Another surf-and-sand-and-teenagers episode from American International where, once again, Dee Dee (Annette Funicello) and Frankie (Frankie Avalon) supply the romance and the songs.
Frankie’s rival for Dee Dee’s affection this time is the Potato Bug (also Frankie Avalon, with a wig and a twin-neck guitar, and some eccentric characterisation from British comedian Terry-Thomas), a British singing sensation and drag strip racer whose resemblance to The Beatles was undoubtedly purely intentional.
When Potato Bug’s singing makes the beach girls scream, the “real” Avalon grouses: “They’ve all gone ‘Beatle’ over a Potato Bug!” He barks at Dee Dee: “Don’t tell me you’ve flipped over that crumpet eater?” When one oldster who spots Potato Bug exclaims, “What is that?” another replies, “England’s revenge for the Boston Tea Party.”
Before Frankie and Potato can come to a big showdown (with Ronnie Dayton standing in as Potato Bug when the two have to appear together), stuffy millionaire Harvey Huntington Honeywagon III (Keenan Wynn) – who drives around in a Rolls and wants to prove his pet chimpanzee is as intelligent as teenagers – almost snaps up the kids’ drag strip for an addition to his senior citizens seaside retirement village.
On hand to defend the young people is glamorous schoolteacher Vivien Clements (Martha Hyer). Don Rickles is particularly good as “Big Drag” – the owner of the kids’ hangout, ‘Big Drag’s Pit Stop’ – overplaying a role that predates his rise to fame on television.
He paints Jackson Pollock-esque modern art, which catches the eye of an art dealer, played by the famed horror movie star Boris Karloff.
The cast also includes Harvey Lembeck, John Ashley and Delores Wells, and features music from Donna Loren, Little Stevie Wonder, The Exciters and The Pyramids (who take to the stage in Beatle wigs and remove them to reveal bald heads).
The lively, fast-moving film culminates in a silent-comedy-style chase and a big, boisterous brawl.
Dee Dee
Annette Funicello Frankie/Peter Royce Bentley/Potato Bug
Frankie Avalon Vivien Clements
Martha Hyer Harvey Huntington Honeywagon III
Keenan Wynn Big Drag
Don Rickles Eric Von Zipper
Harvey Lembeck Johnny
John Ashley Deadhead
Jody McCrea Candy
Candy Johnson Lady Bug
Danielle Aubry Animal
Meredith MacRae Sniffles
Delores Wells Donna
Donna Loren Little Stevie Wonder
Himself The Exciters
Themselves The Pyramids
Themselves South Dakota Slim
Timothy Carey Teenage Werewolf Monster
Val Warren Clyde
Janos Prohaska Potato Bug (double)
Ronnie Dayton Art Dealer
Boris Karloff Rat Pack
Alberta Nelson
Linda Rogers
John Macchia
Bob Harvey
Andy Romano
Jerry Brutsche
Allen Fife
Director
William Asher
Video
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Dee Dee
