''Fun in Acapulco'' is a 1963 American musical comedy film starring
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...
and
Ursula Andress
Ursula Andress (born 19 March 1936) is a Swiss-German actress, former model and sex symbol who has appeared in American, British and Italian films. Her breakthrough role was as Bond girl Honey Ryder in the first James Bond film, '' Dr. No'' (1962 ...
.
The film featured the Top 10 ''Billboard'' hit "
Bossa Nova Baby" and reached No. 1 on the national weekly box office charts a week after the
assassination of President John F. Kennedy in
Dallas, Texas
Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County w ...
. The film would be Presley's last release before the arrival of
Beatlemania
Beatlemania was the fanaticism surrounding the English rock band the Beatles in the 1960s. The group's popularity grew in the United Kingdom throughout 1963, propelled by the singles "Please Please Me", "From Me to You" and "She Loves You". By ...
. It was the top-grossing movie musical of 1963.
Plot
![Andress-Presley-Cardenas](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/Andress-Presley-Cardenas.jpg)
Mike Windgren works on a boat in
Acapulco, Mexico
Acapulco de Juárez (), commonly called Acapulco ( , also , nah, Acapolco), is a city and major seaport in the state of Guerrero on the Pacific Coast of Mexico, south of Mexico City. Acapulco is located on a deep, semicircular bay and has bee ...
. When Janie Harkins, the bratty daughter of the boat owner, gets him fired, Mike must find new work. A Mexican boy named Raoul helps him get a job as a lifeguard and singer at a local hotel. Clashes abound when Mike runs into a rival lifeguard, who is the champion diver of Mexico. He is angry at Mike for taking some of his hours, and for stealing his woman.
Mike is recovering from
post-traumatic stress disorder
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental and behavioral disorder that can develop because of exposure to a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, warfare, traffic collisions, child abuse, domestic violence, or other threats on ...
and a fear of heights, following a tragic high-wire accident during his career as a circus performer. However, after Mike sees the lifeguard perform a number of dangerous dives, including flips and head-first dives into a section of the pool surrounded by a ring of fire, he decides to get even with him and eventually sets himself up to perform a death-defying dive off the 136-foot cliffs of
La Quebrada in front of hundreds of people. Mike dives off the cliff, and successfully lands in the water, earning the lifeguard's respect.
As the crowd and the lifeguard applaud, Mike performs one more song and leaves with Margarita and Raoul.
Cast
*
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...
as Mike Windgren
*
Ursula Andress
Ursula Andress (born 19 March 1936) is a Swiss-German actress, former model and sex symbol who has appeared in American, British and Italian films. Her breakthrough role was as Bond girl Honey Ryder in the first James Bond film, '' Dr. No'' (1962 ...
as Margarita Dauphin
*
Elsa Cárdenas
Elsa Cárdenas Rentería (born 3 August 1932) is a Mexican actress. Since 1954 she has appeared in more than 100 films and television shows. She starred in the film ''Happiness'', which was entered into the 7th Berlin International Film Festival. ...
as Dolores Gomez
*
Paul Lukas
Paul Lukas (born Pál Lukács; 26 May 1894 – 15 August 1971) was a Hungarian actor. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor, and the first Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama for his performance in the film '' Wat ...
as Maximilian Dauphin
*Larry Domasin as Raoul Almeido
*
Alejandro Rey
Alejandro Rey (February 8, 1930 – May 21, 1987) was an Argentine-American actor and television director.
Career Early work
Rey was born in Buenos Aires and studied acting under Hedwig Schlichter and Milagros de la Vega. He became known a ...
as Moreno
*
Robert Carricart
Robert Anthony Carricart (January 18, 1917 – March 3, 1993) was a French-American film, television and theatre actor. He was known for playing the role of Pepe Cordoza in the American Action fiction, action Drama (film and television), drama t ...
as Jose Garcia
*
Teri Hope
Teri Hope (born Natalie Hope Heisburg on February 15, 1939) is an American model (person), model and actress. She was ''Playboy'' magazine's Playboy Playmate, Playmate of the Month for the September 1958 issue. Her centerfold was photographed by ...
as Janie Harkins
*Genaro Gomez as Bullfighter
*
Red West as Poolside Guest
*
Teri Garr
Teri Ann Garr (born December 11, 1944) is an American former actress, dancer, and comedian. She frequently appeared in comedic roles throughout her career, which spans four decades and includes over 140 credits in film and television. Her accola ...
was a credited extra.
*
Tony Terran
Anthony Terran (May 30, 1926 – March 20, 2017) was an American trumpet player and session musician. He was part of the Wrecking Crew, a group of largely uncredited session musicians in Los Angeles, California, who helped famous artists record ...
as trumpet player in the band
Controversy
Exterior filming in Acapulco took place in January 1963. A stunt double was used for Presley, whose own shots were later completed in March at the Paramount studios in Los Angeles. Presley was unable to travel to Mexico as he had been declared "persona non grata" by local authorities following two violent riots at the trendy 'Las Americas' cinema in Mexico City, during the openings of his previous films ''
King Creole
''King Creole'' is a 1958 American musical drama film directed by Michael Curtiz and based on the 1952 novel '' A Stone for Danny Fisher'' by Harold Robbins. Produced by Hal B. Wallis, the film stars Elvis Presley, Carolyn Jones, Walter Matthau, ...
'' (El barrio contra mí) in 1959, and ''
G.I. Blues
''G.I. Blues'' is a 1960 American musical comedy film directed by Norman Taurog and starring Elvis Presley and Juliet Prowse. The movie was filmed at Paramount Pictures studio, with some pre-production scenery shot on location in Germany before Pr ...
'' (Cafe Europa) in 1961.
In fact, the ban had actually started in 1957, when ''
Excélsior
''Excélsior'' is a daily newspaper in Mexico City. It is the second oldest paper in the city after '' El Universal'', printing its first issue on March 18, 1917.
History
''Excélsior'' was founded by Rafael Alducin and first published in Mexic ...
'', Mexico's foremost newspaper published an article by gossip columnist Federico de León that falsely stated Presley had been interviewed while visiting Tijuana, a place Presley never visited, before or after, where he had allegedly said that "he would not care to go sing in Mexico, as he found it a distasteful country and that he would in fact prefer to kiss three African Americans than a single Mexican woman." This led to a split in attitudes towards Presley among Mexican youth which became physically violent on several occasions. The ''King Creole'' riots saw 100 people jailed, but by the time of ''Fun in Acapulco''′s release, Presley's records had been banned from airplay in 1957, his records publicly burnt in the El Zocalo town square that same year, and as stated above, his ban from stores enforced since 1959.
Decades later, it came to light that the false Presley quotes were the work of Ernesto Peralta Uruchurtu, a powerful politician and the Regent of Mexico City. Uruchurtu allegedly sent a blank check to Presley's Los Angeles offices in early 1957 in return for Presley's appearance at the 15th birthday bash of the daughter of a powerful media mogul on whose behalf he was acting. The invitation was not agreed upon, and the check was returned, despite the fact that the mogul had already began to boast publicly that Presley would appear at his daughter's birthday party. The story in "Excélsior" was then planted both as a form of revenge, and as a way of explaining why he did not come to Mexico to sing. These incidents were documented by Parménides García Saldaña in his book "Rey Criollo", and in Eric Zolov's book ''Refried Elvis: The Rise of the Mexican Counterculture''.
Soundtrack
Reception
Howard Thompson of ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' wrote in a positive review that "this attractive travel poster for the famed Mexican resort is far and away
resley'sbest musical feature to date. It's a pleasant, idyllic movie that never takes itself seriously and moves briskly under Richard Thorpe's direction ... And Mr. Presley has never seemed so relaxed and personable." A middling review in ''
Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' said, "Presley fans won't be disappointed—he sings ten serviceable songs and wiggles a bit to boot. However, the ground covered by the plot doesn't help to increase his star stature and, for those who are not devotees, the main attraction may only turn out to be the Technicolorful scenery of Acapulco." John L. Scott of the ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'' wrote, "Presley buffs should eat it up ... Director Richard Thorpe has kept the film's pace swift, which helps to cover up a lack of character development and a routine plot."
''
The Monthly Film Bulletin
''The Monthly Film Bulletin'' was a periodical of the British Film Institute published monthly from February 1934 to April 1991, when it merged with ''Sight & Sound''. It reviewed all films on release in the United Kingdom, including those with a ...
'' declared, "There is a distinct falling away here from the charm, humour and liveliness of some recent Elvis Presley films, notably ''
Follow That Dream
''Follow That Dream'' is a 1962 American musical film made by Mirisch Productions and starring Elvis Presley. The film was based on the 1959 novel '' Pioneer, Go Home!'' by Richard P. Powell. Producer Walter Mirisch liked the film's song "Follo ...
'' ...."
See also
*
List of American films of 1963
References
2. See writer's biography in Wikipedia's Spanish language page.
External links
*
*
*
Reviewby Kevin Laforest at Apollo Movie Guide
Review of the collection "Lights! Camera! Elvis! Collection (King Creole, Blue Hawaii, G.I. Blues, Fun in Acapulco, Roustabout, Girls! Girls! Girls!, Paradise, Hawaiian Style, Easy Come, Easy Go)by Paul Mavis at DVD Talk, August 6, 2007
Reviewby Mark Zimmer at digitallyOBSESSED!, January 22, 2003
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fun In Acapulco
1963 films
1963 musical comedy films
1963 romantic comedy films
American musical comedy films
American romantic comedy films
American romantic musical films
1960s English-language films
Films directed by Richard Thorpe
Films set in Mexico
Paramount Pictures films
Films produced by Hal B. Wallis
Films shot in Los Angeles
Films shot in Mexico
Films about post-traumatic stress disorder
1960s American films