tforbes-2 "Palm Springs Weekend" benefits from a higher budget and better quality cast than many of the teen films produced during the 1960s, and it has some more emotional range.Among the featured players are Robert Conrad and Connie Stevens, coming off their "Hawaiian Eye" television series. Here, though, Mr. Conrad plays a spoiled playboy type driving around in a '63 Ford Thunderbird roadster, causing trouble, a real contrast to his role as Tom Lopaka on "Eye." Warner Brothers stock player Troy Donahue, who also appeared 26 times on "Hawaiian Eye" and had other WB shows such as "Surfside Six," plays the lead role of Jim Munroe.We also have WB players Ty Hardin and Andrew Duggan, as well as Stefanie Powers and Billy Mumy.Overall, it is an enjoyable film to watch, in part because it is an artifact of the late Kennedy era. It has its funny moments. And speaking of which, I think the performer who steals the show here is none other than Jerry Van Dyke, who has at least one musical number with his banjo.American International may have made the most teen flicks, but it seems as if Warners produced some of the more interesting ones. Definitely worth a watch.

bkoganbing Palm Springs Weekend which was unashamedly ripped off from Where The Boys Meet The Girls, gave the Warner Brothers television stars a last time to strut their stuff before the cameras. Within three years all of these contract players would be gone from the Warner lot as the British invasion led by the Beatles reconstructed the whole idea of what a teen heartthrob was supposed to be.Troy Donahue(Surfside Six), Ty Hardin(Bronco), and Robert Conrad (Hawaiian Eye), are all on spring break and bound for that favorite west coast location, Palm Springs. While there Donahue gets involved with Stefanie Powers the police chief's daughter and Hardin and Conrad get to fight over Connie Stevens who's lying about her age. She's borderline jailbait, but looks old.In that department Connie was the most ludicrous, but the notion that these guys were all students of some kind is beyond belief. All of them were past 25 at this point, they must have felt ridiculous. But the stars of 90210 didn't look much like high school kids so nothing's really changed.But romance was in the air in Palm Springs Weekend, even Jack Weston the college basketball coach gets to have a fling with hotel owner Carole Cook. Best in the film is Jerry Van Dyke who supplies some needed comic relief and plays a mean banjo.Still the film really hasn't worn well over the decades. But it's pleasant enough entertainment. Troy Donahue gets to sing over the title credits. That was a mistake.

fwatkins6 I first saw this movie as a young person under 10, and didn't understand the dramatic essence. I think this is probably Robert Conrad's best dramatic part, very troubled and complex.The car, a 1963 Thunderbird roadster, still is the real star of this movie, as far as I am concerned. The comedy was adequate for the era, but a bit over the top. The car chase is, for it's time very appropriate, but as a child I was very concerned about Stretch, LOL such an altruistic lad, I think Stephanie Powers is one of the most beautiful female actresses that has ever graced the screen!This is a great movie for historians, if they care to investigate the culture and mores of 1963.

BobLib 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.