Don't Make Waves

Don't Make Waves
original movie poster
Directed by	Alexander Mackendrick
Produced by	John Calley Martin Ransohoff Ira Wallach
Written by	George Kirgo Maurice Richlin
Based on	Muscle Beach by Ira Wallach
Starring	Tony Curtis Claudia Cardinale Sharon Tate Robert Webber Dave Draper
Music by	Vic Mizzy
Cinematography	Philip H. Lathrop
Edited by	Rita Roland Thomas Stanford
Production company	Filmways
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (1967, original) Warner Bros. (2011, DVD)
Release date	1967
Running time	97 min.
Box office	$1,250,000 (US/ Canada)

Don't Make Waves is a 1967 American sex farce (with elements of the beach party genre) starring Tony Curtis, Claudia Cardinale, Dave Draper and Sharon Tate. 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 wrote the screenplay.

The film depicts a series of romantic triangles between different groupings of the principal cast and supporting players among several backdrops involving Southern California culture (swimming pools, bodybuilding, beach life, fantastic real estate, mudslides, metaphysical gurus, etc.).

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 carefree, attractive Laura Califatti, who offers him to sleep that night on her couch.

This displeases Rod Prescott, a wealthy swimming-pool builder, because Laura is his mistress. After being kicked out, Carlo tries to sleep on the beach and nearly drowns. He is rescued by mouth-to-mouth resuscitation from a gorgeous surfer who goes by the name "Malibu."

Carlo begins a romantic pursuit of the much-younger woman. After renting a house near the ocean, Carlo cons a sweet but naive bodybuilder, Harry, who is Malibu's boyfriend, 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.

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.