Shangri-La (1961)
Directed by Dick Randall
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Synopsis by Sandra Brennan
A zookeeper (Sammy Petrillo) plays cards with his favorite gorilla Pinky. As they play, the trusty relates his fun-filled summer adventures to a friend. First the zookeeper follows a pair of women to Washington D.C.'s Historical Wax Museum where he engages in lively conversation with the dummies. Next he goes to Florida to visit a snake farm to do some water-skiing and take in some alligator wrestling. Finally, the fellow ends up in a nudist camp where he surreptitiously feasts on the naked beauty cavorting around him until he gets up the nerve to perform a stand-up comedy routine in which he imitates Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis (this is ironic for Petrillo was originally teamed with fellow comic Duke Mitchell and appeared with him in a number of low-budget knock-offs of Martin and Lewis films until Lewis successfully sued Petrillo for stealing his act). Much of this exploitation film was shot on location.
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Keywords
beauty-pageant, on-the-road, vacation, zookeeper