Teens Frankie (Frankie Avalon) and Dolores (Annete Funicello) head out to the beach for what Frankie thinks is a secluded romantic getaway, only to learn upon arrival at the beach house Dolores has invited the whole "gang" to stay with them. Irked by Dolores misleading him, Frankie sets his sights on Ava (Eva Six) as a way of making Dolores jealous, while Delores responds in kind by setting her sights on the awkward Professor Sutwell (Bob Cummings) who's studying teenage subculture for a book.
Samuel Arkoff and Jim Nicholson, of American International Pictures, having attended Italy in 1962 to view some possible acquisitions came across a film about an older man who falls in love with with a young woman who spends all her time at a beach resort. While Arkoff and Nicholson didn't like the movie, they did like the setting and thought a teenage skewing film set on the beach would make for solid setting. When made the film became AIP's highest grossing film and helped to establish the short lived fad of beach party films released throughout the 60s. While successful in its initial release, Beach Party hasn't stood the test of time and really can only be enjoyed for camp appeal due to its stupid teenage melodrama and broad hackneyed humor.
I will say that the music in film is a solid collection of tunes including from Dick Dale and if you do like Surf Rock you'll find plenty to appreciate in the soundtrack. Aside from the music however most of the movie is just an excuse to get attractive people in swimsuits and give just enough plot to justify it and call it a "movie". I really don't care about any of these characters who alternate between surfing, dancing, or petty melodrama while spouting lingo that couldn't feel more forced if it were tied to a battering ram. I guess I kind of liked Bob Cummings as Professor Sutwell who does kind of give an awkward laid back charm to the performance and the movie is at least somewhat aware of itself as there's self-deprecating jokes aimed at AIP uttered at points in the film, but just because you acknowledge you're doing the bare minimum doesn't excuse it.
Beach Party is about as anemic as you can get with a movie like this. While there is some energy with the music and some of the performances, there's so little to this movie it's hard to find all that much to say about it. If you're only looking to see attractive people in swim trunks and bikinis frolic on the beach I guess this'll do, but you have to sit through a lot of meandering directionless plodding to get to it. How this film managed to create an entire subgenre of similar films probably should be a bigger shock to me, but given 80s sex comedies and the 90s TV show Baywatch this is just another link in a long chain of film's built on sex appeal with nothing else.
Samuel Arkoff and Jim Nicholson, of American International Pictures, having attended Italy in 1962 to view some possible acquisitions came across a film about an older man who falls in love with with a young woman who spends all her time at a beach resort. While Arkoff and Nicholson didn't like the movie, they did like the setting and thought a teenage skewing film set on the beach would make for solid setting. When made the film became AIP's highest grossing film and helped to establish the short lived fad of beach party films released throughout the 60s. While successful in its initial release, Beach Party hasn't stood the test of time and really can only be enjoyed for camp appeal due to its stupid teenage melodrama and broad hackneyed humor.
I will say that the music in film is a solid collection of tunes including from Dick Dale and if you do like Surf Rock you'll find plenty to appreciate in the soundtrack. Aside from the music however most of the movie is just an excuse to get attractive people in swimsuits and give just enough plot to justify it and call it a "movie". I really don't care about any of these characters who alternate between surfing, dancing, or petty melodrama while spouting lingo that couldn't feel more forced if it were tied to a battering ram. I guess I kind of liked Bob Cummings as Professor Sutwell who does kind of give an awkward laid back charm to the performance and the movie is at least somewhat aware of itself as there's self-deprecating jokes aimed at AIP uttered at points in the film, but just because you acknowledge you're doing the bare minimum doesn't excuse it.
Beach Party is about as anemic as you can get with a movie like this. While there is some energy with the music and some of the performances, there's so little to this movie it's hard to find all that much to say about it. If you're only looking to see attractive people in swim trunks and bikinis frolic on the beach I guess this'll do, but you have to sit through a lot of meandering directionless plodding to get to it. How this film managed to create an entire subgenre of similar films probably should be a bigger shock to me, but given 80s sex comedies and the 90s TV show Baywatch this is just another link in a long chain of film's built on sex appeal with nothing else.