Panama Sal

Wealthy philanderers Dennis P. Dennis, Peter Van Fleet II and Barrington C. Ashbrook spend their days and nights in the pursuit of wine, women and song. Dennis is to marry the equally rich Patricia Sheldon, a union mandated by their families, based on the exigency of merging corporate empires rather than love. Patricia, who disapproves of Dennis' profligacy, postpones their wedding for one month so that she can fly to Paris and have her wedding gown created by designer Henri Moray. With a one-month reprieve before Dennis is to enter the shackles of matrimony, he and his friends fly off to South America. When their plane runs out of gas, they are forced to crash in the jungles of Panama, where they are found by a native who transports them into town on his mule cart. The three playboys are immediately drawn to the village dive where fiery singer Sal Regan is performing. Sal's raw talent impresses Dennis, who imagines remaking her into a refined, sultry performer. Later, in her dressing room, Sal finds Latin playboy Manuel Ortego waiting to proposition her and throws him out. At the bar, Dennis toasts Sal, and after mentioning that he owns a record company, offers to take her back to California to make her rich and famous. Although the hardened, tough-talking Sal dismisses Dennis as a bored, rich playboy, she tosses a quarter to determine whether she will go with him or stay in Panama. When the coin falls in Dennis' favor, Sal flies back to California with the three friends, after which Dennis installs her in a Beverly Hills apartment. Seeing an opportunity to break up Dennis and Patricia, thus allowing Dennis to continue his carefree life as a playboy, Peter and Barry fabricate a facsimile of the local gossip column and pepper it with stories about Dennis and Sal, which they forward to Patricia in Paris. Sal resents Dennis' attempts to transform her into something she is not, and when he shows her the photo gallery of his "trophy" girlfriends, suggesting that she make herself up to look like them, she angrily threatens to return to Panama. Peter and Barry convince her to stay by arguing that the immature Dennis needs someone to stand up to him. Later, Ortego visits Sal at her apartment and threatens to kill Dennis unless she returns to Panama with him. When Dennis comes to the apartment and finds Sal packing her suitcase, Ortego strides into the room and announces that Sal is leaving with him. The two men argue, and while wrestling for control of the suitcase, accidentally knock down Sal. Dennis then proposes that they settle the issue with a wager: If he succeeds in making Sal a star within two weeks, she chooses which man she wants to be with; if he fails, she goes back to Panama with Ortego. In Paris, meanwhile, after Patricia reads the gossip columns about Sal and Dennis, she strikes up a romance with Moray. Sal's debut is scheduled to take place at the Bandolero Club, and with only three days left before opening night, Ortego comes to remind Dennis that time is running out. Their conference ends in a three-way slug fist-fight among Dennis, Ortego and Sal. On the night of Sal's debut, Dennis jealously questions Sal about her relationship with Ortego, angering Sal, who throws him out of her dressing room. As they await Sal's performance, Peter and Barry inform Dennis that Patricia is scheduled to arrive home that night and is expecting him to pick her up at the airport. Sal then takes the stage, and with her softened makeup, sophisticated gown and sultry style, is a hit with the audience. Upon returning to Dennis' house after the show, Sal admits that he was right about her image and tells him she wants to stay with him. Just then Patricia enters, accompanied by Moray, haughtily announces that Dennis is her fiancé, insults Sal and begins throwing things at Dennis' photo gallery. After Patricia announces that she plans to marry Moray, Sal, feeling betrayed and humiliated by Dennis, storms out. Hurrying to Sal's apartment, Dennis discovers from the landlady that Sal has left for Panama. Some time later, at the village dive, Ortego earnestly proposes to Sal. When she retires to her dressing room and closes the door, she hears a crash, and upon looking outside, sees Dennis fighting with Ortego. Dennis then apologizes and after he proposes to Sal, she accepts.