Clambake

Clambake
December 4, 1967
United Artists
Musical, Comedy, Romance
VHS
C+

I'd put this on a level with Girl Happy, which was also set in Florida and had Elvis romancing Shelley Fabares.  Here she has very dark hair, which is as odd as Bill Bixby being blond, although he plays his usual playboy.  Both Elvis's and Bill's characters are rich, but Elvis has switched identities with Will Hutchins in order to see if he can get a girl who doesn't care about money.  So he romances Shelley, who's playing a gold-digger.  Well, logic is never a strong point in Elvis movies.  The music, when it's not too silly ("Claaaambake, gonna have a clambake!"), is pretty good, especially Elvis's rendition of the oft covered "You Don't Know Me."  But the movie is most interesting for its cast, including Gary Merrill looking out of place but making the best of things.

Yes, that's Hal "mmmyes" Peary as the doorman, but I think this is the only one of his movies I have.  Christopher Riordan plays "a beach boy," as he did at AIP.  Lee Krieger, who's the bartender, was in Beach Ball.  Suzie Kaye, as Sally, isn't given much to do compared to her role as Deborah Walley's friend in It's a Bikini World.  This time, Elvis's friend Red West plays the Ice Cream Vendor.  Elvis's other friend Joe Esposito has a bit part.  Teri Garr supposedly is in this, but I couldn't spot her.  (I also failed to recognize Corbin Bernsen as one of the kids at the playground.)

Charlie Hodge, who plays Mr. Hayward's barber, would be a guitarist in Speedway.  Arlene Charles, who had a bit role in Spinout and plays Olive here, would also show up in Speedway.  Dal McKennon, who plays the Bearded Gas Station Attendant, would be the Old Soldier in Did You Hear the One About the Traveling Saleslady?  Angelique Pettyjohn, who plays Gloria, was in The Cool Ones and would be in Where Were You When the Lights Went Out? Robert P. Lieb, Mr. Barasch here, would be Rayfield in The Love God?*  The LG? would also have New-York-born James Gregory (probably best known for his appearances on Barney Miller), who's never quite convincing here as Elvis's Texan daddy.


*If you're noticing an increasing tendency towards titles that are long and/or questions as the '60s go on, you're correct, but I'll talk about that when we get to '68.

It's a Bikini World

It's a Bikini World
April 14, 1967
Trans American
Comedy, Musical, Romance
VHS
B-

Although this was made a year and a half before it was released, it doesn't feel as dated as The Cool Ones.  I attribute this to some degree to writer/director Stephanie Rothman.  She must be at least partially responsible for the more feminist than usual take on the "battle of the sexes," with Deborah Walley allowed to not only combine her usually alternating tomboy and glamorous personae but also holding her own in the athletic contests against the partially cast against type Tommy Kirk as a conceited jock.  They're named Delilah Dawes and Mike Samson respectively.  Get it, Delilah and Samson?  She doesn't emasculate him, or cut his hair.  Instead, he tricks her into thinking he's his nerdy brother Herbert.  (It's a geekier character than Kirk's Merlin Jones, although still within his usual range.  One of his outfits clearly looks like it inspired Peewee Herman's gray suit.)

Another notable thing about the movie is its cartoony style, visual and otherwise.  Not only are there moments that become cartoons-- either changed to drawings and/or featuring speech bubbles-- but there are times when the action is sped up.  When a glass pane is run through without shattering and then rematerializes and breaks, it could be an AIP moment, but Rothman does it with a different feel.  And, while I said I don't like racing movies, I meant stock-car racing.  I enjoy the wackiness of the "cross-country race" that includes not just skateboarding, speed-boating, and swimming (22 miles!), but camel-riding, hitchhiking, and of course dresser-pushing.

There are also some offbeat lines, most notably those of Sid Haig as promoter Daddy.  (Another take on Ed "Big Daddy" Roth.)  My favorites are "Greetings, surfers, hodads, gremmies, and independents," "Fuschia #1, Fuschia #2, or Fuschia #3?  Also known as Groovy Grape," and, after Delilah is unimpressed to have won decals, "And of course the admiration of us all."  Jack Bernardi, who plays the publisher Harvey Pulp (ha ha) was also in Beach Ball.  I don't think I've seen William O'Connell in anything else, but I like how he plays McSnigg the photographer likes he's Dick York's less inhibited brother.  Suzie Kaye, who's Pebbles here, would be Sally in Clambake.  And, yes, that's Bobby "Monster Mash" Pickett as Woody.  Jim Begg again doesn't have much to do, but he does wear his "Crayola hat" from Catalina Caper.  (I'll get to that when I do MST3K on my TV blog someday.)  Russell Johnson appears briefly in an Attack of the Crab Monsters clip.

And, finally, there are the musical acts, ranging from the Animals doing "We Gotta Get out of This Place" to another band singing such juvenile lines as "Liar, liar, pants on fire, your nose is longer than a telephone wire," while yet another band manages the "Yummy Yummy Yummy, I've got love in my tummy" trick of bringing out suggestiveness in a song that compares love to peanut butter and jam.

I have a soft spot for this movie, but I must admit it's not as much sheer fun as The Cool Ones.  (With this one, you can catch your breath between the WTF moments.)  Still, I'd put it on a level with Beach Party and Beach Blanket Bingo.  Some say that this was the last gasp for the '60s beach movies, but I say that in some ways it remained a bikini world.