One of the wrost movies I have ever seen

Don't Believe the Hype

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

In the fourth of the highly successful Frankie and Annette beach party movies, a motorcycle gang led by Eric Von Zipper kidnaps singing star Sugar Kane managed by Bullets, who hires sky-diving surfers Steve and Bonnie from Big Drop for a publicity stunt. With the usual gang of kids and a mermaid named Lorelei. The people who put this one together really knew what they were doing. Even if you are not a beach movie fan, you will be entertained by all this legendary film has to offer. I would suggest renting it, or perhaps buying it if the price is right. My final rating for this movie is 7 out of 10, and it really deserves it!

I could never get into the sun and surf films of the Sixties because frankly, they looked kind of dumb. However in the interest of maintaining a well rounded view of cinematic achievement, I caught this today on Turner Classic Movies. Boy, was it dumb.The host on TCM stated that each of the Frankie and Annette beach party movies were shot completely in a few hours, and then took about forty minutes to edit. It didn't sound like he was kidding about that, and judging by "Beach Blanket Bingo", that formula is probably pretty close. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if the film makers were working without a script too, because the situations and dialog at times appear to be completely at random, with no help from editing. For example, there's a scene where Bonehead (Jody McCrae) begins to pine after Lorelei (Marta Kristen) as she swims away in the moonlight, but instead of allowing the situation to build with emotion, the scene abruptly cuts to one of the skydiving sequences in bright daylight.It also would have helped if Dee Dee (Annette Funicello) and Frankie (Frankie Avalon) managed to stay in character from scene to scene. With Frankie scanning every babe to pass into view throughout the film, one minute Dee Dee is jealous, and the next the pair are lovey dovey. It doesn't help that Frankie epitomizes male chauvinism with his 'boys are different' philosophy, as much as stating that Dee Dee should concentrate on staying in the kitchen instead of learning to sky dive.It would be hard to come up with the movie's low point, but the leading contenders have to include Rickels' monologue when he tells Annette he never did like her anyway, and Zipper's (Harvey Lembeck) song lyric 'We'll give them the finger now". For me personally, it would be South Dakota Slim's (Timothy Carey) trip to the 'booby shack', by that time I felt like Jack Nicholson after the lobotomy in 'Cuckoo's Nest'. For my money, Slim is in the running for the most pathetic movie character ever.But hey, at least Linda Evans has that Lesley Gore thing going for her in a couple of singing numbers, which I would have bet were dubbed but weren't. And I did like the description of Von Zipper's 'Rats' as Carbon Monoxide Commandos; that was about the most thought put into this flick. But come on, you know you saw that 'fish out of water' line coming from a mile away.I know I'm in the minority here based on some of the other posters for this film, but nostalgia only goes so far. When the final scene came down blessed by that 'Fin-ee', I could only scratch my head and repeat one of Frankie Avalon's lines from the picture - "You know, I just don't know".Oh yeah, Buster Keaton is in the movie too, but I just don't believe it.

It is truly one of the best movies out there, no doubt! The music is great, it's HILARIOUSLY funny, it's perfect for the entire family to enjoy, and the characters are wonderful!!! Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon make such a cute couple; Donna Loren once again nails it at her wonderful singing; Paul Lynde and Don Rickles are funny as always; Jody McCrea and Marta Kristen's mermaid-human relationship is beautiful; John Ashley and Deborah Walley's skydiving bag is out of sight; Harvey Lembeck does the hilarious Von Zipper antics once again; and what a great almost-final acting job for Buster Keaton before he died (even though it wasn't a big role)! If you're looking for a lot of fun, romance, comedy, drama, adventure, and more...this is the movie for you! It has everything!!! Look out Hot-Doggers and Beach Bunnies...this movie's a knockout!!!

I hadn't seen this movie since I was a kid. I always sort of preferred a picture that preceded this one in the series with Bob Cummings as, I think, a Sociologist studying surfers in their natural habitat. Anyway, I recently ran into this one on cable. Fairly early on Eric Von Zipper and The Rats do their number (I don't recall the title) in which - not once, but twice - Von Zipper's lyric says "I am my ideal!" (This develops in the scene that follows into the running gag (or is it a leitmotif?) of Von Zipper calling Kandy Kane his 'idol' - referenced in earlier comments.) Then, in the very next scene, as Von Zipper and the Rats enter the nightclub, he says "Stand aside everyone, I take large steps!" My jaw dropped a bit. Both of these are direct quotes from A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM, which had opened a little over a year earlier on Broadway! Late in Act One Miles Gloriosus, a Roman Soldier (Ron Holgate) announces his entrance by shouting, from offstage: "Stand aside everyone, I take large steps!", which cues the music for his song, which includes the lyric "I am my ideal!" Is William Asher paying homage to Sondheim and Burt Shevelove (who wrote the book for FORUM)? Is it an inside joke? Or is it just plain old-fashioned plagiarism? Anyone?Another interesting (to me, at least) question: Is this where William Asher first saw/met Paul Lynde? Were the seeds for Uncle Arthur (Who would appear a couple of years later on BEWITCHED) planted in the sand of BEACH BLANKET BINGO??