DVD available at Amazon.com
Beach Party
Director:
William Asher
Cast:
Bob Cummings….Prof. Robert Orwelll Sutwell
Dorothy Malone…Marianne
Frankie Avalon….Frankie
Annette Funicello….Dolores/DeeDee
Harvey Lembeck….Eric Von Zopper
Fox & MGM Home Video present Beach Party. Screenplay by Lou Rusoff. Running time: 102 minutes. Unrated. Theatrical release: August 7, 1963.
Muscle Beach Party
Director:
William Asher
Cast:
Frankie Avalon….Frankie
Annette Funicello….Dee Dee
Luciana Paluzzi….Julie
Don Rickles….Jack Fanny
Peter Lupus….Flex Martian
Buddy Hackett….S.Z. Matts
Fox & MGM Home Video present Muscle Beach Party. Screenplay by William Asher & Robert Dillon. Running time: 94 minutes. Unrated. Theatrical release: Mar. 25, 1964.
Bikini Beach
Director:
William Asher
Cast:
Frankie Avalon….Frankie & Potato Bug
Annette Funicello….Dee Dee
Don Rickles….Big Drag
Harvey Lembeck….Eric Von Zipper
Timothy Carey….South Dakota Slim
Keenan Wynn….Harvey Huntington Honeywagon III
Fox & MGM Home Video present Bikini Beach. Screenplay by William Asher, Leo Townsend & Robert Dillon. Running time: 99 minutes. Unrated. Theatrical release: July 22, 1964.
Ski Party
Director:
Alan Rafkin
Cast:
Frankie Avalon….Todd Armstrong
Dwayne Hickman….Craig Gamble
Deborah Walley….Linda Hughes
Yvonne Craig….Barbara Norris
James Brown….Himself
Annette Funicello….Prof. Sonya Roberts
Fox & MGM Home Video present Ski Party. Screenplay by Robert Kaufman. Running time: 90 minutes. Unrated. Theatrical release: June 30, 1965.
Beach Blanket Bingo
Director:
William Asher
Cast:
Frankie Avalon….Frankie
Annette Funicello….Dee Dee
Deborah Walley….Bonnie Graham
Harvey Lembeck….Eric Von Zipper
Linda Evans….Sugar Kane
Don Rickles….Big Drop
Paul Lynde….Bullets
Buster Keaton….Buster
Fox & MGM Home Video present Beach Blanket Bingo. Screenplay by William Asher & Leo Townsend. Running time: 98 minutes. Unrated. Theatrical release: April 14, 1965.
How to Stuff a Wild Bikini
Director:
William Asher
Cast:
Annette Funicello….Dee Dee
Dwayne Hickman….Ricky
Jody McCrea….Bonehead
Buster Keaton….Bwana
Mickey Rooney….Peachy Keane
Harvey Lembeck….Eric Von Zipper
Frankie Avalon….Frankie
Fox & MGM Home Video present How to Stuff a Wild Bikini. Screenplay by William Asher & Leo Townsend. Running time: 93 minutes. Unrated. Theatrical release: July 14. 1965.
Fireball 500
Director:
William Asher
Cast:
Frankie Avalon….Dave Owens
Annette Funicello….Jane Harris
Fabian….Sonny Leander Fox
Chill Wills….Big Jaw Harris
Harvey Lembeck….Charlie Bigg
Fox & MGM Home Video present Fireball 500. Screenplay by William Asher & Leo Townsend. Running time: 92 minutes. Unrated. Theatrical release: June 7, 1966.
Thunder Alley
Director:
Richard Rush
Cast:
Annette Funicello….Francie Madsen
Fabian….Tommy Callahan
Diane McBain….Annie Blaine
Warren Berlinger….Eddie Sands
Fox & MGM Home Video present Thunder Alley. Screenplay by Sy Salkowitz. Running time: 90 minutes. Unrated. Theatrical release: March 22, 1967.
Fox & MGM Home Video present Frankie & Annette MGM Movie Legends Collection. Eight movies on 4 flipper DVDs. DVD release: July 10, 2007.
The Movies
Are you ready to cruise down to the coast for good clean fun with the gang? Are you eager to break out a song at the drop of a surfboard? Do you prefer soda pop over a can of beer? Then it’s time to rev up your Woody and cruise to the beach to spend time with Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello. All their classic Beach Party films have been packaged together along with their road trip to the NASCAR turf.
This boxset is a bit mislabeled. Frankie & Annette were American International Pictures legends not MGM stars like Mickey Rooney & Judy Garland. AIP was the greatest indie film studio in America with their ability to create Drive-in epics. They didn’t make a movie, they immersed themselves in a genre. For three years, a former Mouseketeer and a teen singer from Philly as the King and Queen of the surf.
There are many theories as to why these movies were hits. Many perceive the lack of parental control on the screen made them appealing to teens. There was no heavy message being laid on the youth of America. It was fun in the sun with a slapstick adventure. Kids also flocked to buy tickets to enjoy a vicarious surfing vacation with the gang. Along with Frankie and Annette, the theater going kids hung out in the sand with John Ashley, Jody McCrea, Candy Johnson, Donna Loren and Deborah Walley. This must have been the dream gang for those lonely kids in Iowa that yearned to sniff the salty air of the Pacific Ocean. Perhaps those kids in Iowa dragged their parents to the theater to prove that a vacation in California wouldn’t be too hedonistic. The Beach Party gang were well behaved and didn’t even need chaparones. By the time the Iowa youth went west, California was full of drugs, orgies and satan worshipping. Instead of Eric Von Zipper and the Rats, these kids ran up against Charles Manson and the Hell’s Angels. The Beach Party films represent a simple time when hormones and morality stayed in check. Or maybe it represents a time that never truly existed.
Beach Party has Bob Cummings playing an anthropologist studying the social rituals of the modern teen. After he drops his academic beard, he loses his professional distance when it comes to Annette. As if it isn’t bad enough that he’s got to deal with a furious Frankie for stealing his girl, Bob has to face off with the dreaded Eric Von Zipper and his comic motorcycle gang. Even with Bob as the adult figure, he’s far from preaching to the kids about responsibility. But we do get a taste of religion when Dick Dale unleashes his surf guitar on the nation.
Muscle Beach Party lives up to its name by unloading a metric ton of beefcake into the rental next to the gang. A rich contessa arriveds in order to lust over Peter Lupus (soon to be a major star on Mission Impossible). However Mr. Galaxy’s guns aren’t enough next to Frankie’s lanky body. The film features Don Rickles and Buddy Hackett exchanging moments. It’s a shame this wasn’t an R Rated film so they could hit their Vegas stride. There’s always been the story that Annette only wore one piece bathing suits at the request of Walt Disney. But she does wear a revealing two piece bikini in Muscle Beach Party.
Bikini Beach has the American shoreline invaded by the Potato Bug. This is not a new form of locust. He’s a singing sensation from England. In case you don’t remember him, it was just Frankie Avalon in a Beatles wig. Supposedly Sam Arkoff had the Beatles lined up for the movie when Brian Epstein demanded more than AIP was paying. Shame we never got to see Ringo and Deadhead share the screen. As a worthy replacement, we’re treated to performances from Little Stevie Wonder. Another plot deals with Keenan Wynn proving that his ape can compete with the American teenager in surfing and drag racing. Cult hero Timothy Carey stars as South Dakota Slim, a man who knows how take care of business when he hooks up with Eric Von Zipper.
Beach Blanket Bingo allow Jody McCrea a chance to shine as he carries on an affair with Marta Kristen. She’s secretly a mermaid. Paul Lynde explodes across the frame as Bullets. He’s an agent getting plenty of press for his singing sensation client, Linda Evans. The star of Dynasty swings her stuff. After being part of the gang in the first three films, John Ashley is now a sky diving instructor with the hots for Annette. Once more Timothy Carey does the dirty work for Eric Von Zipper. This time he attempts the Sindley Whiplash sawmill slice and dice with one of the cast.
Ski Party has Frankie and Dwayne Hickman dressing up as women in order to score with girls at a ski resort. Annette has a small part in the film. Her screen time was taken over by Yvonne Craig, soon to be immortalized as Batgirl on Batman. The highlight of the film is James Brown declaring “I Got You” at the lodge. Ski Party ends at the beach, so were not completely denied of the surf and sand.
How To Stuff A Wild Bikini is considered the last of the Beach Party films. Frankie doesn’t share much screen time with Annette. He’s stuck on a tropical island completing his Naval reserve time. In order to make sure that Annette doesn’t get involved with anyone else, Frankie has a local witch doctor create a magical female to be the lust object for all the surfing horndogs. The main lusting lug for her is Eric Von Zipper. Even with such a powerful distraction, a young marketing executive (Dwayne Hickman) falls for the charms of Annette. The marketing suit is seeking the perfect teen couple by having a cross country motorcycle race. Annette spends most of the film hiding her stomach since she was knocked up. Frankie spends most of his screen with comedy icon Buster Keaton. Critics complain that AIP debased Keaton by using him in these mindless films. It’s not like the major studios were begging the comic legend to be in their A List films. Buster got to spend his days working with a bunch of scantily dressed young actresses. Isn’t that part of the reward for being a God of comedy?
Fireball 500 was AIP’s attempt to relocate their stars from the beach to the backwoods of North Carolina. This time Frankie is a NASCAR racer lured into running moonshine for Harvey Lembeck. Annette works at a track and becomes a love interest of Fabian. The film loses the carefree attitude. When Frankie and Harvey get into a fight, it’s no longer a comic tussle between him and Eric Von Zipper. Instead of the freezing finger, these two are out of blood. If you’re a fan of NASCAR, you’ll enjoy the vintage footage from the early days when Richard Petty was the King. Thunder Alley only has Annette in a pretty thankless support role. The star of this movie is Fabian. He wants to be a big time racer. But when he’s boxed in on the track, he wrecks. There’s an out of control party scene that seems to forecast AIP’s upcoming Wild Angels. These two films are a long way from the frolics on the beach.
For those who already picked up these titles a few years ago when they were released as part of the Midnite Movies Double Feature collection, there’s nothing new in the boxset. The seem to be the same transfers without any additional bonus features. There is one slight difference: When the original MMDF DVDs were released a few years back, somebody in MGM’s quality control allowed How to Stuff A Wild Bikini to be mastered in pan and scan. Thankfully this mistake wasn’t repeated.
What makes these films really stand apart from their imitators is the great lighting job done by director William Asher and his crew. He brings a glow to everyone on the screen. We’re not forced to stare at shadowy characters. Eric Von Zipper and South Dakota Slim don’t reek of darkness. These are movies that don’t have consequences nor leave traumatic cliffhangers for the next installment. Annette never ponders what she’d do if she’s knocked up. Frankie never deals with being hooked on drugs. All that matters is that they can break out in song and shake away the weight of the world. For those who expound about cinema as an outward expression of man’s struggle with pain in a soulless world, the Beach Party films won’t entertain you. These movies are for those craving a mindless time in a world where size of the waves determine the greatness of a day.
The DVD
VIDEO:
The picture is 2.35:1. The first six titles are merely letterboxed. Only Fireball 500 and Thunder Alley are anamorphic. The pictures are a little bit dirty near the changeover reels, but nothing too distracting. If you get too clean of a picture, the rear projection during the surfing scenese will look twice as absurd.
AUDIO:
The soundtrack is Dolby Digital Mono. You can hear Dick Dale’s guitar so clearly. And the bongos are sharp. The first six films only have English in Closed Caption with French and Spanish in subtitles. For Fireball 500 and Thunder Alley, the subtitles also include English.
EXTRAS:
Trailers. The only bonus feature is the original trailers that got the kids across the nation excited for another cinematic vacation with Frankie and Annette.
The Inside Pulse
Here’s a quick study guide to tell the Beach Party films apart:
Beach Party: Gang gets studied by an anthropologist.
Muscle Beach Party: Gang gets into trouble with body builders.
Bikini Beach: Gang gets into drag racing
Ski Party: Gang gets into skiing
Beach Party Bingo: Gang gets into skydiving.
How to Stuff a Wild Bikini: Gang gets into motorcycle racing.
Fireball 500: Gang gets into NASCAR.
Thunder Alley: No Frankie.
