utgard14
British superstar Potato Bug shows up and causes friction between Frankie and Annette. Meanwhile Keenan Wynn and his pet chimp try to put a stop to teens on the beach so he can build an old folks' home there. This is a fun movie with a terrific dual performance by Frankie Avalon. Annette Funicello looks beautiful and sings a couple of nice ballads. I'm not the biggest fan of the Beach Party series but some of them are good fun. This is the second best, I think, behind Beach Blanket Bingo. It's got everything you could want from a beach movie. Girls in bikinis, nice songs, goofy comedy, a guy in a chimp suit, and a great cameo by Boris Karloff. If you like simple, fun, innocent movies then you'll like this a lot.
tavm
This movie, Bikini Beach, is the first time I've actually seen these Frankie Avalon-Annette Funicello Beach movies in their entirety. Avalon is highly amusing in playing another role as Potato Bug, a British rock singer obviously inspired by The Beatles' invasion of America as evident by Bug's two numbers that spoof many of the Fab Four's early hits with the "oooohs" especially noticeable. There's also some amusing stuff from blond dancer Candy Johnson and Harvey Lembeck as Eric Von Zipper. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for Keenan Wynn as a crusading newspaper publisher (and why is the paper called Bikini Bugle, why ask why?) or especially Don Rickles as a painter/bar owner/drag racing announcer as they have no real punchlines. I also didn't find the gorilla stuff or the chase at the climax amusing either. I did like the songs and instrumentals, the latter of which was provided by a guitar band called The Pyramids. Frankie and Annette have a nice duet at the beach while Ms. Funicello provides a nice solo. Brunette teen Donna Loren also sings an enjoyably catchy song at the beginning here and then there's Little Stevie Wonder providing his number at the end which, while not memorable, is all right. Like I said, the comedy mostly falls flat after about 30 minutes but that said, Bikini Beach remains mostly harmless fun as an introduction to me of the series. Trivia: the director's wife, Elizabeth Montgomery, provides the voice of Lady Bug. Oh, and there's a cameo by a famous horror star near the end...
Brian Washington
This is probably the best of the "Beach Party" films. The series pretty much hit its peak here and after this it was all downhill. Annette Funicello is her level headed best and Frankie Avalon is still her lunkheaded boyfriend who only can think about surfing. The thing I think is a little ironic about this film is the fact that Avalon in his portrayal of Potato Bug takes a swipe at The Beatles. Many forget that Avalon was one of the hottest singers in America until the "Fab Four" arrived the same year this film was released. After that it was downhill from there. The other shining moment in this film has to belong to Harvey Lembeck as the perpetually dimwitted leader Eric Von Zipper. This was his defining role and this film was his funniest yet.
helpless_dancer
This has to be the worst installment of the series and usually I find something in these beach epics somewhat amusing, but this one fell flatter than a Galveston wave. Even my idols, Eric Von Zipper and his army of Ratz, weren't given decent parts. I could easily have gone without the silvery warbling of Annette as she walked along the ocean's edge; her's and Frankie's mediocre vocals added nothing to the film. Now that I think of it, they took away. This driftwood should be heaved overboard and the lines to the lifebuoys sliced.
AD
