Product Details

• Actors: Frankie Avalon, Annette Funicello
• Format: Box set, Color, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
• Number of discs: 4
• Rating: Unrated
• Studio: American International Pictures (AIP)
• DVD Release Date: July 10, 2007
• Run Time: 755 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (40 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000PMFRXS
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #6,665 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #74 in	Movies & TV > Boxed Sets > Classics
  #97 in	Movies & TV > Classics > Classic Comedies

• For more information about "Frankie & Annette MGM Movie Legends Collection (Beach Blanket Bingo / How to Stuff a Wild Bikini / Beach Party / Bikini Beach / Fireball 500 / Thunder Alley / Muscle Beach Party / Ski Party)" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The sun will never set on Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello, The recording star from Philadelphia and the former Mouseketeer give a master class in chemistry in five Beach Party films that make up the bulk of this swinging eight-film box set. Beach Party (1963) helped to usher in a new wave of teen exploitation films that were far more fun and frolicsome than the rock and roll and juvenile delinquent films that preceded it. Frankie rents a beach house for himself and Annette's Dolores. He is stunned to learn that she has gotten cold feet and allowed the whole gang to hang out there. So Frankie decides to "dig somebody else," and Delores takes up with Robert Cummings, an anthropologist studying the sex lives of teens. All ends happily, and chastely. Harvey Lembeck, whose credits include Billy Wilder's Stalag 17, introduced his recurring series role as bumbling biker Eric Von Zipper. Surf guitar god Dick Dale provides accompaniment. Vincent Price pops up as Big Daddy to say, "Bring me my pendulum, kiddies. I feel like swinging." Beach Blanket Bingo (1965) is the magnum Party opus as Frankie goes sky-diving, Bonehead (Jody McCrea) falls in love with a mermaid, Linda Evans sings, Paul Lynde is snide, Don Rickles insults, and Frankie and Annette sing their classic, "I Think, You Think." Bikini Beach (1964) takes a swipe at the upstart Beatles with Frankie in a dual role as British pop star Potato Bug. Muscle Beach Party (1964) was Stevie Wonder's first film, and Peter Lorre's last.

How to Stuff a Wild Bikini (1965) marks the end of an era, with Frankie, off in the Naval Reserves, getting help from witch doctor Buster Keaton in keeping interloper Dwayne Hickman away from Annette. Annette's absence is keenly felt in Ski Party, but James Brown performs, "I Feel Good" and Lesley Gore sings her top-40 hit, "Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows." Frankie and Annette were reunited at the racetrack in Fireball 500 (1966), but Fabian is a third wheel as a rival for Annette. Thunder Alley (1967) (from Richard Rush, director of the cult classic, The Stunt Man), is another car-racing vehicle that pairs Annette and Fabian, but by now the thrill is gone. Frankie and Annette are as indelible a screen couple and as inseparable in the public's imagination as Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers or Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy. What is the secret to their enduring appeal? The last line of Back to the Beach (1987), an unsung gem unfortunately not included in this set, sums it up. Frankie and Annette walk together along the beach for the last time. Frankie turns to the camera and asks, "Are we the corniest couple in the world, or what?" --Donald Liebenson

Product Description

Disc 1 Side A: Beach Blanket Bingo Disc 1 Side B: How To Stuff a Wild Bikini

Disc 2 Side A: Beach Party Disc 2 Side B: Bikini Beach

Disc 3 Side A: Fireball 500 Disc 3 Side B: Thunder Alley

Disc 4 Side A: Muscle Beach Party Disc 4 Side B: Ski Party

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Back to the 60s, May 25, 2008

By	Frank Schurgast (Paris, France) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Frankie & Annette MGM Movie Legends Collection (Beach Blanket Bingo / How to Stuff a Wild Bikini / Beach Party / Bikini Beach / Fireball 500 / Thunder Alley / Muscle Beach Party / Ski Party)
I am a disabled man in his 60s but for a couple of hours, while watching these films, I am young again in the 60s. Once again I feel the excitement I felt and for a few minutes dreamed the dreams I had back then. I would give anything if a time warp suddenly transported m back to those carefree days.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Midnite Movies boxed up, May 25, 2007

By	joseph Corey "party favors columnist" (Raleigh, NC United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

These are the 4 Midnite Movie Double Features of AIP Beach Party films that were released a few years back. I enjoy being able to sit back and watch the surf nonsense. Eric Von Zipper is king. Shame they don't run these as afternoon flicks in the summer on WLVI in Boston. Also a shame they didn't create a double feature of Pajama Party and Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine.

MGM fixed How to Stuff a Wild Bikini. The original double feature release (with Beach Blanket Bingo) claimed it was a Scope transfer, but it turned out to be the pan and scan. Luckily the folks in quality control have put the Scope verion on this flipper. Enjoy the full version of Annette hiding her baby belly.

49 of 59 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Beware!! This collection is not entirely widescreen!, August 6, 2007

By	Robert Badgley (London,Ontario,Canada) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Just to let all potential buyers of this set know.This set is NOT entirely widescreen/letterbox.
It says the entire set is letterboxed/widescreen:
1.On the Amazon website
2.On the back outer cover of the set box
3.On the slipcase covers(inside)
4.And it is stamped on each DVD!!
The bad apple in the bunch is "How to Stuff a Wild Bikini".Specifically the DVD starts with the familiar box that this movie has been "formatted to fit your screen"....uh-oh.The credits then roll and they are letterboxed.....whew!!
But then the movie rolls......FULLSCREEN!!
I unfortunately have had to return my copy for just this reason.I can see Amazon not realizing this but MGM has to take the fall for this,plain and simply.Either a mistake at the factory OR a deception....you choose.