Beach Blanket Bingo (1965) – Frankie (Avalon), Dee Dee (Funicello) and the gang have to deal with a pretty pop star (Evans) and her publicity crazed manager (Lynde), a mermaid, Eric von Zipper and the Rats motorcycle gang, plus the usual spats and jealousy. All while hanging out at the beach, surfing and singing a few songs.
Directed by William Asher Starring – Frankie Avalon, Annette Funicello, Don Rickles, Paul Lynde, Linda Evans
There are no movies more evocative of the early ’60s beach and youth culture than Frankie and Annette’s beach movies. The series is usually simply referred to as the “Beach Blanket Bingo movies”, even though this is the fourth one. It’s also arguably the best of the batch.
“Best” is a relative term. You won’t find great acting, writing, dialogue, or direction here. It’s all fun and frothy silliness. The singing is pretty good for pop music aimed at the teeny bopper audience. Director William Asher handles it all with a light touch. His background was primarily television (“I Love Lucy”, “Patty Duke Show”, “Gidget”, “Bewitched”), and that’s the feel for the movies. He directed all five, from “Beach Party” to “How To Stuff A Wild Bikini”. None of them will ever appear on a greatest films list, but they were and are great fun.
Filled with bikini clad girls and clean cut boys, there’s a very All-American vibe going on. Given the time, it’s an all white, rather male chauvinist world. Give Annette’s Dee Dee credit, when Frankie gets dumb, she pushes back and does what she wants. The comedy is pure slapstick, featuring silent film icon Buster Keaton.
Some great supporting cast here. Don Rickles plays the owner of the local dance club, and does a toned down version of his club act. He gets after Frankie pretty good. Paul Lynde is fun as the manager, again, just doing his Paul Lynde character. Linda Evans appears in only her third movie, and does a better job of lip syncing her songs than Avalon does.
Beyond that it’s the usual gang. Bonehead gets a romance sub-plot and the comic bad guy once again is Harvey Lembeck’s von Zipper. There’s never been a character quite like him, before or since.
Why You Will Like It – It’s silly fun from a more innocent time.
Rating – *** Worth A Look
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