Don't Make Waves

Mackendrick's last film is a determinedly hip and wacky '60s comedy drawn from Ira Wallach's novel Muscle Beach. Curtis plays Carlo, a little like the Sidney Falco of Sweet Smell of Success gone West, whose accident-strewn introduction to California leads him to sell swimming pools to the rich and famous. A range of women cross his path - including a rather one-note Cardinale and, in her first role, Sharon Tate - in a fitful satire on spaced-out beach folk and greedy businessmen. Mackendrick's customary visual elegance and sense of timing lead to occasional highlights, and he at least delivers a good finale with a house sliding into the sea, reminiscent of The Gold Rush. But the tasteless hand of producer Marty Ransohoff results in much awkward cutting and dodgy script turns, making the film barely eligible for cult status.