Palm Springs Weekend Reviews

Made during the era when beach films were popular with the teenage audience, PALM SPRINGS WEEKEND capitalized on the success of MGM's WHERE THE BOYS ARE (1960). Duggan plays the harried police chief of Palm Springs. Every spring the hotels are loaded with college kids looking for a good time with members of the opposite gender, including then-teen idol Donahue, playing a medical student. Aboard his bus on the trip there is Stevens, a high-school girl pretending to be a wealthy college coed. The bus breaks down and Stevens hitches a ride with Conrad, a rich spoiled brat. Stevens also meets Hardin, a Hollywood stuntman, who becomes romantically interested in her. Donahue meets Powers, Duggan's daughter, and takes her to a party that turns into one rowdy affair. The cops burst in and arrest everyone, but Duggan lets them off with just a warning. Donahue is singled out by Duggan and given the command to never see Powers again. Meanwhile, Stevens finds herself in trouble as Conrad tries to have his way with her. Hardin comes to her rescue and beats up the rich punk. Conrad is enraged and follows Hardin in his car, sideswiping the stuntman and causing him to crash in a fiery wreck. Donahue arrives on the scene and gets Hardin to a hospital. There he is visited by Stevens, who confesses her secret. A subplot concerns a college basketball coach, Weston, who manages to find romance with Cook, a widow who runs the hotel where everyone is staying. Stevens' gawky roommate North also finds love in the klutzy form of Van Dyke. When it's finally time to leave, Donahue bids a tearful adieu to Powers, and she promises to wait for him. Even Duggan begins to change his mind about the college kids. Though the story is simplistic and the characters aren't anything more than the usual types, PALM SPRINGS WEEKEND is entertaining in its own way. The humor is innocuous enough, and the players deliver their roles with an earnest freshness. The on-location shooting helps the story, and the direction always manages to keep action on the screen. The screenplay is by Hamner, who went on to pen the fine television series "The Waltons."