Don't Make Waves
Carlo Cofield, a tourist visiting California's west coast, has not even arranged lodging, when his car is smashed by a reckless driver. She is a carefree, attractive Italian artist named Laura Califatti, who offers her couch for Carlo to sleep on that night. This arrangement displeases Rod Prescott, a wealthy swimming-pool builder, because Laura is his mistress. After being kicked out of Laura's, Carlo tries to sleep on the beach and nearly drowns. He is rescued by mouth-to-mouth resuscitation from a gorgeous surfer many years his junior, who goes by the name "Malibu." Carlo begins a romantic pursuit of Malibu. After renting a house near the ocean, Carlo cons a sweet but naïve bodybuilder, Harry, Malibu's boyfriend, into believing that having sex is harmful to his body. He also bribes a phony psychic, "Madame Lavinia," who is actually a man, to discourage Harry from seeing Malibu anymore. Rod decides to give the persistent Carlo a job as a pool salesman. The affair with Laura is discovered by Rod's wife, Diane, who demands a divorce. As a quarrel develops with everyone present, a mudslide caused by a sudden storm makes Carlo's house slide down a cliff. By the time everyone is saved, they pair off with the romantic partners they deserve. The film was based on Ira Wallach's novel "Muscle Beach" which was published in 1959. In August 1963 it was announced film rights had been purchased by Martin Ransohoff of Filmways, who had a deal with MGM. Ransohoff and Wallach had collaborated on "The Wheeler Dealers". Wallach would do the screenplay and the film would be part of an $18 million slate, coming out in June 1964. Filming was delayed. Curtis' casting was announced in April 1966. In June it was announced Alexander Mackendrick would direct and Claudia Cardinale would co star. Filming took place in August 1966. 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. The film was 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. Dave Draper, who plays Malibu's boyfriend Harry, was the 1965 IFBB Mr. America and the 1966 NABBA Mr. Universe. 1966 NABBA Mr. Universe bodybuilder Chester Yorton, who plays Ted Gunder, made one other film, 1964's "Muscle Beach Party", in which he plays the character called "Hulk. " The score was composed by Vic Mizzy. Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman wrote the title song, "Don't Make Waves," performed by The Byrds over the opening credits. Upon its release on June 20, 1967, "Don't Make Waves" received generally mixed reviews. By the time the film was released, the popularity of beach films and films that related to California beach culture had begun to wane as had the popularity of Tony Curtis as a matinee idol. 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." The film would go on to earn $1.25 million at the box office. "Don't Make Waves" has more recently received a positive review by film critic Leonard Maltin who describes it as "a gem", and makes note of the "good direction, funny performance by Sharon Tate and a catchy title song...". "Don't Make Waves" was released to DVD by Warner Home Video's Warner Archive on June 27, 2011 as a burn-on-demand Region 1 widescreen DVD.
Production notes
Distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the film was directed by Alexander Mackendrick and is based on the 1959 novel "Muscle Beach", by Ira Wallach, who also co-wrote the screenplay.