Catalina Caper

1967
G
1h 24m

IMDb RATING

2.3/10

2.3K

YOUR RATING

A group of swingin' teens take time out from having fun in the sun to try to foil a group of crooks searching for a stolen scroll.

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Comedy Musical Mystery

A group of swingin' teens take time out from having fun in the sun to try to foil a group of crooks searching for a stolen scroll.A group of swingin' teens take time out from having fun in the sun to try to foil a group of crooks searching for a stolen scroll.A group of swingin' teens take time out from having fun in the sun to try to foil a group of crooks searching for a stolen scroll.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

2.3/10

2.3K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Videos1

Trailer 0:53

Official Trailer

Photos

Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
When filming began on this movie in late summer of 1965, Tommy Kirk was on probation with Walt Disney Studios due to an arrest on a marijuana possession charge from Christmas Eve of 1964. Although later cleared by the District Attorney's office, he was immediately replaced after the arrest by Michael Anderson Jr. for the role of the youngest son in the John Wayne movie, The Sons of Katie Elder (1965), for which principal shooting was to begin January 4, 1965. Newspapers of March 20, 1965, reported that Kirk had signed a five-year contract with American-International Pictures and on June 3, although details were not given, newspapers reports about Kirk stated that "His recent bout with the police in a mid-west city didn't do his clean cut kid image any good and his career with the Disney films seems over."

Goofs
The band playing on the yacht later in the film is obviously miming as the drummer is playing nothing even remotely similar to what is being heard.

Quotes
Charlie Moss: You shoulda seen him comin' up the coast. I don't think they sell bikinis in Arizona.
Don: Oh, they sell 'em. But, I've never seen so many trying to cover so much with so little success.

Connections
Featured in Mystery Science Theater 3000: Catalina Caper (1990)

Soundtracks
Scuba Party
Music & lyrics by Jerry Long & Little Richard (as Richard Penniman)
Performed by Little Richard

User reviews47

Review

Featured review

2/10

26 Miles Out to Sea

There are only three things that I can say complimentary about Catalina Caper, one was that it offered some nice scenery of Catalina beach and the beach city of Avalon, Little Richard sang a number and Tommy Kirk got a needed paycheck. After his exile from Disney Studios and mainstream Hollywood, he probably needed the work and as we know he was taking work from wherever.

I'm sure it was the tourist board of Catalina Island that commissioned Catalina Caper, just make lots of nice cinematography of our island and then put some kind of story on it. Kirk plays a kid from Arizona where they don't have beaches, he's a self described 'desert rat' and he's there with buddy Peter Duryea to learn the beach scene.

Little does he know that he gets himself innocently involved in the stealing of an ancient Chinese scroll from the Ming dynasty by the parents of one of the beach kids. Despite his parentage the kid is honest and the beach gang unite to return the scroll and save the parents from jail. It's all frighteningly dumb.

A few laughs from Robert Donner who rivals some of the great slapstick comedians of the day in number of pratfalls he takes as an inept insurance investigator. The songs which are just grafted into the film are all right. Kirk and Ulla Stromstedt are clearly too old for the parts they play.

Catalina is a beautiful place from which dumb stories are located.