Main Cast: Tony Curtis, Claudia Cardinale, Robert Webber, Joanna Barnes, Sharon Tate
Release Year: 1967
Country: US
Run Time: 97 minutes
Plot
British director Alexander MacKendrick helmed this farcical romantic comedy set in Southern California. Carlo Cofield (Tony Curtis) is a footloose tourist who meets Laura Califatti (Claudia Cardinale) when she accidentally edges his car off the highway. Laura invites Carlo to her home; he seems interested in her, but discovers she's already involved with swimming pool magnate Rod Prescott (Robert Webber). The next day, Carlo hits the beach and nearly drowns in the ocean, until he's rescued by comely sky diver Malibu (Sharon Tate). Carlo blackmails Rod into giving him a job so he can stay in California and pursue a romance with Malibu, but he soon finds himself torn between her and Laura. Don't Make Waves also features a theme song by The Byrds. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
David Draper - Harry Hollard; Mort Sahl - Sam Lingonberry; Edgar Bergen - Madame Lavinia; Ann Elder - Millie Gunder; Chester Yorton - Ted Gunder; Mark London - Fred Barker; Douglas Henderson - Henderson; Sarah Selby - Ethyl; Mary Grace Canfield - Seamstress; Dub Taylor - Electrician; Reg Lewis - Monster; Julie Payne - Helen; George Tyne - Newspapermen; David Fresco - Newspapermen; Gilbert Green - Newsman; Jim Backus - Himself (uncredited); Paul Barselow - Pilot
Directed by Alexander Mackendrick, the film depicted a series of romantic triangles between different groupings of the principal cast and supporting players. By the late 1960s, the popularity of Tony Curtis as a matinee idol was beginning to wane. However, the film was considered topical as during the previous few years films and pop music which related to California beach culture, had proved very popular.
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.
In recent times it 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".
The Malibu Barbie doll, first produced in 1973, was based on Tate and her character, Malibu.
