Pretty Good

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

I like these movies especially The Rats after all the actor who played Von Zipper had a comedy school. In all the movies the Motorcycle gang steals the show. I don't know if it's just me but Avalon's 2nd character seems to be possibly an influence on Austin Powers. That was my first impression of this film. And he is good at the role and it is quite funny. I also think this movie is an influence on Clint Eastwood's Every Which Way but Loose movie. One would have to see both movies to see my point I enjoy watching these films again I have 4 of them. To see them 50 years later of course has a different perspective which is itself enjoyable. It is good to be 15 again.

This third film in the series (after "Beach Party" and "Muscle Beach Party") has "Frankie" (Frankie Avalon), "Dee Dee" (Annette Funicello) and the rest of the surfer gang headed back to the beach to enjoy some sun, waves and music. When they get there they meet a millionaire named "Harvey Huntington Honeywagon III" (Keenan Wynn) who seeks to rid the beach of the surfers so that he can construct a senior citizens home on it. To help him in that regard is a pet chimpanzee named "Clyde" (played by Janos Prohaska) who drives, surfs and dances the Watusi better than anybody there. Another visitor to the beach is a famous British rock star by the name of "Potato Bug" (also played by Frankie Avalon) who has all of the young ladies squealing with delight whenever he sings. Throw in a bar and drag strip owner named "Big Drag" (Don Rickles), a beautiful defender of the surfers by the name of "Vivien Clements" (Martha Hyer), a motorcycle gang known as "the Ratz" led by "Eric Von Zipper" (Harvey Lembeck) and a bevy of attractive young women and the result is a film that is light on substance but fun never the less. What was probably most interesting was the way this movie managed to assimilate the relatively new "surf music" with the brand new sound characterized by the "First British Invasion". On the other hand, while I appreciated the scenery provided by Annette Funicello, Martha Hyer, Meredith MacRae (as "Animal") and a host of other young ladies, I didn't especially care for the amount of time devoted to Clyde or "Candy" (Candy Johnson). Neither did I feel that Don Rickles was given an adequate script to showcase his comedic talent. But that's just my opinion. In short, this wasn't a bad movie but it wasn't that great either. Accordingly, I rate it as average.

British superstar Potato Bug shows up and causes friction between Frankie and Annette. Meanwhile Keenan Wynn and his pet chimp try to put a stop to teens on the beach so he can build an old folks' home there. This is a fun movie with a terrific dual performance by Frankie Avalon. Annette Funicello looks beautiful and sings a couple of nice ballads. I'm not the biggest fan of the Beach Party series but some of them are good fun. This is the second best, I think, behind Beach Blanket Bingo. It's got everything you could want from a beach movie. Girls in bikinis, nice songs, goofy comedy, a guy in a chimp suit, and a great cameo by Boris Karloff. If you like simple, fun, innocent movies then you'll like this a lot.

Evil Harvey Huntington Honeywagon III (Keenan Wynn of "The Mechanic") does not want teenage surfers cavorting around on the beach near his retirement home for oldsters and sets out to write a smear campaign against them until high school teacher Vivian Clements (Martha Hyer of Some Came Running") comes to their rescue. Honeywagon complains that the girls run around half naked with boys in bathing suits and no chaperons in sight. Furthermore, Honeywagon plans to make them look bad with his talented chimpanzee Clyde (Janos Prohanska of "Pussycat, Pussycat, I Love You"), who can not only ride a surf board but also serves as a chauffeur for his wealthy but prudish boss. Incidentally, before his tragic death in 1972, Prohanska made a career out of dressing up in an obviously ersatz simian outfit on "Gilligan's Island," "Star Trek," and other shows. The wholesome teens in question are Frankie (Frankie Avalon of "The Alamo") and Dee Dee (Annette Funicello of "The Misadventures of Merlin Jones") and their gang, including Deadhead (Jody McCrea of "Gunsight Ridge")who are out of school for the summer. Meanwhile, a new arrival on the beach is the fabulous British rocker Potato Bug (Frankie Avalon in a dual role) and he turns Dee Dee on so she flirts with him. Of course, Frankie turns green-eyed and tries to figure out a way to get his gal back."Bikini Beach" was the third entry in the BEACH movies that co-starred Frankie and Annette. No "Beach Party" movie would be complete with their nemesis, the infamous Eric Von Zipper (Harvey Lembeck of "Stalag 17") and his black-leather clad motorcycle gang the Rats and the Mice trying to thwart the antics of our heroes and heroines. The Potato Bug challenges Frankie to a drag race and Von Zipper and his cretins set out to sabotage the race. None of this sets too well with the raceway owner Big Drag (Don Rickles of "Kelly's Heroes") who dabbles in art. Basically, the plots for these sand, sun, and surf sagas revolved around Frankie and Dee Dee making each other jealous and their lame-brained pal Deadhead making a fool out of himself in his hillbilly hat. Believe it or not, it took three scribes to scrawl this hilarious nonsense. One of them was William Asher who directed over 100 episode of the classic Lucille Ball television comedy "I Love Lucy." The bikini-clad babes are visual eye-candy and there is a cameo appearance by a famous horror movie star at the end.Mind you, "Bikini Beach" has all the depth of a bed pan, but the antics are so silly and stupid that you may wet yourself laughing. Perennial villain Timothy Carey of "One-Eyed Jacks" makes another appearance as pool hustler South Dakota Slim and Stevie Wonder does a sing-on as Little Stevie Wonder. Ironically enough, the Beatles were supposed to appear in "Bikini Beach," but they hit it so big that their fee skyrocketed and Asher replaced them with a character that spoofed them. Indeed, "Bikini Beach" is an acquired taste like all the 1960 era teenage "Beach" party movies from American International Pictures. Incredibly, the Frankie & Annette beach party movies were a spin-off of the "Gidget" movies with the parents taken out of the mix. Despite the prominence of surfing in most of these movies, only Clyde the Ape surfs in this movie. Clearly, the name of the Keenan Wynn character was an movie inside joke because a honeywagon in Hollywood parlance is a toilet trailer.