Beach Party (1963)

“It’s what happens when 10,000 kids meet on 5,000 Beach Blankets!”

An anthropologist studying the sex habits of young people finds himself in the middle of a pie-throwing brawl.

The first and most famous of the Beach Movies is something of a curiosity for the inclusion of Dick Dale and the Del-Tones who sang the title tune for A Swingin’ Affair earlier in the year.

Dale was the beach bum who played guitar and surfed on his own but finally rose to fame 32 years later with the hit soundtrack for Pulp Fiction (1994).

Beach Party was a bold departure for American-International, featuring some famous (and talented) actors, and being shot in flaming colour. The budget was also considerably larger than anything they had done in the black and white/leather jacket days with movies such as Dragstrip Girl.

Frankie Avalon subsequently got the sand between his toes in Muscle Beach Party (1964), Bikini Beach (1964), Beach Blanket Bingo (1965) and How to Stuff a Wild Bikini (1965).

Corny they may have been, but the Beach Party movie franchise kept Frankie out of music-making mischief for much of the 1960s.

The surfer kids also put on their clothes for Ski Party (1965), featuring Lesley Gore, James Brown and The Hondells.

Professor Sutwell
Bob Cummings
Marianne
Dorothy Malone
Frankie
Frankie Avalon
Dolores
Annette Funicello
Ava
Eva Six
Eric Von Zipper
Harvey Lembeck
Deadhead
Jody McCrea
Cappy
Morey Amsterdam
Ken
John Ashley
Rhonda
Valora Noland
Tom
Bobby Payne
J.D.
Andy Romano
Ed
David Landfield
The Ratz
Jerry Brutsche
Bob Harvey
John Macchia
The Mice
Alberta Nelson
Linda Rogers
Dick Dale and the Del Tones
Themselves

Director
William Asher

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