A Kiss Ain’t Just a Kiss

Each year, the Baja Ha-Ha rally’s Cabo San Lucas beach party ends with a guaranteed crowd-pleaser: the notorious From Here to Eternity kissing contest. The idea is to reenact the steamy — and once controversial — kissing scene between Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr from the blockbuster 1953 movie From Here To Eternity, which won eight Academy Awards. It’s a pretty juicy plot that culminates in Lancaster (playing First Sergeant Milton Warden) and Kerr (playing Karen Prewitt, the neglected wife of another G.I.) kissing passionately on the sands of Oahu, while the shorebreak washes over them. "I never knew it could be like this," Kerr says breathlessly. "Nobody ever kissed me the way you do."

Because that once universally famous black-and-white film was made 58 years ago, the number of Ha-Ha’ers who have actually seen it diminishes every year. But that doesn’t stop them from attempting to reenact the saucy scene. Although some couples artfully descend to a prone postion at the water’s edge while still locked in a loving embrace, others fail to realize that by romping out into waist-deep water, their horizontal make-out session will soon lead to gagging and flailing.

In any case, it’s all great fun — so much so, in fact, that it’s difficult for loving couples to resist competing. So if you think you may be doing the Ha-Ha next year, we suggest you polish up your moves ahead of time. Then, who knows? You might win, making Ha-Ha history and joining a long roster of passionate predecessors. By the way, dates for Baja Ha-Ha XIX have been set: October 28-November 3. Online registration will begin around May 1. In the meantime, look for our Ha-Ha XVIII recap in the December 1 edition of Latitude 38, which will be downloadable for free from anywhere in the world.