Starring Frankie Randall, Sherry Jackson, Gayle Caldwell, and Jackie Miller
Directed by Maury Dexter
Music and Lyrics by various
This week, we're gonna hit the beach with two lesser-known imitations of the wildly popular Beach Party films, starting with 20th Century Fox's third and last contribution to the genre. By 1965, the wave of Beach Party imitations was starting to crest, with small, silly imitations like this one flooding the market. How does the story of how two groups of college students spend their summer arguing over the last house left in their area look now? Lets begin with shots of waves and surfers and college students doing the Watusi at once certain beach house and find out...
The Story: Lee Sullivan (Jackson) inherited the beach house from her late uncle and intends to turn it into a boarding house for girls. She and her two friends Marsie (Caldwell) and Toby Carr (Jackie Miller) turn up at the house, only to find that party in progress. Turns out the house is already occupied by Adam Miller (Randall) and his buddies sound-obsessed Vern Thompkins (Jerry Grayson) and Jim Bench (Marc Seton). The boys apparently got permission to stay from Lee's uncle before his death.
Adam puts in a permit on the house, but Dean Parker (Booth Coleman) is wary of all of they living together and has local housing inspector Mr. Terwilliger (Justin Smith) check them out. There's also music producer and former singer Shep Kirby (Russ Bender) who initially puts out the complaints against them, due to Vern's sound effects being turned up way too high and the partying. Now Lee and Adam have to figure out what's going on here and how to keep everyone from being found out, before they're all expelled and ended up expelled.
The Song and Dance: It's some unique details that make this even tolerable to watch. Vern's sound effects prove to be very useful, both in keeping the boys and girls from wandering over "The Iron Curtain" (a rope set out to keep the boys and girls from trying anything fresh. There's also Kirby and his own obsession with technology and finding the right group to showcase. And yes, Sonny and Cher are in this movie, singing one song. Their "I Got You Babe" was a huge hit when the movie was being filmed, and the producer must have thought they could bring the same kind of laid-back vibe to the film.
The Numbers: Adam sings "The House On the Beach" and "The God of Love," the latter while on a walk on the beach with Lee. The surf group The Astronauts get four numbers, "Rock This World" after the college students first arrive, and "Pyramid Stomp," "Snap It," and "Little Speedy Gonzalez" later on. Sonny and Cher have a cameo singing the sweet "It's Gonna Rain." Real-life pop singer Cindy Malone tries to test Shep's new recording equipment with "Run Away From Him," but Vern's sound effects keep intruding. Shep gets "Yellow Haired Woman" with the kids at a party at the house later. The girls record "Winter Nocturne" for Shep. Drummer Sandy Nelson has a dynamic "Drum Dance."
What I Don't Like: Pretty obvious low-budget B-tuner from this era. The Astronauts and Sonny and Cher are the only things that stand out in any way. The use of Vern's sound effects are mildly amusing, and I do give them credit for a slightly creative plot that deals with housing shortages during an era when college was becoming more important, but this is mostly as cheap as it looks. It's not even in color. The boys in particular other than Vern are interchangeable, and Randall comes off as more of a jerk for trying to throw the girls out than remotely romantic.
The Big Finale: Silly and dull, this is only for the most ardent Sonny and/or Cher enthusiasts.
Home Media: On DVD via the made-to-order 20th Century Fox Cinema Archives and on YouTube.
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