It's a colorful southern California summer of 1963.
Swinging surfer Frankie Avalon (as Frankie) takes beautiful girlfriend Annette Funicello (as Dolores) to a beach shack for some house playing; but, the couple's teenage friends have already crashed the place. Soon, the fit young vacationers are in their tight swimsuits - singing, dancing, and romancing in the sand. They don't know it (yet), but anthropologist Robert Cummings (as Professor Sutwell) is peeping through his binoculars at the teenagers' "mating habits"; he and secretary Dorothy Malone (as Marianne) have arrived to study the sex lives of the younger set. The characters meet at Morey Amsterdam (as Cappy)'s beer joint, where Ms. Funicello develops interest in Mr. Cummings, after Mr. Avalon gets lewd with waitress Eva Six (as Ava). Harvey Lembeck (as Eric Von Zipper) and his motorcycle gang are around to cause even more friction, until Cummings gives "Zipper" the finger.
Director William Asher's first "Beach Party" is, while it doesn't contain the best writing of the series, a cut above the other films. The performances, led by Avalon and Funicello, are fresh and natural. Subsequent films, while they boast some individually entertaining elements, lack the spontaneity herein. There are also, you'll notice, details "toned down" over the course of the series. In this "Beach Party", bathing suits and camera angles seem tighter, and sexier, than usual. The music is perfect; appropriately, they chose Dick Dale and his Del-Tones to perform songs written by Gary Usher and Roger Christian. Funicello's double-tracked "Treat Him Nicely" (by Hemric-Styner) and Avalon's lascivious "Don't Stop Now" (by Marcucci-Faith) were great single songs, and should have been bigger hits.
Where else are you going to find Annette Funicello, in a hot pink two-piece, exclaim "Isn't it a hooting day!"
****** Beach Party (7/14/63) William Asher ~ Frankie Avalon, Annette Funicello, Robert Cummings, Dorothy Malone
Swinging surfer Frankie Avalon (as Frankie) takes beautiful girlfriend Annette Funicello (as Dolores) to a beach shack for some house playing; but, the couple's teenage friends have already crashed the place. Soon, the fit young vacationers are in their tight swimsuits - singing, dancing, and romancing in the sand. They don't know it (yet), but anthropologist Robert Cummings (as Professor Sutwell) is peeping through his binoculars at the teenagers' "mating habits"; he and secretary Dorothy Malone (as Marianne) have arrived to study the sex lives of the younger set. The characters meet at Morey Amsterdam (as Cappy)'s beer joint, where Ms. Funicello develops interest in Mr. Cummings, after Mr. Avalon gets lewd with waitress Eva Six (as Ava). Harvey Lembeck (as Eric Von Zipper) and his motorcycle gang are around to cause even more friction, until Cummings gives "Zipper" the finger.
Director William Asher's first "Beach Party" is, while it doesn't contain the best writing of the series, a cut above the other films. The performances, led by Avalon and Funicello, are fresh and natural. Subsequent films, while they boast some individually entertaining elements, lack the spontaneity herein. There are also, you'll notice, details "toned down" over the course of the series. In this "Beach Party", bathing suits and camera angles seem tighter, and sexier, than usual. The music is perfect; appropriately, they chose Dick Dale and his Del-Tones to perform songs written by Gary Usher and Roger Christian. Funicello's double-tracked "Treat Him Nicely" (by Hemric-Styner) and Avalon's lascivious "Don't Stop Now" (by Marcucci-Faith) were great single songs, and should have been bigger hits.
Where else are you going to find Annette Funicello, in a hot pink two-piece, exclaim "Isn't it a hooting day!"
****** Beach Party (7/14/63) William Asher ~ Frankie Avalon, Annette Funicello, Robert Cummings, Dorothy Malone