Palm Springs Weekend
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VHS Movie Reviews of Palm Springs Weekend
Movie Review: My First Movie
Summary: 5 Stars
This was the first movie I saw when I was a kid. I was almost seven at
the time and it was on a double bill with "The Sword and The Stone." My
mum dropped my two sisters and myself off at the Altantic Theater in
Long Beach, California and this movie played first. I can't tell you a
thing about the Disney movie, but I remember just about every scene
from Palm Springs Weekend. The '63 Thunderbird, Bugs Bunny, Stephanie
Powers, Connie Stevens, the pool with the bubbles and the car chase at
the end. Hard to believe, but this film made me want to work in the
movies.
And so I did. I have worked in film and video most of my career and I
always tell people this was the film that first gave me the notion.
During my career I have been fortunate to meet two of the people
involved with this film, Connie Stevens and Earl Hamner Jr (the man who
wrote this film) When I met with Hamner over lunch, it was to talk
about his classic television show The Waltons, but his eyes lit up when I asked him about PSW. He told me several stories and we had a good laugh. A very special memory.
I too would like to see this film released on DVD. It really captures a
time and a generation and that '63 T Bird!
Movie Review: "Help Me, Bunny -- I'm No Hero!"
Summary: 5 Stars
"I propose a toast," announces wealthy Robert Conrad to the cast of this soundstage-bound extravaganza. "I drink to the Easter orphans, to all of us wicked little children banded together on the beaches and resorts from Florida to California to observe the rites of spring. Here's to sex, sand, and suds!" Little children? The average age of these performers -- including Troy Donahue, Connie Stevens, Stephanie Powers, Jerry Van Dyke and Ty Hardin -- is twenty-five, if their studio bios are to be believed. The players converge on this pasteboard Palm Springs to try to act young while discovering the mysteries of, well, sex, sand, and suds.
Sex rears its head when med student Donahue meets local gal Powers and he explains that "the girl you have an affair with can never be the girl you marry," then it pops up again when compulsive liar Stevens wants moneyed cad Conrad to quit pawing her. "Don't, stop that, I'm scared," pouts Stevens, and Conrad sneers, "Why don't you drop that line? Look, I've been waiting for this since the minute I first laid eyes on you, and you're not gonna back out now!"
To relieve all this tension, we're treated to two stupendously terrible musical interludes -- besides Donahue's vocalizing on the title tune, that is. Hardin, in his swim trunks, sporting a Stetson and his guitar, sings "Bye Bye Blackbird" accompanied by Van Dyke on his banjo while the extras dressed in swimsuits do "The Twist" poolside -- a real high point of how out of touch these movies were with teenagers of any era. This is topped, later, at a party when Powers and Donahue do "The Twist" (conclusive, irrefutable, filmed proof that white people have no sense of rhythm).
Suds turn up when Van Dyke spills soap into the pool, covering the whole set in mountains of bubbles. Don't miss Donahue's rescue effort: Sitting astride Van Dyke, he presses on his stomach to make soap bubbles emit from his mouth.
Sand figures into the plot on the last night of vacation, when Donahue and Powers wander by a blatantly artificial painted backdrop as she tells him of the "haunted dunes." It's visited, Powers explains, straight-faced, "by ghosts of thousands of kids who come down here for Easter week, fall in love, and then when it's over they go out there to say good-bye. They write their initials in the sand. It's always sad to me to come by later, after the wind has swept the sand smooth again." Their love, of course, is different. "I never thought I could feel like this," pants Powers. "It's easy to see how people get themselves in a mess." Donahue begs her, "Help me, Bunny -- I'm no hero." They swear eternal devotion, you'll be glad to know, and we're certain they waited (nice twenty-five-year-olds do).
Movie Review: When is this classic going to DVD??
Summary: 5 Stars
Does anyone have inside info as to when this title will be released on DVD? I know Warner Bros. is planning on releasing many of their classic telvision shows this year (hopefully "Hawaiian Eye" will be included in that list) as part of their anniversary celebration. Hard to believe "Palm Springs Weekend" has slipped through the cracks for this long! Movie Review: The Biggest Alka Seltzer I've Ever Seen
Summary: 5 Stars
This was a fun 60's movie that captured the essence of the times. The cast was very well put together, although I had to chuckle at Troy Donahue with his obvious false eyelashes. He was prettier than Stephanie Powers! Tina Cole should have had a bigger part but boy was she ever grounded after those "leather jackets" trashed her parent's house. Jerry Van Dyke looks and acts so much like his brother, Dick, that it was hard to tell the difference. What a comic talent! Connie Stephens did exceptionally well playing the high school kid pretending to be the sophisticated "tease". Her character was very lucky that she didn't get raped by the bad boy of the movie, played by Robert Conrad, in contrast to what happened to Yvette Mimieux's character in "Where the Boys Are". But she manages to come clean in the end and finds true love in hero Stretch (Ty Hardin). Little Billy Mummy was a scene stealer, particularly in the scene where Jerry Van Dyke falls in the pool with the laundry soap and the pool turns into "the biggest alka seltzer I've ever seen". What a hoot! I was a bit disappointed in the underlying message at the end when Stephanie Powers leaves it up to Troy Donahue to make the decision whether to go all the way, in fear that she will lose him to "knowing other girls in that way". I cringe at the thought of the girl letting the boy make that decision for her, then or now. All in all, this was a blast from the past- a great movie to watch again and again.Movie Review: A Great Weekend for everyone
Summary: 5 Stars
What a great film. Not as kitchy as the Avalon/Funicello films but lots of fun bits and great characters. Zeme North is just great as the "plain girl" Amanda; Jerry Van Dyke is a terrific goof ball, and Robert Conrad plays the bad rich boy with gusto. The VHS quality is very good and the film is wonderful fun for the whole family -- although my kids can't believe college kids actually wore jackets and ties to a party. Probably the most fun is watching Troy Donahue and Stephanie Powers do their crazy version of the twist. Gotta love this film.
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