Product Details

• Actors: Robert Cummings, Dorothy Malone, Frankie Avalon, Annette Funicello, Morey Amsterdam
• Directors: William Asher
• Writers: Lou Rusoff
• Producers: James H. Nicholson, Lou Rusoff, Robert Dillon, Samuel Z. Arkoff
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English
• Subtitles: French, Spanish
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
• DVD Release Date: September 5, 2000
• Run Time: 101 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 0792846788
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #123,454 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Beach Party" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Pop star Frankie Avalon and former Mouseketeer Annette Funicello inaugurated the beach movie proper (after Gidget tested the waters) with this celebration of surf, sand, rock & roll music, and, of course, sex. Frankie carries Annette (named Doris in the film) over the threshold of a beach cabin as she whispers "It's just like we're married." "Exactly!" he smiles before tripping over a dozen friends camping out on the floor. Well, not quite, as it turns out in the boys-against-girls contest of one-upmanship and jealous tantrums. Frankie woos the pneumatic Scandinavian Eva Six and Annette flirts with frumpy anthropologist Bob Cummings (wearing a beard that would scare Grizzly Adams). Meanwhile he secretly studies the mating rituals of the beach tribe with his eternally frustrated assistant Dorothy Malone. Harvey Lembeck (from Stalag 17) is the aging juvenile delinquent Eric von Zipper, a spastic motorcycle gang leader, while Morey Amsterdam recites silly beat poetry in a Chinese mask and surf rocker Dick Dale plays bongos and wears a gold earring. Look for bit parts by Beach Boy Brian Wilson (as a surfer) and Peter Falk (as a biker) and a cameo by Vincent Price. This first beach romp is about as sophisticated as a Keystone Kops farce (it ends with a slapstick free-for-all that wouldn't be out place in the silent era), but it's dumb, fluffy fun with lots of hunky boys and pretty bikinied girls shaking their booties and making out. --Sean Axmaker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Widescreen Beach Treats!, October 6, 2005

By 

jon sieruga (Redlands, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Beach Party/Bikini Beach (DVD)

The only extras are the trailers, but both "Beach Party" and "Bikini Beach" (which was actually the 2nd sequel to "Beach Party", following "Muscle Beach Party") are terrific fun, with decent surfing footage and lots of singing and dancing (Candy Johnson should have a license in frenetic dancing, she looks like a cyclone in fringe!). "Beach Party" has professor Bob Cummings studying the mating habits of beach teens, and inadvertently wooing Annette Funicello away from Frankie Avalon! It's a surprisingly non-slapstick comedy with beatnik overtones; the pie-fight finale is really the silliest it gets. Annette, her hair a sexy shade of cinnamon, is a natural for films like these: just a notch naughtier than her "Merlin Jones" comedies for Disney, she's forever G-rated, but it's nice to see her surrounded by surfin' kids and having a good time (her repartee with Frankie, John Ashley and all the girls is completely believable--and the director is smart to cut back to her as often as possible). "Bikini Beach" gives Avalon a dual role--and he seems to be having a ball playing Frankie and scenery-chewing British singer The Potato Bug (I could've done without his annoying maniacal laugh and broad accent). Both films look great on letterboxed DVD. Thanks MGM for a doubling the fun for the price of one.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the film that started it all....., September 21, 2002

By 

Byron Kolln (the corner where Broadway meets Hollywood) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Beach Party (DVD)

BEACH PARTY was the movie that defined a generation....the California beach scene that was the epitome of cool in the sunny 60's.

Dolores (Annette Funicello) and Frankie (Frankie Avalon) head down to the coast for a summer of swingin' and surfin', only to have their romantic getaway spoiled by Frankie's loud-mouthed friends who have decided to tag along.

When a stuffy, whiskered anthropologist (Bob Cummings - LUCKY ME) and his curvy assistant Marianne (Dorothy Malone) decide to study the teens' partying habits, they end up with more than they bargained for when Professor Sutwell becomes a pawn in Dolores' game to get Frankie jealous and propose to her!

There are fantastic cameos from Eva Six, Morey Amsterdam and even Vincent Price (in a shameless promotional grab for AIP's "The Pit and the Pendulum").

See the gorgeous Candy Johnson shake her moneymaker! Hear the delightful Annette sing the tender ballad "Treat Him Nicely", and roar with laughter at the antics of Eric Von Zipper (Harvey Lembeck) and his "Rats"!

Followed by numerous sequels including "Bikini Beach", "Pajama Party", "Beach Blanket Bingo", "Muscle Beach Party" and "How To Stuff a Wild Bikini".

The DVD includes both full-frame and widescreen versions of the film as well as the trailer. (Double-sided, single-layer disc).

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Frankie, Annette, and Dick Dale!, September 7, 2000

By 

Charles Phelps (McKinney, TX United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Beach Party (DVD)

This first in the series of "Beach" movies made by AIP back in the 60's is my personal favorite of the lot. Bob Cummings is delightful as the bewhiskered professor studying the strange and primitive tribal rituals of the beach dwellers. Frankie is "cool" when he sings in a finger-snapping Bobby Darin kind of way. Annette is voluptuous and just as sweet as ever. Eric Von Zipper (Harvey Lembeck) is hilarious as he deals with his gang (The Rats & The Mice-a bunch of stupids) and gives himself the finger.

Most important is the appearance of the King Of The Surf Guitar, Dick Dale with his Del-Tones. You want real California surfer/beach scene authenticity? Just watch the sun-tanned, earring-wearing Dale playing his left-handed, upside-down strung, reverb-drenched Fender Strat and wailing about jumpin' in his woodie and hot-doggin' on his board at his "Secret Surfin' Spot" where the "gremmies and the hodads never go". Priceless. Dated? Of course. Entertaining? You betcha! You like Dick Dale? Get this film. The fact that Frankie and Annette were hip to him moves them up a few notches on the "cool-ometer". Hooting!!