Beach Party (1963)

Director:

William Asher

Writer:

Lou Rusoff (writer)

Release Date:

7 August 1963 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Music | Musical | Romance

Tagline:

When 10,000 kids meet on 5,000 Beach Blankets ... something's bound to happen!

Plot:

The first of the five official American-International "Beach Party" movies, all directed by William Asher and all very popular...

Plot Keywords:

Stereotype | Song | Anthropologist | Singing | Older Man Younger Woman

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Robert Cummings	...	Prof. Robert 'Bob' Orwell Sutwell (as Bob Cummings)
Dorothy Malone	...	Marianne
Frankie Avalon	...	Frankie
Annette Funicello	...	Dolores / DeeDee
Morey Amsterdam	...	Cappy
Harvey Lembeck	...	Eric Von Zipper
Eva Six	...	Ava
John Ashley	...	Ken
Jody McCrea	...	Deadhead
Dick Dale	...	Himself (as Dick Dale and The Del Tones)
Andy Romano	...	J.D. (Rat Pack member)
Jerry Brutsche	...	Rat Pack member
Bob Harvey	...	Rat Pack member
John Macchia	...	Rat Pack member
Alberta Nelson	...	Rat Pack member

Runtime:

101 min | Germany:94 min (TV)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Pathécolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:S

Filming Locations:

Malibu, California, USA

Company:

Alta Vista Productions

Trivia:

Average Shot Length = ~7.1 seconds. Median Shot Length = ~6.4 seconds.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Sutwell succeeds in surfing, the long shots show him with his cap still on. In close-ups he is bareheaded.

Quotes:

Cappy: Just one thing, Professor, will you level with me? What's with the feather duster? The beard? You think it moves the chicks?
Prof. Robert O. Sutwell: No, it usually works the other way.
Cappy: I don't dig. You don't want to level with me?
Prof. Robert O. Sutwell: All right I'll level with you. When I first started out a Harvard, I was the youngest professor at the university. I was so young that it was sickening. No one took me seriously. Every time when I opened my mouth to speak, my students laughed, the other professors laughed...
[...]

Movie Connections:

References The Haunted Palace (1963)

Soundtrack:

Promise Me Anything (Give Me Love)

A Relic From A Bygone Era

This is a fun little film. Bob Cummings stars as a professor who has taken a beach house so that he can observe the sexual habits of the healthy young kids around him.

Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello--in her first feature other than her Disney films-- are young lovers looking for some fun at the beach.

Annette feels that Frankie is taking advantage of her, so she flurts with the professor to make Frankie jealous.

Also starring is Dorothy Malone in a worthless part that does little to enhance her career. (She is excellent in other films.)

This film is the beginning of the beach movie cycle that AIP made over the next few years. All in all, this film is good clean light comedy entertainment that gives us a look at Hollywoods' view of the early '60's on the California beaches.

The supporting charactors are fun, and Eric Von Zipper is a hoot in his Brando-like role as the leather-clad bad guy without a brain.

Vincent Price is seen as Big Daddy in a quick cameo with references to his then recent film (For AIP) The Pit And The Pendulum.

This film, and its spawns, are all worth a look at least once.