I'm not a teenager from 1963 and definitely not overlapping with the original target audience, so being overly critical of this film feels a little wrong, or maybe like shooting fish in a barrel ... but there is just so much to groan about here. The jokes are lame and the music is poor. Frankie Avalon's character is unlikeable with all of his anger and shouting, and the leader of the motorcycle gang (40 year old Harvey Lembeck) is very, very painful to watch every time he's on the screen. The old guy (Bob Cummings) who is capturing video and audio of the sex habits of the kids on the beach also likens them to various "primitive tribes" several times, so he's both creepy and culturally condescending. 29 year old Jody McCrea is one of those kids and he doesn't do his father Joel proud, but then again the role of Deadhead didn't exactly have a lot to offer (some sample dialogue... Deadhead: Boy, this has been some night. Frankie: You can say that again. Deadhead: Boy, this has been some night. ...arrgh.).
Annette Funicello is engaging enough, but it's tough to watch her feel guilt and in the wrong for Avalon's behavior, which is capped off with her admonishment to herself in her song 'Treat Him Right'. The Lolita relationship she starts up with the old guy is weird as well, especially when she suddenly seems ready to have sex with him. It was fun seeing some of the kids dancing, but my favorite moment was Funicello literally turning green in the airplane scene. The film obviously tapped into something at the time since it spurred many films to follow, and it has some level of camp appeal, but for me it's not so-bad-it's-good, it's just bad.
Annette Funicello is engaging enough, but it's tough to watch her feel guilt and in the wrong for Avalon's behavior, which is capped off with her admonishment to herself in her song 'Treat Him Right'. The Lolita relationship she starts up with the old guy is weird as well, especially when she suddenly seems ready to have sex with him. It was fun seeing some of the kids dancing, but my favorite moment was Funicello literally turning green in the airplane scene. The film obviously tapped into something at the time since it spurred many films to follow, and it has some level of camp appeal, but for me it's not so-bad-it's-good, it's just bad.