Catalina Caper (1967)

Director:

Lee Sholem

Writers:

Sam Pierce (original story)
Clyde Ware (screenplay)

Genre:

Comedy | Musical | Mystery

Tagline:

Wild adventure... international intrigue!

Plot:

A group of swingin' teens take time out from having fun in the sun to try to foil a group of crooks searching for a stolen scroll.

Plot Keywords:

Beach | Teen | Caper | Yanked Off Bikini Top | MST3K

Cast

Tommy Kirk	...	Don Pringle
Del Moore	...	Arthur Duval
Peter Duryea	...	Tad Duval
Robert Donner	...	Fingers O'Toole
Ulla Strömstedt	...	Katrina Corelli
Jim Begg	...	Larry
Sue Casey	...	Anne Duval
Lyle Waggoner	...	Angelo
Michael Blodgett	...	Bob Draper (as Mike Blodgett)
Bonnie Lomann	...	Redhead
Britt Nilsson	...	Brunette
Donna Russell	...	Blonde
James Almanzar
Lee Deane	...	Lakopolous
Venita Wolf	...	Tina Moss

Also Known As:

Never Steal Anything Wet

Runtime:

84 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Filming Locations:

Santa Catalina Island, Channel Islands, California, USA

Company:

Crown International Pictures

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: The band playing on the yacht later in the film is obviously miming as the drummer is playing nothing even remotely similar to what is being heard.

Quotes:

Don: I've never seen so many trying to cover so much with so little.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Mystery Science Theater 3000: 'Manos' the Hands of Fate (#5.24)" (1993)

Soundtrack:

There's a New World

Teen comedy junk that's painful even if you watch it on "Mystery Science Theater 3000"

Prepare to be annoyed. Even watching "Catalina Caper" with the smart-asses on "Mystery Science Theater 3000"—the show where a human and his two robots silhouetted on the bottom of your screen ridicule the junky flick being presented—this movie is a slightly painful experience. If mad scientists want to torture me with bad movies, as they do to the main characters on the show, they'll start with films made with teenage leads and intended for teenage audiences. For every good one there are a hundred that stink. And here's one that stinks with the crowd.

As usual, we have dull witted, fun loving, scantily clad teens using lingo that went out of date three weeks before the film's premiere. We also have buffoonish adults, some of whom are villains, others just plain buffoonish. This one takes place on a beach and on various yachts. The plot has something to do with a stolen painting and its duplicate; Joel and the robots were talking through the exposition, so I never figured it out. The adults include the dishonest aristocratic parents of an honest teen son; a thieving butterball in a loud shirt and a multi-colored hat; and a tall, skinny, skulking man in shorts and long, black socks who is constantly falling in the water. The teens include Tommy Kirk, who looks drugged; the others I didn't recognize. One guy had hair that looked like the plastic blonde cap on a Ken doll. Another teen was the dark-haired girlfriend of one of the villains. Even though she is exactly as shapely and buxom as every other girl in the film, the boys deem her to be a cut above the rest and follow her wherever she goes.

The cast is a sea of white people, a strange sight to our multi-cultured eyes. Little Richard, who is black, appears before the Aryans and entertains them with a song that is just as bad as they deserve. And then some white band called the Cascades sing a song that is probably worse than they—or we—deserve. Joel and the robots sing along and make it worse than anyone deserves.

The acting and dialogue are stilted; the comedy relief is risible but not funny. Do not watch this movie without Joel and the robots. Even with them, I can think of better uses for your time. Try watching a movie that has no teenagers in it.