Bikini Beach (1964)

Captivating movie !

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

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.

Watched it on Netflix streaming movies. Bikini Beach is just one of the silly, beach movies featuring young teen idols of the 1960s. This one with Frankie Avalon, who was actually a pretty decent singer, and Annette Funicello who wasn't much of a singer, couldn't act much, but was cure as a bug.These movies strike a particular chord with me, as I was a college freshman in 1963/1964. I remember the Beatle invasion quite well, and this movie, 'Bikini Beach' has a character that is a parody of the Beatles, the 'Potato Bug', a wealthy and popular young British pop star with a mop of a haircut and wire rim glasses. Interestingly Frankie Avalon plays him as well as 'Frankie' the suitor of Funicello's character.By today's standards this would rate as a fairly poor movie, but for those of us who were teenagers in the 1960s, it brings back good memories of a simpler time. There is a thread of a story here, the teens just want to hang out at the beach near Los Angeles, but a wealthy businessman and developer wants to give them bad press as part of his attempt to buy up some beachfront land. There is also a motorcycle gang, seemingly for no good reason, and some drag racing. Much of the "humor" is slapstick, inspired by the Three Stooges I'd imagine.Frankie Avalon plays Frankie and, in a wig and gap teeth, the Potato Bug. Annette Funicello plays Dee Dee. My favorite was Martha Hyer, pushing 40 in 1964, but lovely as Vivien Clements who takes the side of the teens. A relatively young (35-ish) Don Rickles is Big Drag , who builds drag racing 'rails'. Harvey Lembeck is Eric Von Zipper, the outlandish motorcycle gang boss. Plus assorted cute girls in bikinis. Of note is a cameo appearance by Stevie Wonder , still known as 'Little Stevie Wonder' at about 13. He sings one song as the movie is ending. Just plain 1960s fun, that's all.

One of the funniest beach party movies made by AIP (or anybody), with a great cast and pretty funny script with no story involved. Such as it is involves the arrival of the Potato Bug (Avalon in a double role), a John Lennon-esque Britisher that all the beach girls swoon over. Annette seems to decide the endless summer might never end, and jumps ship to the Bug. Frankie and the Bug have to drag race it out at Don Ricle's aptly named "Big Drag" -- Rickles is anything but a drag, constantly mugging with the lines they throw him and everyone else's too. Frankie Avalon's double performance may not go down in history as the modern equivalent of John Barrymore, but it's all good fun worth a hundred minutes of my lifetime. Looks like Mike Myers might have been watching this one pretty closely too.

O.K., O.K., I must take some exception with the two prior reviews in this thread. Bikini Beach has a lot more going for it those pieces implied.First, Frankie Avalon finally earned his AIP pay in this picture. While I really don't care for his 60s greaser college kid character in most of the other beach Party movies, here his dual roles (as "Frankie" the surfer who takes Dee Dee (Annette) for granted and as English invasion artist the "Potato Bug") are enjoyable to watch. He shows his reach as an actor far beyond what one would expect in a B movie like this.Secondly, for anyone interested in the history of drag racing, the strip scenes are interesting; textbook mid 60s drag environment. Few if any other examples of that are available in American film.Third, the music. Much better than what was in the movie that preceded it ("Muscle Beach Party" was one of the weakest of the series in terms of music) and many that followed. In Bikini Beach, you get to hear Annette sing a duet of a Styner-Hemrick ballad ("Because You're You") with Avalon that is good (if you have a copy of her Bikini Beach LP, her solo version of this song on it is arguably one of the most hauntingly beautiful recordings she ever made). The "house club band" at Big Daddy's in this film is the Pyramids, arguably one of the better now-forgotten west coast groups that played the role of the house band in these movies. Their instrumental version of "Fingertips" is classic early 60's surf instrumental. And a very young Stevie Wonder actually appears at the end.Fourth, the infamous Candy Johnson (the fringe-wearing, wild blond go-go dancer character who, with the swish of her hips, could put a man in a daze and send him flying through the air) finally comes of age in this movie, the club fight scenes actually feature her. As do the closing credits, where she fractures the camera lens at the end.Does all this make "Bikini Beach" a work of art? Heavens. no, but it's a heck of a lot better than Muscle Beach Party, Pajama Party, How to Stuff a Wild Bikini and the Ghost in the Invisible Bikini. In other words, out of the seven AIP Beach Party Movies, this is definitely in the top two or three (only bettered by Beach Blanket Bingo and arguably Beach Party).