Don't Make Waves

Don't Make Waves
original movie poster
Directed by	Alexander Mackendrick
Produced by	John Calley Martin Ransohoff Ira Wallach
Starring	Tony Curtis Claudia Cardinale Sharon Tate Robert Webber>br>Dave Draper
Cinematography	Philip H. Lathrop
Editing by	Rita Roland Thomas Stanford
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date(s)	1967
Running time	97 min.

Don't Make Waves (1967) is a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer sex farce (with elements of the beach party genre) which starred Tony Curtis, Claudia Cardinale, Dave Draper and Sharon Tate. The film is based on the 1959 novel, Muscle Beach, by Ira Wallach, who also wrote the screenplay.

Directed by Alexander Mackendrick, the film depicted a series of romantic triangles between different groupings of the principal cast and supporting players among several backdrops involving Southern California culture (swimming pools, bodybuilding, beach life, fantastic real estate, mudslides, metaphysical gurus, etc.).

During the previous few years, films and pop music which related to California beach culture had proved very popular, although by the late 1960s, the popularity of Tony Curtis as a matinee idol was beginning to wane. In recent times the film has received more positive comments from reviewers, such as Leonard Maltin who describes it as "a gem", and makes note of the "fine direction and funny performance by Sharon Tate".

Music

The score was composed by Vic Mizzy. Jim McGuinn and Chris Hillman wrote the title song, "Don't Make Waves," performed by The Byrds over the opening credits.

Production notes

Sharon Tate told her husband Roman Polanski that her experience working on this film was not particularly enjoyable. The production atmosphere was tense, and it was worsened when an uncredited stuntman drowned when he parachuted into the Pacific Ocean.^[1]

The film was Sharon Tate's third to be produced, but as it was the first to be released in cinemas, it is generally considered to be her debut. MGM mounted an extensive publicity campaign upon its release that was based largely on Tate and her character, Malibu, and life-sized cardboard cutouts of Tate wearing a bikini were placed in cinema foyers throughout the United States. It was also linked to a widespread advertising campaign by Coppertone which also featured Tate, but the film received generally poor reviews and failed to achieve success at the box office.

The Malibu Barbie doll, first produced in 1973, may have been based on Tate and her character, Malibu.

Dave Draper, who plays Malibu's boyfriend Harry, was the 1965 IFBB Mr. America and the 1966 IFBB Mr. Universe.

1966 NABBA Mr. Universe bodybuilder Chester Yorton, who plays Ted Gunder, made one other film - in 1964's Muscle Beach Party, he plays the character named Hulk.

In American Prince, his 2009 autobiography, Tony Curtis wrote of making Don't Make Waves: "The plot was utterly ridiculous, but I agreed to appear in the film because I got a percentage of the gross."

Cast

Actors	Characters	info
Tony Curtis	Carlo Cofield
Claudia Cardinale	Laura Califatti
Sharon Tate	Malibu
David Draper	Harry Hollard
Joanna Barnes	Diane Prescott
Robert Webber	Rod Prescott
Reg Lewis	Monster
Mort Sahl	Sam Lingonberry
Edgar Bergen	Madame Lavinia
Dub Taylor	Electrician
Mary Grace Canfield	Seamstress
Holly Haze	Myrna
Sarah Selby	Ethyl
Julie Payne	Helen
Douglass Henderson	Henderson
Chester Yorton	Ted Gunder
Ann Elder	Millie Gunder
Marc London	Fred Barker
Paul Barselou	Pilot	as Paul Barselow
George Tyne	Newspaperman
David Fresco	Newspaperman
Gilbert Green	Newspaperman	as Gil Green
Eduardo Tirello	Decorator
Jim Backus	Himself	uncredited
Henny Backus	Herself	uncredited
China Lee	Topless swimmer	uncredited
Joanne Hashimoto	Female Gymnast	uncredited

References

1. ^ Polanski, Roman (1984). Roman. New York: William Morrow & Company. p. 261. ISBN 0-688-02621-4. 

External links

• Don't Make Waves at the Internet Movie Database
• Don't Make Waves at AllRovi
• Don't Make Waves at the TCM Movie Database
• Review of Don't Make Waves at TVGuide.com