PALM SPRINGS WEEKEND
US, 1963, 100 minutes, Colour.
Troy Donohue, Connie Stevens, Ty Hardin, Stefanie Powers, Robert Conrad, Andrew Duggan, Jack Weston, Carole Cooke, Jerry Van Dyke, Zeem North, Bill Mumy.
Directed by Norman Taurog.
Palm Springs Weekend is a star vehicle for Troy Donohue, very popular at Warner Brothers at this period, especially for his presence in such films as Parrish, Susan Slade (both co-starring Connie Francis). It is also a star vehicle for up-and-coming performers like Stefanie Powers, Robert Conrad in a rather sinister role, Ty Hardin in a sympathetic role as a stuntman from Hollywood. There is serious support from Andrew Duggan as the police chief of Palm Springs, some comedy with Jack Weston as the basketball coach becoming entangled with the manager of a motel, Carole Cooke, some comedy with Jerry Van Dyke and Zeem North, babysitter for the very mischievous Bill Mumy (later, Lost in Space).
The basic plot is very familiar – and, even though the young people get in trouble with the police, and there is drinking and some sexual hanky-panky, it seems rather restrained, also in language, from the type of Spring Break films which were to emerge in the 1980s and continue from then on, raucous films, showing students leaving their brains behind them and indulging in raucous and raunchy behaviour.
Troy Donohue is one of the members of a Los Angeles basketball team who decide to take a break in Palm Springs, only to find that their coach is along with them, trying to control them. Also on the bus is a young girl, Connie Stevens, pretending to be wealthy and to be educated in Hawaii, with the hope that she will attract attention. She does attract the attention of the wealthy playboy, played by Robert Conrad, who attempts to lead her astray, is in angry reaction against his wealthy father and his continually being on honeymoons and out of contact, paying for a night out for the young people, pursuing Connie Stevens but her resisting him, with his finishing up doing a drag race with tie Hardin leading to Hardin crashing – but being rescued by Troy Donohue. The young man was trying to embarrass his father.
With this subplot, the rest is fairly straightforward, with Stefanie Powers the daughter of the police chief, going to a party, getting arrested when a brawl breaks out and going to jail where her father interviews everyone. He is uptight, his wife putting sedatives in his orange juice, and his taking a grim stance towards Troy Donohue who but then finds out the truth and his saving of Ty Hardin’s life.
There is comedy with Jack Weston and Carole Cooke at the motel, comedy with Zeem North and Jerry Van Dyke as she babysits the motel manager’s troublesome son, who gets into all kinds of mischief, including pushing people into the motel swimming pool, especially with detergent which creates an enormous amount of foam with people misjudging their step and finishing up in the foam in pool.
The film seems rather dated in retrospect, but is an indication, along with the very similar themed films Where the Boys Are and When The Boys Meet the Girls, from MGM at this period.
