drama film
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...
Anthony Quinn
Manuel Antonio Rodolfo Quinn Oaxaca (April 21, 1915 – June 3, 2001), known professionally as Anthony Quinn, was a Mexican-American actor. He was known for his portrayal of earthy, passionate characters "marked by a brutal and elemental v ...
and
Ann-Margret
Ann-Margret Olsson (born April 28, 1941) is a Swedish–American actress, singer, and dancer. As an actress and singer, she is credited as Ann-Margret.
She is known for her roles in '' Pocketful of Miracles'' (1961), ''State Fair'' (1962), '' ...
. As the film's poster notes, the title is an initialism for "
revolutions per minute
Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines.
Standards
ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimension ...
", which at the time was a common term for the variable speed of a
record player
A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...
's turntable.
Plot
Set against the political turmoil of the 1960s, radical student activists occupy a university's administration building with a list of 12 demands. Unable to resolve the situation, President Tyler resigns, so the Board of Trustees considers a student-made shortlist of recommended professors to take over the job of university president. The board finalizes the choice of Professor F.W.J. "Paco" Perez, despite his radical beliefs, given his close past relationship with students.
After midnight, Perez, along with his
sociology
Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of empirical investigation an ...
graduate student girlfriend Rhoda, is awakened by a phone call by Dean George Cooper, requesting a meeting. Perez is appointed "acting president" of the college campus. Later that morning, Perez arrives to the campus on a motorcycle. Attempting to negotiate with the activists, Perez reads their demands, which include 20 inner-city scholarships, a college reinvestment program, no military research on campus, and an African American on the all-white Board of Trustees. Perez disagrees with three of the 12 demands, including the students' right to hire and fire the faculty.
Perez tells the activists he will deliver on the first nine demands. A brief conflict between the leader, Roositer, and Steve Dempsey, leads to the eighth demand changed to the hiring of a black admissions officer. Perez nominates Dempsey for the position, which the young black activist accepts. Perez serves as mediator between the faculty and the unwavering student body over the unresolved three demands, while being berated at home by Rhoda for his hypocrisy.
Perez notifies the faculty of an audio-recorded message that Roositer will destroy the school's computer hardware if the demands are not met. With no options left, Perez sends in a squadron of police officers led by Police Chief Henry J. Thatcher. Thatcher orders the activists to evacuate the facility in three minutes, but they refuse to comply. The officers invade the building, releasing
tear gas
Tear gas, also known as a lachrymator agent or lachrymator (), sometimes colloquially known as "mace" after the early commercial aerosol, is a chemical weapon that stimulates the nerves of the lacrimal gland in the eye to produce tears. In ...
, and violently arrest several students. At the police station, Perez sees that Rhoda also has been arrested.
Perez meets with the faculty in the administration building, now back under their control. He signs a bail grantee, defending the outcome of the rebellion. Upon leaving the building, Perez walks through the crowd and is loudly booed by the activists.
Production
The movie was filmed on location at the main campus of the University of the Pacific (UOP) in Stockton, California. The student "extras" were actual members of the student body of the university at that time.
It was the first film Ann-Margret made in the USA for a number of years.
Cast
*
Anthony Quinn
Manuel Antonio Rodolfo Quinn Oaxaca (April 21, 1915 – June 3, 2001), known professionally as Anthony Quinn, was a Mexican-American actor. He was known for his portrayal of earthy, passionate characters "marked by a brutal and elemental v ...
as Prof. F.W.J. "Paco" Perez
*
Ann-Margret
Ann-Margret Olsson (born April 28, 1941) is a Swedish–American actress, singer, and dancer. As an actress and singer, she is credited as Ann-Margret.
She is known for her roles in '' Pocketful of Miracles'' (1961), ''State Fair'' (1962), '' ...
as Rhoda
*
Gary Lockwood
Gary Lockwood (born John Gary Yurosek; February 21, 1937) is an American actor. Lockwood is best known for his roles as astronaut Frank Poole in the film '' 2001: A Space Odyssey'' (1968), and as Lieutenant Commander Gary Mitchell in the '' Star ...
as Rossiter
*
Paul Winfield
Paul Edward Winfield (May 22, 1939 – March 7, 2004) was an American stage, film and television actor. He was known for his portrayal of a Louisiana sharecropper who struggles to support his family during the Great Depression in the landmark fil ...
as Steve Dempsey
*
Graham Jarvis
Graham Powley Jarvis (August 25, 1930 – April 16, 2003) was a Canadian character actor in American films and television from the 1960s to the early 2000s.
Early years
Jarvis was born in Toronto, Ontario, the son of Margaret Biddulph (Scratche ...
as Police Chief Thatcher
* Alan Hewitt as Hewlett
*
Ramon Bieri
Ramon Arens Bieri (June 16, 1929 – May 27, 2001) was an American actor who starred in many films and TV shows.
Television work
Bieri starred as the title character in the NBC sitcom ''Joe's World'', from December 1979 to July 1980, playing ...
as Brown
*
John McLiam
John McLiam (born John Williams; January 24, 1918 – April 16, 1994) was a film and television actor noted for his skill at different accents. His film appearances include ''My Fair Lady'' (1964), ''In Cold Blood'' (1967), John Frankenheimer's ...
as Rev. Blauvelt
*
Don Keefer
Donald Hood Keefer (August 18, 1916 – September 7, 2014) was an American actor known for his versatility in performing comedic, as well as highly dramatic, roles. In an acting career that spanned more than 50 years, he appeared in hundreds of ...
as Dean George Cooper
*
Norman Burton
Norman Burton (December 5, 1923 – November 29, 2003) was an American actor. He was occasionally credited as Normann Burton.
Early life
Born in New York City, Burton was a student of the Actors Studio. After early work on stage, he broke in ...
as Coach McCurdy
*
John Zaremba
John Zaremba (October 22, 1908 – December 15, 1986) was an American actor most noted for supporting roles on science fiction films and television series.
The Chicago-born Zaremba was a journalist for the ''Grand Rapids Press'' and ''Chicago T ...
as President Tyler
* Ines Pedroza as Estella
* Linda Meiklejohn as Student
* David Ladd as Student
* Jose Brad as Student
* Henry Brown as Student
* Frank Alesia as Student
Soundtrack
The soundtrack album for the movie was released in the USA and Canada in 1970 on Bell Records (BELL 1203). The songs were written by
Barry De Vorzon
Barry De Vorzon (born July 31, 1934) is an American singer, songwriter, producer, and composer. His earliest hit compositions were "Just Married" (1958), written with Al Allen and recorded by Marty Robbins, which reached number 26 on ''Billboar ...
and Perry Botkin, Jr. except "We Don’t Know Where We’re Goin’", which they wrote with
Melanie
Melanie is a feminine given name derived from the Greek μελανία (melania), "blackness" and that from μέλας (melas), meaning "dark".