Fun in Acapulco ** (1963, Elvis Presley, Ursula Andress, Paul Lukas, Alejandro Rey, Elsa Cárdenas) – Classic Movie Review 2,627

Elvis Presley stars as Mike Windgren, who gets a job as a lifeguard and singer at a Mexican hotel, in the 1963 American musical comedy film Fun in Acapulco. 

Fun in Acapulco – the third of Elvis Presley’s tropical travelogue films for Paramount Pictures after Blue Hawaii and Girls! Girls! Girls! – finds him frolicking in Mexico (well actually in the Paramount studios in Los Angeles).

Director Richard Thorpe delivers a fair fun 1963 vehicle for Elvis Presley, who stars as Mike Windgren, a circus trapeze artist high-flyer with a fear of heights. He works on a boat in Acapulco, Mexico, but the bratty daughter of the boat owner, gets him fired.

So, with the help of little Mexican boy Raoul (Larry Domasin), he becomes a lifeguard and singer entertainer (cue 10 songs) at the local hotel. There he is pursued by lovely games organiser Marguerita Dauphin (Ursula Andress, fresh from Dr No), arousing the jealousy of Dolores Gomez (Elsa Cárdenas) and the anger of rival lifeguard Moreno (Alejandro Rey), the champion diver of Mexico.

A game-for-anything Elvis tackles the bright and breezy tunes ‘Bossa Nova Baby’ and ‘You Can’t Say No in Acapulco’ – though they are very middle-of-the-road songs for the King of rock ‘n’ roll. Andress is statuesque but looks bored in a merely decorative role, while Paul Lukas is entertaining, playing a touchy cook by the name of Maximillian Dauphin.

The pretty ordinary songs provide little compensation for screen-writer Allan Weiss’s tepid story, which has trouble brewing the smallest of storms in its tiny teacup. But director Thorpe enjoys pointing his cameras at Andress and at the Mexican resort’s equally lovely scenery.

Elvis didn’t film in Acapulco and a stunt double was used. The cliff dives take place at La Quebrada in Acapulco. 

Exterior filming in Acapulco took place in January 1963 and the film was released on November 27, 1963 (US).

Presley’s scenes were shot in March 1963 at the Paramount studios in Los Angeles. Actually, Elvis couldn’t film in Acapulco. Mexico authorities had declared Presley persona non grata after two violent riots at the trendy Las Americas cinema in Mexico City, during the openings of King Creole (1959) and G I Blues (1961).

Teri Garr makes her uncredited movie debut as an extra in this film, appearing similarly in several more Elvis movies before her acting break.

Fun in Acapulco was Elvis’s seventh soundtrack album, peaking at number three on the Billboard Top Pop Albums chart. Elvis’s stable of songwriters delivered songs like ‘Marguerita’, ‘El Toro’, ‘You Can’t Say No in Acapulco’ and ‘The Bullfighter Was A Lady’. Also included is the 1937 standard ‘Guadalajara’ by Pepe Guízar.

The fact that the 1960s bossa nova craze was Brazilian rather than Mexican apparently mattered little, though it does beg the question why they didn’t set the film in Brazil, especially with Elvis banned from Mexico.

The single ‘Bossa Nova Baby’ peaked at number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 as well as reaching the 20th spot on the R&B singles chart.

The cast

The cast are Elvis Presley as Mike Windgren, Ursula Andress as Margarita Dauphin, Elsa Cárdenas as Dolores Gomez, Paul Lukas as Maximilian Dauphin, Larry Domasin as Raoul Almeido, Alejandro Rey as Moreno, Robert Carricart as Jose Garcia, Teri Hope as Janie Harkins, Genaro Gomez as Bullfighter, Red West as Poolside Guest, Teri Garr as extra, Tony Terran as trumpet player.

Ursula Andress (born 19 March 1936)

Swiss actress Ursula Andress turned 90 on 19 March 2026. She won the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year for playing Honey Ryder in Dr No (1962).

© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 2,627

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