged. Let's take one of the members of the college basketball squad, and the comic relief in this movie, Jerry Van Dyke, brother of the brilliant Dick Van Dyke and coach Hayden Fox's hilarious assistant coach, Luther Horatio Van Dam on ABC's "Coach." According to IMDb.com, he was born in 1931 which would have made him thirty-two at the time of this film's release. Robert Conrad was in this movie, too, when was only a couple years away from his role as James West in the TV series "Wild, Wild West." Oh, well. I'm sure it's all about Hollywood politics. At least it gave me a chance to see the "young" Jerry Van Dyke in an early role. He was pretty funny. He even played a banjo! He tries to woo a young girl with his banjo-playing skills but is ultimately foiled by the hunky Texan stuntman Doug 'Stretch' Fortune (played by Ty Hardin) and his big ol' acoustic guitar. Classic.
As for the rest of this movie, it's a pretty mindless and silly comedy. It's pretty typical of the early-sixties teen comedy genre, before movies (and audiences) became as cynical and pretentious as they are today. It had a certain Beach Blanket Bingo vibe which is mildly entertaining. Except it was set in the desert, so there was no beach... or blankets, for that matter. Just swimming pools and patio furniture. What more do you need?
I actually stopped paying close attention about three quarters of the way through, so barring some scene I may have missed featuring voyeurism hi-jinks with full-frontal nudity or Jerry Van Dyke getting caught masturbating, I pretty much caught the gist of the story. It came to a fitting end with relationships forged, hearts broken, life experience gained and plenty of pool water splashed as Van Dyke gets pushed in at least four times.
D' oh!
Next week's movie: Page 404, Line 34
posted by Clint at Tuesday, February 07, 2006
3 Comments:
That's Jerry Van Dyke. The banjo was a big part of his shtick.
Jerry's just not the same without Dawber around.
M-O-O-N. That spells MOON. (Ever see "The Stand?")
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