Jeanskynebu the audience applauded

Console best movie i've ever seen.

Senteur As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

Francene Odetta It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

classicsoncall Watching movies like this today makes me realize I didn't miss anything by not catching them back in the day. I wouldn't have quite been a teenager yet when this film originally came out, but I would have considered it Harvey Lembeck stupid just the same.Interestingly, this is the second movie in a row I've watched in which Kirk Douglas's dimple was brought up as a topic of conversation. The other one was "The War Wagon" in which Douglas appeared, explaining facetiously how he got it - he slept with his chin resting on a ring. So if it ever comes up in a trivia contest, now you know.Prior to this film's showing on it's latest Turner Classic broadcast, Roger Corman offered his theory on why these beach movies were so popular in the Sixties - to please the kids, you had to infuriate the adults. With the hindsight of half a century, it doesn't seem to me that the teens in the film were all that rebellious; they were just out to have some fun. Although Professor Sutwell (Bob Cummings) had his own theory as well - the antics of the young men and women dancing on the beach were a 'definite jungle perversion'! Good grief.Well I've seen a few of these beach films now, 1964's "Muscle Beach Party" and 1965's "Beach Blanket Bingo", and for me, picking a favorite would be a moot point. This one though, which jump started the genre is the one I think that has cured me from tuning into any more. I know I'm in the minority here, but hey, to each his own. My quest for nostalgia goes only so far.

Clay Loomis I was five when this movie came out in '63, and didn't see it until a TV showing in the mid '70's. It was already dated and unreal at THAT point. I just caught a second viewing on TCM and I must say, it has not aged well. No thought is required to watch, as the whole thing is completely predictable, although watching pretty girls shake their T&A while dancing hasn't become less interesting. And watching Candy Johnson dance is quite an experience. She was only in a few films in the mid '60's, always dancing the way she does in this film, like a human hurricane. I can understand her short career, as I'm sure she must have blown out a hip in very short order, dancing like that. In fact, she's listed in the IMDb credits only as "Perpetual motion dancer".There is some dated material that's kind of interesting to see, like being able to drive on the beach in Malibu, or the surfboards that were the size of small boats, and guys were doing handstands on them and putting girls on their shoulders while they surfed. And these kids were surfing 15 to 20 abreast, about a foot apart. I wonder how many shattered shin bones they racked up filming those scenes.The comedy is of the "groaner" variety, and I think today's teens might have some trouble getting through it, what with the cartoon sound effects and all. I was rolling my eyes a bit myself as I re-watched it. This was fairly popular with teens at the time, but I don't think our 21st century teens, pierced and tattooed, will appreciate it. As for those of us a little older, Beach Party does have some nostalgic appeal.

keesha45 While not the best in the Frankie-Annette beach movies they made with their supporting cast of recurring characters including villain Von Zipper, lovable leader of his "stupid" motorcycle gang, dim-witted Deadhead and the human dancing machine Candy Johnson, it's still pretty good and has something to offer audiences of today. For one thing, it's a good chance to see the beaches of southern California before developers moved in and built homes all over the place. Then, there are some great surfing scenes. The songs and dancing are first rate,and the climactic fight scene is very good, although a lot of the pies thrown missed their marks. There's something for everybody in this entry: comedy, romance, music, hunky guys and pretty girls in bikinis. A film like this must have been a big boon to the tourism industry and for attracting new residents to the state. Who wouldn't want to go to a place where even the motorcycle gangs make nice? Dale Roloff

Skragg Even people who HATE these movies, who won't even watch them as "schlock", probably have second thoughts when it comes to Eric Von Zipper and his Rat Pack. Which is easy for me to say, since I've always been attached to the things IN GENERAL (a Summer wouldn't be quite the same without them). I never knew anything of The Bob Cummings Show for the longest time, and never SAW it until last year, so I never really got the inside joke of him (of all people) playing a straight-laced character trying to be a swinger. And speaking of inside jokes, I just saw it again yesterday, and at least THOUGHT I saw one. In one scene, Frankie Avalon hands a cigarette to John Ashley, after taking kind of a long drag on it. Regardless of what kind of cigarette it's SUPPOSED to be, this at least seemed like a little reference to something else. I glanced at someone's comments about it, and they said that Dorothy Malone had a thankless part, and that might be partly true, but she had some pretty good comeback lines, including yet another private joke - "Why don't you sell the movie rights to American International? They'll buy anything." Anyway, I don't like it QUITE AS MUCH as "Beach Blanket Bingo", or even a few of the other sequels (I guess it's one of those "Godfather / Godfather Part II" situations), but I'm still really attached to it.