Beach Party
Directed by William Asher
Written by Lou Rusoff
1963/USA
Alta Vista Productions
Repeat viewing/Amazon Prime

[box] Cappy: Can I ask you something, Professor? Are you studying these kids sex lives, or you getting involved in it?[/box]

The first of seven “beach party” movies distributed by American Pictures International is most interesting as a memento of a time, place, and attitude.

Perpetual teenage sweethearts Frankie (Frankie Avalon) and Dolores (Annette Funicello) hit the beach during school vacation with a crowd of other like-minded teenages.  It’s all surfing, all the time until nightfall when it’s all party all the time.  Anthropologist Professor Sutwell (Robert Cummings) and his comely assistant Marianne (Dorothy Malone) are there to observe rituals of this teenaged “tribe”.  The sex ritiuals are the most interesting, obviously.  With Harvey Lembeck as Eric Von Zipper leader of the Rat Pack motorcycle gang, Morey Amsterdam as the beatnik operator of the local coffee house, and Vincent Price in a surprise cameo.

Romcoms in the early sixties are all obsessed with sex – not doing it, necessarily, but talking and making jokes about it.  This movie is representative.  It’s not very good but should be fun for anybody who remembers the time.