Palm Springs Weekend was released by Warner Bros. on November 5, 1963
Director: Norman Taurog
Palm Springs Weekend cast: Stefanie Powers, Troy Donahue, Connie Stevens, and Robert Conrad
The tag line for this film could have read, “Beach Party on the Dunes,” for it is a rehash of the Beach Party formula, which, if we’re going to be honest, is a rehash of the Where the Boys Are formula, which is not too far removed from the Gidget formula. But in spite of the silly, re-cycled plot, and the many un-refined performances by overage “teenagers,” it’s still fun to watch this very well-mannered, studio interpretation of what the annual Palm Springs pageant (which really was a very big deal during the Cpop era) kinda was. Look for some very amusing interpretations of the twist (it was a dance).
Featured Califormulants
Fans of Cpop era Palm Springs (the Southland’s near-eastern outpost) will find the camera work here to be delightfully revealing. The old Riviera Hotel gets a good bit of screen time as does the Desert Palms Inn (renamed La Casa Yates for the film) bordered by some magnificent palm groves. There are also a few decent shots of the downtown area, a residential area, and several traveling shots taken on the outer regions of the city. For those of us familiar with the terrain and the time, these location shots are so evocative you can almost feel the radiant warmth of the desert sun. The automobilia on display runs the gamut from a stock Model T, to a handful of fully dressed 50s era roadsters, to a wide variety of stylish consumer models including an elegant 63 T-Bird convertible with the unmistakable exhaust note of a British sports car.