September 29, 1965
Paramount
Comedy, Musical
VHS
C-
While no one is going to argue that the AIP Beach Party movies are brilliant, they are to one degree or another fun, and they shine in comparison to this knock-off. The leads, especially Edd Byrnes (32 and doing a bad job of passing for 20), are unsympathetic, and there aren't any minor characters to hold my interest. However, except for some moderate (for its time) sexism, the movie is pretty innocuous, and some of the music is good or at least interesting, as when the Supremes sing not one but two surf songs, including the title track. To balance that, the Hondells are again forgettable, and the songs that Edd allegedly writes for his friends, The Wigglers, have some of the most pathetic rhymes in pop music. (I swear one was "day" & "day"!) Oh, and the guys dress in drag at the end, with some of the ugliest wigs in recorded history.
Don Edmonds, who plays Bob, was Larry Neal in Gidget Goes Hawaiian. Chris Noel (Susan) and Gail Gilmore (Deborah) were both in Girl Happy. Aron Kincaid (Jack), Mikki Jamison (Augusta), Dick Miller (Cop #1), and Bill Sampson (no relation to the All About Eve character) all appear in Ski Party as well. Sid Haig, who is the drummer for the Righteous Brothers here, would have a scene-stealing role as Daddy (not Big or Little) in It's a Bikini World, while Jack Bernardi, who plays Mr. Wilk, would be in IaBW as Harvey Pulp. Larry Billman would dance in Live a Little, Love a Little as well as here.
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