Diagonaldi Very well executed

Jeanskynebu the audience applauded

Protraph Lack of good storyline.

TrueHello Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

oliver church I think Avalon's duel role was played nicely but Funicello could have been played better in her role to show to differences in their perception of each other.Someone said Avalon was one of the hottest singers in America but I think that's not the case as not many people have heard of him these days.Bikini Beach seems to be like a beach party turned into a film and is really one of the inspirations of future beach parties. I honestly believe this film made way for future generations. It's a shame they don't do classic entertainment and humour like this anymore.Ms. Funicello's solo was very entertaining though! I noticed that a lot of the bikinis in this film look familiar to that Talinda range I saw over at buybikini.org I wonder if they based their designs on this movie. I agree with another reviewer that Candy Johnson was past her prime here but I would still date her given the chance. Oh well I can keep dreaming, all in all I give this an eight and think it's worth watching if you have a couple of hours to burn.

Bob-45 We red-blooded males who followed Annette Funicello's career from the time she was a nubile Mousketeer will be especially enamored of "Bikini Beach," a superior entry in the, admittedly, mediocre "Beach Party" series. For once, Annette gets to play smart, sexy and slightly dangerous, possessing more than a passing interest in sex. Gone, thank goodness, is her usual "Doris Day with mild PMS" persona. I have a strong suspicion this is closer to the "real" Annette, here. I certainly hope so. Even Annette's singing is very good. I wish AIP would've sprung for the bucks to give "Bikini" better choreography. Annette, a trained dancer would have impressed even more. Annette's swimsuit is even more revealing than usual, about as close to a bikini as "Papa Disney" would allow her to wear.While the script, as usual, plays as if it were cribbed from the back of a cereal box, the gentle ribbing of British rock stars, modern art and drag racing are a welcome change from the usual "Beach Party" dross. Martha Hyer is along and provides some classy, mature-sexy glamor. "Bikini" even has a cameo by a very young Stevie Wonder. While Frankie Avalon won't win any acting awards, his alter-ego, "Potato Bug" is certainly a less annoying character than Mike Meyers' execrable "Austin Powers". Even Don Rickles is along, playing a character named "Big Drag," a gentle pun on Don "Big Daddy" Garlits, a well-known drag racer and auto customizer of the era. Too bad, Rickles doesn't get to cut lose with his usual wise guy humor. Guess AIP was too cheap to spring for that.While no work of art, "Bikini Beach" is more than just watchable. It's actually, at times, enjoyable. I give "Bikini Beach" a weak "6".

funkyfry One of the funniest beach party movies made by AIP (or anybody), with a great cast and pretty funny script with no story involved. Such as it is involves the arrival of the Potato Bug (Avalon in a double role), a John Lennon-esque Britisher that all the beach girls swoon over. Annette seems to decide the endless summer might never end, and jumps ship to the Bug. Frankie and the Bug have to drag race it out at Don Ricle's aptly named "Big Drag" -- Rickles is anything but a drag, constantly mugging with the lines they throw him and everyone else's too. Frankie Avalon's double performance may not go down in history as the modern equivalent of John Barrymore, but it's all good fun worth a hundred minutes of my lifetime. Looks like Mike Myers might have been watching this one pretty closely too.

mmarshal O.K., O.K., I must take some exception with the two prior reviews in this thread. Bikini Beach has a lot more going for it those pieces implied.First, Frankie Avalon finally earned his AIP pay in this picture. While I really don't care for his 60s greaser college kid character in most of the other beach Party movies, here his dual roles (as "Frankie" the surfer who takes Dee Dee (Annette) for granted and as English invasion artist the "Potato Bug") are enjoyable to watch. He shows his reach as an actor far beyond what one would expect in a B movie like this.Secondly, for anyone interested in the history of drag racing, the strip scenes are interesting; textbook mid 60s drag environment. Few if any other examples of that are available in American film.Third, the music. Much better than what was in the movie that preceded it ("Muscle Beach Party" was one of the weakest of the series in terms of music) and many that followed. In Bikini Beach, you get to hear Annette sing a duet of a Styner-Hemrick ballad ("Because You're You") with Avalon that is good (if you have a copy of her Bikini Beach LP, her solo version of this song on it is arguably one of the most hauntingly beautiful recordings she ever made). The "house club band" at Big Daddy's in this film is the Pyramids, arguably one of the better now-forgotten west coast groups that played the role of the house band in these movies. Their instrumental version of "Fingertips" is classic early 60's surf instrumental. And a very young Stevie Wonder actually appears at the end.Fourth, the infamous Candy Johnson (the fringe-wearing, wild blond go-go dancer character who, with the swish of her hips, could put a man in a daze and send him flying through the air) finally comes of age in this movie, the club fight scenes actually feature her. As do the closing credits, where she fractures the camera lens at the end.Does all this make "Bikini Beach" a work of art? Heavens. no, but it's a heck of a lot better than Muscle Beach Party, Pajama Party, How to Stuff a Wild Bikini and the Ghost in the Invisible Bikini. In other words, out of the seven AIP Beach Party Movies, this is definitely in the top two or three (only bettered by Beach Blanket Bingo and arguably Beach Party).