Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

"Frankie" (Frankie Avalon) and his girlfriend "Dolores" (Annette Funicello) are on their way to the beach for what Frankie hopes is a weekend alone with Dolores. Unfortunately for Frankie, Dolores is slightly more conventional and has invited the rest of their surf gang to meet them there. This results in a spat between Frankie and Dolores. At the same time, a professor by the name of "Robert Sutwell" (Bob Cummings) just happens to have rented a beach house right next to the place where Frankie and the gang are staying so that he can study the primitive mating rituals of American surfers. For his research he needs to make the acquaintance of one of the surfers and Dolores is only too happy to spend time with the professor because she wants to make Frankie jealous. In return Frankie decides to make Dolores jealous by showering his affection on a beautiful foreign barmaid by the name of "Ava" (Eva Six). Throw in some bikers, beatniks, beach music along with some scantily clad men and women into a sexually charged atmosphere and the end result is a fun movie which stretches the boundaries but doesn't quite break them. Now, although this is not the first "beach movie" ever made this particular picture—along with its predecessor "Gidget" a few years earlier—was pretty much responsible for the introduction of a brand new sub-genre of film. Although it is certainly dated and some people may not quite understand all the nuances it's still worth a watch for people who enjoy movies of this type.

I watched this first of AIP's Beach Party movies in tribute to Annette Funicello. I forget just how painfully dopey these teen comedies from the era can be. No offense meant to Funicello - she's pretty charming here. She's almost an afterthought, though. Robert Cummings, playing an anthropologist studying surfing culture, is the film's star. He's pretty much the only one who lands any of his jokes - he comes off as a pretty talented comedian surrounded by hackiness. Frankie's here, too, of course, and also doesn't have too much to do. Dorothy Malone, as Cummings assistant and the gal who he'll end up with (he has a phony romance with Funicello which we know from the start won't go anywhere), also has nothing to do. And, poor girl, she looks hopelessly ancient next to Funicello, Eva Six and the rest of the young women. There are several good songs. Whenever they're singing, the film's worthwhile.

Before there was Baywatch we had the Beach Party movies and this one was the one that started it all.Robert Cummings must have seen Lover Come Back where Rock Hudson had a full growth of beard and Doris Day mistook for a scientist. Cummings must have liked the look as a scientist because he uses it here in portraying an anthropologist studying teenage mating habits.Where better than Malibu and who better for study than Frankie Avalon, Annette Funicello and their friends? The same innocence of the years before November of 1963 is there, this film's not quite as surreal as the later successors. It's like The Road to Singapore which established the formula for those Crosby/Hope films, but hadn't descended yet into the zaniness that characterized the later ones.It all works out quite nicely and it was nice Dorothy Malone was around for Bob Cummings although the poor woman had very little to do in this film. My favorite in these film is Harvey Lembeck as Erich Von Zipper, the motorcycle gang leader. He's a Marlon Brando wannabe.Beach Party does kind of take me back to my teen years.

Bob Cummings (offensive in nearly every movie I've seen him in) acquits himself quite nicely here as nerdy professor studying the mating habits of today's teenagers, eventually finding himself sort-of attracted to busty-but-innocent Annette Funicello. Frankie Avalon and Annette get co-starring parts here, later carrying the torch onward to many other beach sequels; they fight a lot (as usual) and try to make each other jealous. The only thing that really separates this initial sand-&-sex romp from the others is a bit more attention to plot and dialogue, less silliness (it's surprisingly low-keyed). Annette, her hair tinted a pretty cinnamon-brown, sings a great solo number, "Treat Him Nicely"--actually, it's her mirrored reflection who gives the advice. A pleasant, colorful outing, with Harvey Lembeck very funny as Eric Von Zipper, who gets "the finger" from Cummings ("You stupids!"). A little singing, a little loving, lots of arguing, and a pie fight finale. *** from ****