On B List of Movie Reviews

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Beach Party (1963)

Rate: 5
Viewed: 12/16

BeachP
12/16: The first of seven beach party films from American International Pictures that was a surprise box-office hit, Beach Party is influential for creating the aforementioned genre.

The company had to borrow Annette Funicello from Disney because she was under contract. Instead of Fabian, Frankie Avalon was cast alongside her. As a result, the beach party film craze began, and they hadn't looked back since then. Partly corny and partly funny, Beach Party is somewhat enjoyable, but I have to admit, it's mostly dated which has some good stuff while the story works.

The funniest and the stupidest is Harvey Lembeck's Edward Von Zipper who's a spoof of Marlon Brando's character from The Wild One. Von Zipper could've become a star of his own show. A revival of what he did will occur in two Eastwood's orangutan comedy pictures: Every Which Way But Loose and Any Which Way You Can.

Bob Cummings isn't bad whose character is better than the one played by Frankie Avalon. But it's clear that Annette is too dumb for him. By the way, when she criticized his (fake) beard, I was going to say her hair looked hideous.

Dorothy Malone stars, and believe it or not, she actually won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for Written on the Wind, a Douglas Sirk soapfest tearjerker. Although Jody McCrea didn't star in many films, he was Joel McCrea's son, and his resemblance to his father is uncanny. Vincent Price makes a cameo appearance at the end as the sleeping man with a large hat over his head.

If you stay to the end, you'll see Candy Johnson's electric dance and a reminder to be on the lookout for Vincent Price's upcoming film: The Haunted Palace. By the way, looking at the movie poster, um...what 10,000 kids?

All in all, Beach Party may be dated, but this is the original that started it all.