Summertime – the living is easy and so are the movies. Time to hit the drive-ins of yesteryear, places where the fun films of American International once reigned supreme. Take a device out onto the porch or collapse in the cool basement after a day in the sun. This summer, let's look at two films from AIP that go great with those long, hot days – and nights!!
Beach Party (1963)
Starring Bob Cummings, Dorothy Malone, Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello
Frankie (Avalon) and Dolores (Funicello) are taking a big step; they are heading to a shack on the beach for a romantic getaway together and alone. Frankie is enraged, though, when he discovers that Dolores has gotten cold feet and has secretly invited all their friends to join them. Next day, the boys hit the surf but Frank is still fuming and he and Dolores are not speaking. Frankie commiserates with his buds and they all agree that Frank needs to make Dolores jealous by making time with another girl. All the while, the fellas feel like they are being watched. And they are.
Professor Robert Orville Sutwell (Cummings) is an anthropologist and is writing a book on the sex habits of teenagers. He is ensconced in the neighbouring bungalow with video and audio equipment aimed at the kids. Helping him is his girl Friday, Marianne (Malone) who is sweet on Robert who remains oblivious. She teases Robert about his lack of practical knowledge of sex and love.
A biker gang lead by Eric Von Zipper (Harvey Lembeck) descends on the group and Zipper squares off against Sutwell. Frankie tries to make Dolores jealous with voluptuous barmaid, Ava (Eva Six) and Sutwell connects with Dolores and picks her brain on the thoughts and feelings of the kids. The gang finds out they are being spied on and get hostile but they join forces with the professor to do battle against Von Zipper and his gang. After a big brawl with the bikers, everything is resolved and everyone goes home happy. Natch.
I have spoken before in these pages of my love for American International Pictures. The story of how Samuel Z. Arkoff and James Nicholson made films that revolutionized the way Hollywood worked always thrills me. In 1963, they were just getting started on their trail blazing and unleashing to drive-ins their particular brand of "mass entertainment on a frankly escapist level".
One of their team in the early days was Lou Rusoff. Sam Arkoff was savvy in many ways; not the least of which was in his deciding to marry a Canadian. Sam's wife, the former Hilda Rusoff was one of ten children and Lou was her brother. He was born in Winnipeg and got his start working on Canadian radio and television before making the move to La La Land in 1950. He became AIP's go-to man for scripts and he churned out many; It Conquered the World, Girls in Prison, The She-Creature, Runaway Daughters, Dragstrip Girl, Hot Rod Gang and many others. After Arkoff and Nicholson decided to make a beach movie, they sent Lou on a gruelling assignment; hang out at the beach and study the young kids who hung out there. The script he came up with for Beach Party mirrored his own experience, then. Sadly, Lou Rusoff died of brain cancer while Beach Party was being edited.
Turns out it was agent Jack Gilardi who approached AIP with the idea of using Annette Funicello - married to Jack at the time - in pictures. Annette was still contractually bound to Walt Disney and Walt had a caveat that his little Mouseketeer could not appear in any film without approval and she could not appear onscreen in a bikini. Arkoff was finally able to convince Walt to allow 20-year-old Funicello to play a woman in a film and she was signed up for Beach Party. Fabian was first choice for the male lead but he was contracted to Fox so my man Frankie Avalon came on board and the youth stars - not exactly the most sun-bleached California couple - for the film were set. William Asher was tapped to direct. A prolific television director and a pioneer of the "look" of sitcoms in their infancy, Asher would continue to direct for the small screen and his feature film work was done mostly with AIP. He also directed Henry Silva in his star turn in the boss Johnny Cool, a film that features a sizzling performance by Elizabeth Montgomery who would be Mrs. William Asher from '63 to '73.
Chaperoning the proceedings are veteran and prolific actors Robert Cummings and Oscar-winner Dorothy Malone. Both are appealing and attractive and of course bring an engaging professionalism to the proceedings. There are many other notable faces to watch for and many that became part of AIP's stock company. These include John Ashley, Morey Amsterdam, Dick Dale, Mike Nader, dishy Valora Noland, knockout Playmate Delores Wells and legendary surfer Mickey Dora.
I mean, lookit this cool little Malibu pad
Wonderful set design, too - click to enlarge
I always have to couch my commentary on this type of film with the admission that obviously the movie is goofy - I mean, by their very definition, beach party movies are concerned only with kicks and broad comedy. "Stupid" you might say, dumbing it down, but Beach Party and many movies like it are not meant to be critiqued, they are meant to be enjoyed. And perhaps most of all they are meant to provide indelible images of another time and a forgotten way of life. When I watch these movies, I love to imagine myself back then, doing things like these kids do. Working their little jobs, saving their money for this one big blow-out. And I love to see the US west coast - the cars, the beach shacks, etc. - of the early 1960s.
And there is a decidedly high level of comfort to be gleaned from these films. Films that are not concerned with breaking new ground cinematically, pushing the storytelling envelope or with challenging you in any way leave you free to simply enjoy the movie, to love it and all it shows you. And what Beach Party and its progeny show you is an idealized life, free from crushing concerns and full of a hedonistic but innocent pursuit of pleasure. So, for those of us living This Vintage Life, these movies may be the greatest ever made in terms of pure, unencumbered bliss.
Beach Party cannot claim to be the very first beach movie to come out of Hollywood - Columbia had released two Gidget pictures by 1963 - but it did open the floodgates. With the success of the film, AIP opened another division and unleashed a flurry of beach party movies over the next few years, some with redeeming story elements and some - most - just mindless fun. But don't hate on these films. After all, when summer comes, most of us love to hit the beach for some of the same mindless fun.
Beach Blanket Bingo (1965)
Starring Frankie Avalon, Annette Funicello, Linda Evans, Deborah Walley, John Ashley and Don Rickles
The kids are back on the beach. In mid-frolic, they notice an airplane pulling a message that hips them to exciting young singer Sugar Kane (Evans). Next they see another plane from which a skydiver leaps, hurtling to the ground. The skydiver - turns out to be Sugar - lands in the water, gets in a jam and Frankie (Avalon) swims over to save her. They learn from her manager Bullets (Paul Lynde) that she is performing nightly nearby. This thrills the boys; and angers the girls.
The guys all decide they'd like to skydive, too and they head over to Big Drop's (Rickles). Working for Big Drop as skydiving instructors are Bonnie (Walley) and Steve (Ashley). Bonnie takes a shine to Frankie and this causes a beef between Frank and his girl, Dee Dee (Funicello). One of the gang, Bonehead (Jody McCrea), is not down with skydiving and instead stumbles on a mermaid (Marta Kristen) while surfing. Soon, biker Eric Von Zipper (Harvey Lembeck) and his gang show up again to cause trouble and to lay claim to pretty Sugar. He's not the only villain around, though. Pool shark South Dakota Slim (Timothy Carey) has ideas - and they're all vile. When he kidnaps Sugar, all the lovers' quarrels are put aside and the surfers go into rescue mode.
Beach Blanket Bingo was not the immediate follow-up to Beach Party (for a look at what was, check my review here of one of my original all-time favourite movies). In fact, it was the fifth film in the series - and the last real beach party romp with the old gang. AIP would come up with further beach and beach-type films but they were different animals from these first five classic movies.
This one stands out for a few reasons. First of all is the casting of 23-year-old Linda Evans. Evans had yet to make a splash with any of the work she had done by this point and that included only a handful of TV episodes. Beach Blanket Bingo was her third of only 9 feature films. She would soon though marry John Derek and later achieve stardom by playing Krystle Carrington on TV's Dynasty through the Eighties. Additionally and maybe less important to casual viewers is the fact that Jody McCrea (Joel's son) as Deadhead was given more to do with his own storyline that included a little more than just the usual idiocy - and he did it with pretty Marta Kristen of Norway who was about to get Lost in Space. Another highlight is bonkers Timothy Carey. Just about every line he delivers in his slow, dimwitted drawl is comical and his broad playacting - while decidedly lowbrow - is really fun to watch. I will throw in as another highlight the costume design as Frankie particularly is given some great shirts and one cool, lapel-less suit to wear. Don Rickles goes into Don Rickles, Vegas Comedian mode for a bit and the final feature of the film has to do with the songs.
Typically lightweight but charming is "I Think, You Think", a nice duet that Frankie and Dee Dee sing to each other on the beach. Not only do their two voices blend well but the lyric is actually clever and very sweet. Conversely, Avalon sings "These Are the Good Times", a song that is stunningly incongruous in a beach party film. Jerry Styner and Guy Hemric wrote many songs for these films and also did some work outside the genre - but not too far out and nothing notable. Frank puts in a majestic performance of this tune with lyrics that contain substance. It's just the idea that the song makes note of the fact that the kids are indeed in the prime of life and living the good times and how this suggests that there are challenges to come in the near future. It takes a moment amidst all the kicks and hedonism to be present and to appreciate where they are in their lives. It's actually quite dramatic especially considering the song is in the same movie as the idiotic "Follow Your Leader", written by the same two men. "These are the good times, while we are young. No chance untaken, no song unsung. These are the good times, life goes your way. Loving each moment of each new day. While the meadows are green, free as the wind are we. Sharing a dream, living our destiny..."
But next is the most perfect "beach party song". Donna Loren has no speaking lines in the film but she sings "It Only Hurts When I Cry" as the kids roast wieners by the fireplace. I have profiled Ms. Loren in these pages and I have had the honour of guesting on her podcast, Love's a Secret Weapon (you can hear that episode here). On the pod, I had a chance to thank her for this gem. It is not good "for a beach party song", it is good, period. Donna Loren holds a special place in my heart, as does this wonderful song. I spoke to her again recently via email and she was typically charming.
SuperCanopus
Where Donna sings this in the film brings me to the last stand-out element of Beach Blanket Bingo. It has to do with set design and maybe the greatest scene in all of film history. One of the main appealing facets of these escapist films is where these kids hang out. Not just the beach at Malibu itself but the bungalows. They are the perfect beach shacks, comfortable and filled with that great mid-century furniture many of us love to see and in Beach Blanket Bingo, it is the same again if a little more well-appointed. These movies were actually pretty chaste when it came to depicting relations between the sexes and they made a point to show the girls sleeping in separate quarters from the guys. In this film, the girls are up on a loft-type second floor - christened "Heaven's Above" - and this in itself is so cool to see.
As in "heaven is above"
Dig buddy chilling back there on the couch
And there is a scene that plays out here that is delightfully directed, well acted and cleverly written. The boys enter the house and declare that next day they are going to go skydiving and the girls respond that they are interested, too. "You girls are crazy!", says Butch, played by stalwart of the company Mike Nader (1945-2021) who would go on to feature extensively in soaps. "But you boys are gonna do it", replies Donna Michelle as Animal. Dropdead gorgeous Donna (1945-2004) was, at 18, Playboy's youngest ever Playmate of the Month in December of '63 and she dated Hugh Hefner for a time. When Frankie comes back with the fact that boys and girls are different Animal mentions slyly that she's noticed and she's glad. "Now, that's my kind of people", Frank says to the guys. Then Deadhead comes in with the classic come on "if you girls are so anxious to jump why don't you jump down here. I'll garrn'tee you a happy landing". Dee Dee chimes in stating she'd rather jump out of an airplane without a parachute and Frank wraps this great exchange with "either way you get to heaven!". A great bit of winking and flirting.
"Yeah, but boys are different"
"I've noticed - and I'm glad"
"Now, that's my kind of people"
One day, I'd like to offer an article on the beach party genre as a whole. They are the ultimate guilty pleasure and they have provided and will continue to provide literally years of viewing enjoyment particularly for those of us who like our entertainment best when it comes out of the past. And these films offer that most precious commodity - escapism. My family and I have watched these movies in the dead of summer as they go with hot weather like Frankie goes with Annette. But in my house there was often a beach party weekend in darkest February when you are just fed up with the freezing and the blowing snow. The fact that they are so very good at buoying the spirit at anytime of year or of life means we all should cherish them. Now, if only we could catch them at the drive-in on a hot August night...
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