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Directed
by Richard Thorpe, who directed ‘Jailhouse Rock’, 'Fun in Acapulco'
was Elvis’ 13th movie and was produced by Hal Wallis, who produced
nine Elvis films including 'Loving You', 'King Creole', 'G.I. Blues',
'Blue Hawaii', 'Girls! Girls! Girls!', 'Roustabout', 'Paradise Hawaiian
Style' and 'Easy Come, Easy Go'. The movie was written by Allan
Weiss, who also wrote the scripts for the Elvis movies 'Blue Hawaii',
'Girls! Girls! Girls!', 'Roustabout', 'Paradise Hawaiian Style'
and 'Easy Come, Easy Go'.
The members of the cast of the Paramount film included Ursula Andress
as Marguerita Dauphin, Elsa Cardenas as Dolores Gomez, Alejandro
Rey as Moreno and Larry Domasin as Raoul Almeido. Elvis stars as
Mike Windgren, a former trapeze artist in 'The Flying Windgrens'
who leaves the circus after an accident in which his partner is
seriously injured. He develops acrophobia, a fear of heights, and
moves to Mexico.
Initially he’s hired as a boat hand, but is sacked when the boss’s
teenage daughter lies to her father about him. A young shoeshine
boy, Raoul, sees Mike performing in a local tavern and helps him
get a job in a hotel where he works as an assistant lifeguard during
the day and sings in the hotel at night.
He is resented by the chief lifeguard Moreno, who is also Mexico’s
champion diver. When Moreno learns of Mike’s fear of heights he
taunts him as a ‘gallina’ (chicken). The two men compete for the
attention of Marguerita Dauphin, although Mike also romances a female
bullfighter, Dolores Gomez.
When Mike and Moreno engage in a fight, Moreno pretends to be too
injured to participate in diving from the famous La Perla cliffs,
a height of 136 feet. Mike is then challenged to take the dive in
his place and as the time approaches he has visions of his trapeze
accident, but finally overcomes his fear and is successful.
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This
was Swiss actress Ursula Andress’ first American film and she was
still learning to speak English – while Elvis was trying to learn
pronunciation of the Spanish words for some of the songs in the movie.
The two stars were also linked romantically off set. She was to say,
“They wouldn’t let me wear lipstick or mascara and they put a ribbon
in my hair to please the innocent little girls who made up Elvis’
audiences. They wouldn’t even let me wear a proper bikini, saying
‘You can’t show your navel in a Presley picture!’”
All of the scenes with Elvis were filmed in Hollywood and there was
a stunt double for the Mexican sequences. The film was released nationally
in America on 27th November 1963 and was generally featured on a bill
with a reissue of the Kirk Douglas western ‘Last Train From Gun Hill.’
The soundtrack was recorded at Radio Recorders Studio in Hollywood
in January 1963. The musicians on the soundtrack were: Elvis Presley,
vocals; The Amigos, background vocals; The Jordanaires, background
vocals; Scotty Moore, Tiny Timbrell, Barney Kessel, guitar; Ray Siegel,
bass; Dudley Brooks, piano; Emile Radocchia, percussion, D.J.Fontana,
Hal Blaine, drums; Anthony Terran, Rudolph Loera, trumpets.
The album ‘Fun In Acapulco’ was released on RCA LPM 2576 in December
1963 and all 11 songs from the movie were included, together with
two bonus tracks. The album reached No.3 in the Billboard charts with
a chart life of 24 weeks.
The track listing was:
Side One: ‘Fun In Acapulco’ by Ben Wiseman and Sid Wayne;
‘Vino Dinero Y Amor’ by Sid Tepper and Roy C. Bennett; ‘Mexico’
by Sid Tepper and Roy C. Bennett; ‘El Toro’ by Bill Grant,
Bernie Baum and Florence Kaye; ‘Marguerita’ by Don Robertson;
‘The Bullfighter Was A Lady’ by Sid Tepper and Roy C. Bennett;
‘No Room To Rhumba In A Sports Car’ by Fred Wise and Dick Manning.
Side Two: ‘I Think I’m Gonna Like It Here’ by Don Robertson
and Hal Blair; ‘Bossa Nova Baby’ by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller;
‘You Can’t Say No In Acapulco’ by Dee Fuller, Lee Morris and
Sid Feller; ‘Guadalajara’ by Pepe Guizar. The bonus tracks
were: ‘Love Me Tonight’ by Don Robertson and ‘Slowly But
Surely’ by Ben Wiseman and Sid Wayne.
During The Beatles' first American tour they watched this movie in
a drive-in in Miami, Florida. |
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Bill Harry Original
Graphics 
