"Beach Blanket Bingo" is the best of the Frankie Avalon and Anette Funicello beach movies.
The surfers want nothing more in life than to kiss, hug, surf and disport themselves half-naked in peace.
This time around their serenity is shattered by sky-divers, a sleazy promoter with a new singer he's peddling (Linda Evans) and a mermaid (Marta Kristen, "Lost in Space").
The songs aren't important but they aren't egregious. The best belongs to Harvey Lembeck's Eric von Zipper and his Rats.
Paul Lynde, as the promoter, is extremely funny as usual. The cross-talk between Lynde and Lembeck, two comic pros, must be heard. Lynde rises far above his material. He's great.
As usual, pretty girls fill the background (such as Patti Chandler and Playboy's 1960s playmate Donna Michelle).
After this one, the beach movies went into a nose-dive. But one day set an afternoon apart to watch "Bikini Beach," "Beach Blanket Bingo" and "How to Stuff a Wild Bikini," with Dwayne Hickman replacing Avalon (Hickman and Avalon later went on to co-star in the cult classic buddy movie "Doctor Goldfoot and His Bikini Machine" with Vincent Price). A trilogy worthy of Eastwood "Dollars" trilogy. Right.
Oh, the legendary Buster Keaton gets a chuckle or two, but he's mostly wasted. But thirty-seven years after the Silent era he still moves his body wonderfully.
The surfers want nothing more in life than to kiss, hug, surf and disport themselves half-naked in peace.
This time around their serenity is shattered by sky-divers, a sleazy promoter with a new singer he's peddling (Linda Evans) and a mermaid (Marta Kristen, "Lost in Space").
The songs aren't important but they aren't egregious. The best belongs to Harvey Lembeck's Eric von Zipper and his Rats.
Paul Lynde, as the promoter, is extremely funny as usual. The cross-talk between Lynde and Lembeck, two comic pros, must be heard. Lynde rises far above his material. He's great.
As usual, pretty girls fill the background (such as Patti Chandler and Playboy's 1960s playmate Donna Michelle).
After this one, the beach movies went into a nose-dive. But one day set an afternoon apart to watch "Bikini Beach," "Beach Blanket Bingo" and "How to Stuff a Wild Bikini," with Dwayne Hickman replacing Avalon (Hickman and Avalon later went on to co-star in the cult classic buddy movie "Doctor Goldfoot and His Bikini Machine" with Vincent Price). A trilogy worthy of Eastwood "Dollars" trilogy. Right.
Oh, the legendary Buster Keaton gets a chuckle or two, but he's mostly wasted. But thirty-seven years after the Silent era he still moves his body wonderfully.