Undescribable Perfection

brilliant actors, brilliant editing

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

Fluff about a bunch of college kids spending Easter Week vacation in Palm Springs. There's Jim Munroe (Troy Donahue) romancing a local girl (Stefanie Powers) whose overprotective father happens to be the chief of police. Then there's innocent Gail (Connie Stevens) falling for psycho Eric (Robert Conrad) but is watched over by sweet Stretch (Ty Hardin). The odious comic relief of the kids named Biff (Jerry Van Dyke) falls for nerdy Amanda (Zeme North), AND the coach of the boys basketball team (Jack Weston) falls for Rosalind Russell sound alike Naomi (Carole Cook). The comedy is stupid, the complications predictable and there's zero believability here but I liked it! This falls squarely in the so-bad-it's-good category. The color is strong, the cast is certainly attractive and there's good acting by Stevens and Powers. Only real debit-=Robert Conrad. His character is clearly a psycho and Stevens keeps going out with him! I know she's naïve but THAT naïve? Still this is harmless fluff and terrible but fun.

Released in the first week of November 1963, Palm Springs Weekend was what Hollywood was presenting as hard partying Spring Break rebelliousness before the sea change in this country just up ahead. Counter culture was about people who hung around diners not those dissatisfied with the system and in Weekend we get a skewed representation of American youth; blonde, blue eyed (Troy Donahue, Connie Stevens, Ty Hardin) neatly attired with bad taste in music.The raging hormone set are off to Palm Springs for the weekend from LA along with some bumbling grown ups like basketball coach (Jack Weston) who is intent on keeping his boys in training but ultimately succumbs himself to the temptations of the party culture. Locally Chief Dixon (Andrew Duggan) and daughter Bunny (Stephanie Powers) argue the generation gap. The stage is now set for the kids to hook-up and dance, kiss, fight and celebrate the stupidity of youth circa 63 but even back then this was pretty tame stuff.Director Norman Taurog keeps things flood lit and flat most of the way juggling his roster of second stringers to help give the film a pulse but the humor is heavy handed, the romance beyond mawkish. It takes itself a little more serious than the Frankie and Annette Beach saga which began the same year but it more or less delivers the same sand in your bathing suit result of insipid irritation. Today it can be seen as a goofy time piece of more innocent and secure times.

A smarmy variation on "Where the Boys Are" for jaded audiences, this is the type of teenage comedy that turns some viewers into anti-teenagers. Los Angeles college students trek to sunny Palm Springs for holiday hijinks, but boy-girl jealousies eventually erupt--and when the guys attempt to show each other up, it nearly spoils the fun. Low point occurs when Connie Stevens is assaulted on the hood of a car. Surprisingly tasteless binge (from, of all people, future "Waltons" creator Earl Hamner, Jr.) shows that the teen-genre was taking a turn into more cynical waters, despite the plush production. The gals are attractive, but poor Jerry Van Dyke is used for yahoo laughs and one can easily sense the smug condescension. ** from ****

If you're after fun, escapist, Kennedy-era entertainment with a WB vs. AIP budget, sit back and enjoy "Palm Springs Weekend" for what it is: A bunch of kids (most of whom will never see twenty again) invading the popular resort community for the weekend, getting into all sorts of romantic trials and tribulations, with the inevitable happy ending.Troy Donahue, then at the height of his fame, is the nominal hero of the story, a nice young medical student affectionately called "Dr. Jekyll." He has remarkably little to do, however, and it's the more colorful supporting characters who keep your interest through the film: Jerry Van Dyke as Donahue's wackyzanynutty best friend, Robert Conrad (just pre-"Wild, Wild West") as the particularly slimy heavy of the piece, Ty Hardin as the rodeo cowboy turned football hero (He's got steer horns affixed to the front of his car. You know the type), Connie Stevens as the "good girl" who gets in way over her head when she falls for Conrad, and Jack Weston and Carole Cook providing love among the oldsters as the boys' football coach and a local hotel owner, respectively. For the obligatory musical interlude, we have the Modern Folk Quartet performing in a nightclub sequence. See if you can spot a young Cyrus Faryar among the latter.Norman Tourog's direction is appropriately easy and breezy, and the screenplay is by the young Earl Hamner, Jr. ("The Waltons"). Check your brain at the door and get in the mood for some early-60's-style fun. You'll be glad you did.