Starring Gary Clarke, Chris Noel, Steve Franken, and Don Edwards
Directed by Lennie Wenrib
Music and Lyrics by various
This is the last of the four Beach Party-style musicals with winter backdrops. By the time Wild Wild Winter made it out for the 1966 ski season, the Beach Party wave had crested. This one comes closer to the originals, in subject matter and comedic tone. Is it just as much fun as the American International entries, or should it be buried in the snow? Let's begin as a narrator extols the virtues of Alpine College and find out...
The Story: Fraternity brothers Burt (Don Edmonds), Perry (Les Brown Jr.), and Larry (Paul Geary) want to date women from a popular sorority, but it's led by Susan Benchley (Noel), the dean's secretary. Susan has encouraged the ladies to be very choosy about dates. Desperate, they call Ronnie Duke (Clarke), a surfer who has the reputation for dating many women at once. They want him to seduce Susan into letting the girls date again.
Donnie claims to be a champion skier and the son of a millionaire to impress her. Not only is Susan delighted, but so is Dean Carlton (James Wellman). Carlton needs to come up with three million dollars in back payment by January 31st, or he'll lose Alpine College to gangsters. In an attempt to get the funds off Donnie, he makes him the captain of the ski team. The actual captain and Susan's fiancee, whiny John (Franken), becomes determined to discredit Donnie. When he can't get past him in a skiing race, he calls a private eye (Buck Holland) to find out what his game really is. Donnie's just hoping he can win that money in the big Intercollegiate Skiing Tournament.
The Song and Dance: Along with Ski Party, this is by far the funniest of the four winter resort musicals. There's some fairly cute gags here, especially with what finally gets Donnie to that big race in the end. Clarke a little smarmy, but has enough charm that you can understand why so many girls fall for him. I also like that, with the exception of two very brief scenes at a beach, this movie makes more use of its snowy setting than most of the other winter party musicals. The whole thing hinges on two ski races. There's also far less romance than in the other resort musicals. This one is purely about Clarke, his attempts to show off, and gorgeous Technicolor scenery filmed at a real Lake Tahoe resort.
Favorite Number: We open over the credits with the title song, which mostly consists of the words "snow, snow, wow!" and skiers riding over the mountains...and sometimes falling into it. Our first actual number is on the beach, but Jackie Miller and Gayle Caldwell still sing about how their love is gonna "Snowball." The Beau Brummels get so into their number at the resort, "Just You Wait and See," Donnie regards it as his thinking music and apparently had the group perform it four times. The Astronauts provide Donnie's thinking music after John takes his place with Susan as they describe "A Change of Heart." Duo Dick and Dee Dee sing the uptempo ballad "Heartbeats" after Donnie wins the ski race against John. Jay and the Americans finish things off with "Two of a Kind" as the backdrop to the chorus number in the finale as everyone celebrates saving the college.
What I Don't Like: The script is flimsy and annoying, even by 60's drive-in musical standards. The college subplot is basically "save the school" crossed with "gangster plot from Comden-Green musicals of the 40's and 50's." The boys' attempts to lie their way into the girls' hearts is dated, annoying, and a bit distasteful nowadays. Even the girls and Susan call them on it. Speaking of, Susan is really the only girl we see much of. The other two turn up mainly in the beginning and end and have very little to do. There's so much focus on comedy and Clarke's slightly sleazy attempts to impress Susan, there isn't much room for anyone else's romance. All of the boys are so interchangable and bland, I don't know how any of the girls can tell them apart anyway.
The Big Finale: Despite some cute gags, this is by far my least-favorite of the four winter resort drive-in musicals. Only if you're a huge fan of 60's drive-in fodder, musicals of the 50's and 60's, or the cast.
Home Media: As the most obscure of the four winter resort musicals, the only place you can currently find this one is YouTube.
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