Beach Party

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Beach Party
Original film poster
Directed by	William Asher
Produced by	Executive producer: Samuel Z. Arkoff Associate producer: Robert Dillon Producer: James H. Nicholson Lou Rusoff
Written by	Lou Rusoff
Starring	Robert Cummings Dorothy Malone Frankie Avalon Annette Funicello Morey Amsterdam
Music by	Les Baxter
Cinematography	Kay Norton
Editing by	Homer Powell
Distributed by	American International Pictures (AIP)
Release date(s)	July 14, 1963
Running time	101 min.
Country	U.S.A.
Language	English
Budget	US$350,000
Followed by	Muscle Beach Party
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Beach Party (1963) was the first of the Beach Party films, aimed at a teen audience. It was directed by William Asher and written by Lou Rusoff. The main actors included Robert Cummings, Dorothy Malone, Frankie Avalon, and Annette Funicello.

There are arguably two surf movie genres. The first type would be the sporting documentary pioneered by Bud Browne (e.g. Hawaiian Holiday) in the 1940s and early 1950s, later popularized by Bruce Brown (e.g. The Endless Summer) in the late 1950s and early 1960s, then later perfected by Greg MacGillivray and Jim Freeman (e.g. Five Summer Stories) in the 1970s and beyond.

The second type would be the campy entertainment feature, also termed "beach party films" or "surfploitation flicks" by true surfers, having little to do with the authentic sport and culture of surfing and representing movies that attempted to cash in on the growing popularity of surfing among youth in the early 1960s, pioneered by the Gidget series.

1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Trivia
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Plot

The plot kicks off with an anthropologist, Professor Robert Orwell Sutwell (Robert Cummings) secretly studying the wild mating habits of jobless Southern California teenagers that hang out at the beach and use strange surfing jargon. After he temporarily paralyzes Eric Von Zipper (Harvey Lembeck), the leader of the local outlaw motorcycle gang, who was making unwanted advances on buxom beach bunny Delores (Annette Funicello), Delores develops a crush on the Professor. Of course her surfing boyfriend Frankie (Frankie Avalon), the local Big Kahuna, becomes jealous and begins flirting with Ava, a foreign waitress who is even more buxom than his girlfriend. In the words of Deadhead (Jody McCrea), "She's got everything!" Meanwhile Marianne (Dorothy Malone) is also developing a crush on the Professor. Also, to top it all off, Ava develops a thing for Von Zipper. Will true love triumph?

[edit] Cast

Robert Cummings as Prof. Robert 'Bob' Orwell Sutwell (as Bob Cummings)
Dorothy Malone as Marianne
Frankie Avalon as Frankie
Annette Funicello as Dolores/DeeDee
Morey Amsterdam as Cappy
Harvey Lembeck as Eric Von Zipper
Eva Six as Ava
John Ashley as Ken
Jody McCrea as Deadhead
Dick Dale as Himself (as Dick Dale and The Del Tones)
Andy Romano as J.D. (Rat Pack member)
Jerry Brutsche as Rat Pack member
Bob Harvey as Rat Pack member
John Macchia as Rat Pack member
Alberta Nelson as Rat Pack member
Linda Rogers as Rat Pack member
David Landfield as Ed
Bob Payne as Tom (as Bobby Payne)
Pam Colbert as Surfer
Delores Wells as Sue
Johnny Fain as Surfer (as John Fain)
Valora Noland as Rhonda
Meredith MacRae as Beach girl
John Beach as Beach boy
Lorrie Summers as Lorie Summers
Roger Bacon as Tour guide
Luree Holmes as Luree Nicholson
Michael Nader as Beach boy (as Mike Nader)
Laura Nicholson as Beach girl
Mickey Dora as Beach boy
Donna Russell as Surfer
Ed Garner as Surfer (as Eddie Garner)
Candy Johnson as Perpetual motion dancer
Vincent Price as Big Daddy

[edit] Trivia

Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines.
The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

Beach Party was intended as a low-budget parody of Elvis Presley's musical movies, but soon spawned into something more, making significantly more money than the studio expected. Six more films in the "Beach Party film" series were produced over the next few years.

The film introduced a running gag throughout most of the rest of the series, when Eric Von Zipper (Harvey Lembeck) learns a special nerve touch to the head that puts a person into a frozen trance that he calls "giving someone the finger". Unfortunately for Von Zipper, the only person to whom he seems able to give the finger is himself. The gag is not used in Muscle Beach Party because Von Zipper and his gang do not appear in the film.

AIP did not feel that Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello had enough "star power" to get top billing for a motion picture, so they gave Robert Cummings and Dorothy Malone top billing. By the next film, Muscle Beach Party, however, Frankie and Annette were the top billed stars.

Annette Funicello was still under contract to Walt Disney Productions in 1963 and Disney's lawyers threatened to sue American International Pictures (AIP) if their now voluptuous star appeared in Beach Party in a bikini. AIP capitulated — an unimaginable act for the company prior to this, before the stakes were raised. Annette would not only not wear a bikini in the film, she would spend a surprising amount of her screen time repressing the sexuality of the other kids, an odd angle indeed for the once exuberantly permissive and exploitative AIP.

It was deemed "Sleeper of the year" by the Motion Picture Exhibitor magazine.

There is a blooper in the film of the airplane flying sequence at night. While the plane is flying upside down, the registration numbers on the fuselage are in reverse (mirror image).

[edit] References

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