Beach Blanket Bingo

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Beach Blanket Bingo
Directed by William Asher
Produced by Samuel Z. Arkoff
James H. Nicholson
Written by Leo Townsend
Sher Townsend
William Asher
Starring Frankie Avalon
Annette Funicello
Music by Les Baxter
Cinematography Floyd Crosby
Distributed by American International
Release date(s) 1965
Running time 98 min.
Country U.S.A.
Language English
Preceded by Pajama Party
Followed by How to Stuff a Wild Bikini
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Beach Blanket Bingo is an American International Pictures Beach Party film, released in 1965 and was directed by William Asher. It is the fifth film in the Beach Party film series. The film starred Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello and also featured cameos by Paul Lynde, Don Rickles and Buster Keaton.

Contents

[edit] Plot

A singer, Sugar Kane (Linda Evans), is unwittingly being used for publicity stunts for her latest album by her agent (Paul Lynde), for example, faking a sky diving stunt, actually performed by Bonnie (Deborah Walley). Meanwhile, Frankie (Frankie Avalon), (duped into thinking he rescued Sugar Kane), takes up skydiving, prompted by Bonnie, who secretly wants to make her boyfriend, Steve (John Ashley) jealous. This, of course, prompts Dee Dee (Annette Funicello) to also try free-falling. Eric Von Zipper and his Malibu Rat Pack bikers also show up, with Von Zipper falling madly in love with Sugar Kane. To top all this, Bonehead (Jody McCrea) falls in love with a mermaid (Marta Kristen - Judy Robinson from TV's Lost In Space). Eventually, Von Zipper "puts the snatch" on Sugar Kane. The film takes a The Perils of Pauline-like twist, with the evil South Dakota Slim (Timothy Carey) kidnapping Sugar and tying her to a buzz-saw.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Songs

  • Beach Blanket Bingo (G. Hemric, J. Styner) - Frankie Avalon, Annette Funicello, and the Cast
  • It Only Hurts When I Cry (G. Hemric, J. Styner) - Donna Loren
  • Follow Your Leader (G. Hemric, J. Styner) - Harvey Lembeck and the Rat Pack
  • New Love (G. Hemric, J. Styner) - Linda Evans
  • I Think You Think (G. Hemric, J. Styner) - Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello
  • Fly Boy (G. Hemric, J. Styner) - Linda Evans
  • These Are the Good Times (G. Hemric, J. Styner) - Frankie Avalon
  • I'll Never Change Him (G. Usher, R. Christian) - Annette Funicello
  • Cycle Set (G. Usher, R. Christian) - The Hondells
    • "I'll Never Change Him" by Annette Funicello was featured in initial prints, but later excised when the song was used again in How to Stuff a Wild Bikini. It can still be seen in 16mm prints and Television broadcasts, but the Region 1 MGM DVD omits it.

[edit] Crew

[edit] Trivia

  • Frankie Avalon's last starring role in the Beach Party films. He appears for only a few minutes in the next film, How to Stuff a Wild Bikini, and not at all in the last film The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini.
  • The fighting/skydiving couple John Ashley and Deborah Walley were husband and wife at the time of filming. They divorced in 1966.
  • Rat Pack leader Harvey Lembeck (Eric Von Zipper) is given more screen time than ever before in this film. He even gets to sing his own song titled "Follow Your Leader" (Later rewritten as "I Am My Ideal" for the followup, How to Stuff a Wild Bikini).
  • Dell Comics put out a 12 cent comic book version of Beach Blanket Bingo in conjunction with the movie's release.
  • The scene where Sugar Kane gets bitten in the leg by the mermaid, and the bite mark is acknowledged as a human bite are references to the film Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid (1948).
  • Originally Nancy Sinatra was scheduled to play Sugar Kane. However, she backed out of the project just before filming was scheduled to begin. This was due in part to the fact that the plot involved a kidnapping, which was somewhat reminiscent of her brother Frank Sinatra Jr.'s kidnapping a few months before shooting began and it made her uncomfortable causing her to drop out.[citation needed]
  • Donna Michelle, who portrays Animal, was the Playboy Playmate of the Year for 1964.
  • In the 1983 film "The Outsiders," Beach Blanket Bingo is shown in a drive-in.
  • In the 1987 film "Good Morning Vietnam," Adrian Cronauer takes Trinh and her family to a showing of Beach Blanket Bingo
  • A Pokémon episode has a pun title called Beach Blank-out Blastoise
  • A Rolie Polie Olie episode also has a pun title called Beach Blanket Gizmo
  • In the Jimmy Buffett song "Who's The Blonde Stranger?", Buffett states "Beach Blanket Bingo comes on the TV" during the last verse of the song.

[edit] References

[edit] External links