Harvey Lembeck as Eric Von ZipperĪs mentioned above, I’ve not seen the other Beach Party movies and for the most part, I understood who was who so there’s really no need to see the other movies if you don’t want to. Mermaids apparently show up, there’s Germans in fur bikinis, how are they all linked? Better question, where the hell are we because I could believe mermaids in Southern California. If you’re going to throw in the ridiculous, introduce the world a bit better. Who are they in relation to the others? Not to mention the absurdity of some of these plots is just mindboggling. Don Rickles character Big Drop and Buster Keaton (oh Buster, really?) chasing a girl in a fur bikini is never discussed or focused on and yet the characters keep showing up at events. Sure the characters all know each other but these various plots seem to be contained to their own universe. There’s 18 different threads in this movie and instead of trying to connect them, and not make them all stand out like sore thumbs, the film just shoves them in. With the 1960s and the idea that teens were doing too many dirty things, the Beach Party movies are meant to present a chaste world where a kiss is as good as it gets and nothing can’t be solved by dancing on the beach, I get that! That doesn’t mean that the plot has to be stupid. I mentioned in that review that the film isn’t necessarily about surfing but about a teenage girl coming into her own, discovering her identity and her sexuality. There’s the story of Bonehead and his mermaid love, the biker gang beatnicks who plan to kidnap Sugar (and really that comes within the last 15 minutes of the movie), a love quadrangle between Frankie, Dee Dee, and two skydiving instructors (Deborah Walley and John Ashley), oh and don’t forget attempted murder! Yes, the last 10 minutes includes an attempted murder that is meant to be…funny….romantic….both?Ĭompared to this, Gidget is a masterpiece. After that we’re introduced to a motley assortment of characters who hijack the film and run off with it for the remaining runtime. The plot with Sugar Kane’s arrival and the establishment of Frankie and Dee Dee appears to be the core narrative, at least it is for the first 45 minutes of the film. I haven’t done a review where I truly rail on a film so if you enjoy the Beach Party films, or this film in particular, let me war you I plan to be vicious! To start, do any of those plot lines sound interesting on their own? Or do they seem to connect to each other or to the beach in any way? No, no they don’t! Beach Blanket Bingo is 98 minutes and I honestly believe the screenwriters wrote a sixty minute film and realized they had to make it longer. As Sugar Kane turns heads resident idiot Bonehead ( Jody McCrea) falls in love with a mermaid, the teens decide to learn how to skydive, and biker Eric Von Zipper (Harvey Lembeck) decides to kidnap Sugar for himself. I stand by my assertion that Gidget is the way to go if you’re looking for summer fun!ĭuring a day of summer fun, a loveable group of teens led by Frankie (Frankie Avalon) and Dee Dee (Annette Funicello), meet a rising singer known as Sugar Kane (Linda Evans) who is performing at the beach. It’s boring, convoluted, the acting is cheap, and at times I didn’t truly understand what this series said about women but it certainly isn’t praising them. Now, I haven’t seen the previous three entries but in just watching this on its own…boy is it bad. Well if that’s truly what you’re looking for then you’ll do well with the Beach Blanket Bingo, the fourth entry in the Frankie Avalon/ Annette Funicello Beach Party films. I mentioned in the previous review that I didn’t expect the story to enter such dark territory, I expected a wholesome, light family film. If you haven’t read my review of 1959’s Gidget do so here and then come back. I mentioned during my Gidget review that I was set to watch Beach Blanket Bingo in an effort to compare the two seminal “beach” movies.
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