Palm Springs Weekend (1963)

Director:

Norman Taurog

Writer:

Earl Hamner Jr. (writer)

Release Date:

5 November 1963 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Tagline:

IT'S WHERE THE BOYS ARE AND THE GIRLS ARE...that swingin' vacation weekend when American youth descends on America's swankiest playground!

Plot:

Set in Palm Springs during a long, fun-filled weekend where several Los Angeles college students flock to spring break...

Plot Keywords:

College | Palms | Police | Basketball | Spring Break

Cast

Troy Donahue	...	Jim Munroe
Connie Stevens	...	Gayle Lewis - Jane Hoover
Ty Hardin	...	Doug 'Stretch' Fortune
Stefanie Powers	...	Bunny Dixon
Robert Conrad	...	Eric Dean
Andrew Duggan	...	Police Chief Dixon
Jack Weston	...	Coach Fred Campbell
Carole Cook	...	Naomi Yates
Jerry Van Dyke	...	Biff Roberts
Zeme North	...	Amanda North
Bill Mumy	...	'Boom Boom' Yates
Dorothy Green	...	Cora Dixon
Robert Gothie	...	Gabby
Greg Benedict	...	Hap
Gary Kincaid	...	Fred

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Certification:

Finland:S | USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

Palm Springs, California, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

Dawn Wells' movie debut.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Ty Hardin (Stretch) is pulled from his wrecked vehicle, his left knee is injured. Later, in the hospital, it is his right knee that is in a sling. Oops!

Quotes:

[Eric dials his home phone number from a payphone rest stop]
Henry Blanchard: [into the phone] Hello?
Eric Dean: [into the phone] Oh, hello Mr. Blanchard. Is my father in?
Henry Blanchard: He's not here. Your father and the "new" Mrs. Dean, number six, left from Reno two days ago on their sunny honeymoon to Acapulco, Mexico.
Eric Dean: [groans] He went and did it again, huh? He didn't say if he was planning to stop in Palm Springs for a couple of days?
Henry Blanchard: No, he didn't mention it.
Eric Dean: He does know that I'm staying here and where to locate me?
Henry Blanchard: Yes, yes, I told him twice as you requested.
Eric Dean: Well, if he calls give him a message. Just tell him that, "Eric sends his regards".
Henry Blanchard: Sure, I'll give him the message.
[...]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in True Romance (1993)

Soundtrack:

Live Young

Palm Springs Weekend

You have got to give Warner Bros studios credit for milking Troy Donahue for all they could get with the teenage audience....there was "Summer Place", "Parrish", "Susan Slade", "Rome Adventure"...Warner Bros was riding the high waves with Donahue for the teenage audience in the early 60s.......then they apparently decided to remake "Where the Boys Are"....this time the film is in Palm Springs California instead of Florida....Stephanie Powers more or less recreates the role Delores Hart had in "Where the Boys Are".....a young student looking for teenage/young adult love...Troy Donahue basically recreates the role George Hamilton had.....the handsome lover boy looking for romance.....basically corny and overly silly in a lot of respects. Plenty of comedy though as Jerry Van Dyke plays a over the top goofball who winds up with the homely down and out girl...sort of like the role Frank Gorshin had in Boys Are with Connie Francis....lots of similarities with both films. Troy Donahue did not have to do much acting...just stand around looking handsome and available and the gals ate him up. In a silly teenage film like this much acting was not required at all. For my money a scene near the end where Donahue and Stephanie Powers were standing in front of a fake, paper rock, supposedly in the desert was laughable....Powers says "look out there, see the sands, it is the valley of lost lovers" ha=ha-ha.....or something to that effect....Donahue stands there listening to her with a silly gape on his face....just totally laughable acting. Nothing like that old puss himself Jack Weston to play the lovable loser - he was the basketball coach trying to keep his players under control and falling for the matronly owner of the motel they were at....Weston always a lovable loser, just like in "The Cincinatti Kid" and "Thomas Crown Affair" in the 60s..... For my money Jerry Van Dyke steals the movie as a looney over the top comedian....once again, this is a teenage love flick at it's best....if you saw "Where the Boys Are" you have seen "Palm Springs Weekend"....just the same two films stitched together with different actors....Bob Conrad as the spoiled, rich kid with the fast T-Bird and Connie Stevens as the nubile, and very available coed....she gets mixed up with the wrong guy. Top notch film for the teenagers in the early 1960s.