For my second beach movie
review, I picked what I think is the best of the Frankie and Annette
beach-party musicals, Beach Blanket Bingo:
BEACH BLANKET BINGO (1965)
Frankie Avalon (Frankie),
Annette Funicello (Dee Dee), Deborah
Walley (Bonnie Graham), Harvey
Lembeck (Eric Von Zipper), John
Ashley (Steve Gordon), Jody McCrea (Bonehead), Donna Loren (Donna), Marta Kristen (Lorelei), Linda Evans (Sugar Kane), Timothy Carey (South Dakota Slim), Don Rickles (Big Drop), Paul Lynde (Bullets), Buster Keaton (Himself), Earl Wilson (Himself), Bobbi Shaw (Bobbi), Donna Michelle (Animal), Mike Nader (Butch), Patti Chandler (Patti), Andy Romano, Alan Fife, Jerry
Brutsche, John Macchia, Bob Harvey, Alberta Nelson, Myrna Ross (Rat Pack), Ed Garner, Guy Hemric, Duane
Ament, Ray Atkinson, Brian Wilson, Mickey Dora, Ned Wynn, Frank Alesia, Phil
Henderson, Johnny Fain, Ronnie Dayton (Beach
Boys), Linda Benson, Mary Hughes, Salli Sachse, Linda Merrill, Luree
Holmes, Laura Nicholson, Linda Bent, Chris Cranston, Mary Sturdevant, Judy
Lescher, Pat Bryton, Pam Colbert, Dessica Giles, Stephanie Nader, Jo Ann Zerfas
(Beach Girls). Guest stars: The Hondells.
In the immortal words of Eric
Von Zipper, Beach Blanket Bingo is
“nifty.†It is the best, the zaniest,
the quirkiest, and most fondly remembered of the Frankie and Annette
fun-in-the-sun teenage epics.
Admittedly, the story centering on Dee Dee proving to Frankie that girls
can sky dive as well as boys while vying for him with a redheaded tease,
Bonehead falling in love with a mermaid, and a beautiful singer kidnapped by
Von Zipper’s biker gang is far-fetched.
But it contains some very funny lines mostly delivered by Don Rickles as
Big Drop and Paul Lynde as an acid-tongued press agent whose verbal sparring
with Avalon is one of the movie’s highlights.
Lots of colorful beach scenes are intermingled with stock sky diving
shots. All your AIP favorite stars are
here, the songs are bouncy and light, an array of guest comics provides some of
the series’ funniest moments, and a bevy of beautiful blondes enhance the
action.
Frankie delivers one of his most
amusing performances but poor Annette who proved she could act in Muscle Beach Party really has nothing
much to do, as her character seems resigned to the fact that her boyfriend has
a roving eye. Deborah Walley, usually
cast as the good girl, surprises as a vixen who uses Frankie to make her
boyfriend John Ashley jealous. Jody
McCrea finally gets to stretch his acting muscle as Bonehead and his scenes
with Marta Kristen (Judy Robinson on Lost
in Space) as a mermaid are touching and bittersweet. Linda Evans is darling as the naïve Sugar
Kane and stands out whenever she dons a bikini.
It is these two sexy blondes along with Playboy Playmate Donna Michelle
as man-hungry Animal and the rest of the bikini-clad beach girls that make Beach Blanket Bingo a winner with girl
watchers. For boy watchers it is the
same old crew but at least shirtless surfer boys Mike Nader and Johnny Fain get
lots more screen time and even raise an eyebrow or two when Nader inserts a
frankfurter into the eager waiting mouth of Fain while Donna Loren sings about
an unrequited love. Scenes like that
make me want to go hmmmmmmmm.
Another big plus for Beach Blanket Bingo is the music
score. The songs are some of the best
from the series beginning with the title song—the grandest opening number of
all the beach-party movies. The up tempo
tune is sung in such a light and bouncy manner by Frankie and Annette that you
can’t but help want to jump to your feet and dance along. They also do well with their second duet, the
popular “I Think, You Think.†Pretty
Donna Loren expertly belts out the heart wrenching “It Only Hurts When I Cry†and
The Hondells rock out on “The Cycle
Set.†Every beach-party movie has one clunker
and in Beach Blanket Bingo it is
“These Are the Good Times†crooned by Avalon as if it were 1950 rather than
1965.
On the down side, as with
most of the beach-party movies, Beach
Blanket Bingo does not do surfers any justice and doesn’t even bother to
insert any stock surfing footage. The
other wrong note in the film is John Ashley.
After playing Frankie’s buddy Johnny in Beach Party, Muscle Beach
Party, and Bikini Beach,
his being cast as Avalon’s jealous rival Steve throws off the continuity of the
series. But despite its minor flaws, Beach Blanket Bingo is the apex of the
beach movie genre. However, little did
anyone know at the time that this would be the last beach pairing of Frankie
and Annette (Frankie only makes a cameo appearance in the next film, How to Stuff a Wild Bikini). Thankfully, Beach Blanket Bingo (as well as all the AIP beach movies) is
available on DVD and turn up frequently on Turner Classic Movies.
For more about me and my
books, visit my web site www.sixtiescinema.com.
- Tom Lisanti
CLICK HERE TO ORDER THIS DVD FROM THE CINEMA RETRO AMAZON STORE
CLICK HERE TO ORDER THE FRANKIE AND ANNETTE MOVIE COLLECTION DVD SET