Clambake
| Clambake | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Arthur H. Nadel |
| Produced by | |
| Written by | Arthur Browne Jr. |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Jeff Alexander |
| Cinematography | William Margulies |
| Edited by | Tom Rolf |
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Production
company |
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| Distributed by | United Artists |
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Release date
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Running time
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100 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Clambake is a 1967 American musical film directed by Arthur H. Nadel and starring Elvis Presley, Shelley Fabares, and Bill Bixby. Written for the screen by Arthur Browne Jr., the film is about the heir to an oil fortune who trades places with a water-ski instructor at a Florida hotel to see if girls will like him for himself, rather than his father's money. Clambake was the last of Presley's four films for United Artists. The movie reached number 15 on the national weekly box-office charts.
Scott Heyward (Presley) rebels against the plans and expectations of his father, extremely rich oil tycoon Duster Heyward (Gregory). Scott abandons his family, driving to Florida in his shiny red 1959 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Racer to find himself. When Scott stops for gas and refreshments, he encounters Tom Wilson (Hutchins), who is on his way to take a job as a waterskiing instructor at a Miami hotel. Scott and Tom make small talk, and a chance remark by Tom gives Scott an idea: He switches identities with Tom so he can find out how people react to him as an ordinary person rather than a millionaire. Tom has fun staying at the same hotel and pretending he is rich.
Shortly after, hotel guest Dianne Carter (Fabares) insists on taking a lesson minutes after Scott checks in with his new "employer". However, once they are out on the water, Dianne proves herself to be an expert skier, performing fancy maneuvers to gain the attention of wealthy young playboy James J. Jamison III (Bixby). Later, Dianne confesses to Scott that she is a gold digger, assuming that he is one, too. Scott agrees to help Dianne land Jamison, but ends up falling for her himself.
Scott persuades boat builder Sam Burton (Merrill) to allow him to rebuild the Rawhide, a damaged high-performance boat, and drive it in the annual Orange Bowl Race, which Jamison has won the last three years. Scott sends for some "goop", an experimental coating his father spent a lot of money trying (and failing) to perfect. Between his day job and moonlighting as a chemist, Scott is run ragged, but he manages to (hopefully) fix goop's major flaw: losing its strength in water. With no time for testing before the race, he applies it to the boat's hull and prays it will hold the Rawhide together. Duster learns where his son is and comes to see what he is doing. To Scott's surprise, his father is enormously proud of what he has accomplished.
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