The Vintagent Classics: The films that inspired us.
BEACH BLANKET BINGO (1965)
Run Time: 1:38:00
Producer: Alta Vista Productions
Director: William Asher
Writer: William Asher, Leo Townsend
Key Cast: Frankie Avalon, Annette Funicello, Deborah Walley
FILM MAKERS
“It’s the wettest, wildest game in town!”
Beach Blanket Bingo is a 1965 American beach party film directed by William Asher. It is the fifth film in the Beach Party film series. The film stars Frankie Avalon, Annette Funicello, Linda Evans, Deborah Walley, Paul Lynde, and Don Rickles. Earl Wilson and Buster Keaton appear. Evans’s singing voice was dubbed by Jackie Ward.
The story involves a missing pop star, a mermaid, and Eric Von Zipper’s gang. Timothy Carey is wild as zonked-out hipster South Dakota Slim, a pool playing, biker sadist, and kidnapping tap dancer who is a swell guy.
The Hondels rock on “The Cycle Set.” Tons of other songs are performed by Frankie, Annette, Donna Loren and Linda Evans. Frankie Avalon, Linda Evans, Annette Funicello, Deborah Walley, Harvey Lembeck, John Ashley, Jody McCrea, Donna Loren, Marta Kristen, Timothy Carey, Don Rickles, Paul Lynde, Bobbi Shaw, Buster Keaton, Brian Wilson, The Hondels.
SUMMARY
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 skydiving stunt, actually performed by Bonnie (Deborah Walley).
Meanwhile, Frankie (Frankie Avalon), duped into thinking he rescued Sugar Kane, takes up skydiving at Bonnie’s prompting; she secretly wants to make her boyfriend Steve (John Ashley) jealous. This prompts Dee Dee (Annette Funicello) to also try free-falling. Eric Von Zipper (Harvey Lembeck) and his Rat Pack bikers also show up, with Von Zipper falling madly in love with Sugar Kane. Meanwhile, Bonehead (Jody McCrea) falls in love with a mermaid named Lorelei (Marta Kristen).
Eventually, Von Zipper “puts the snatch” on Sugar Kane, and in a Perils of Pauline-like twist, the evil South Dakota Slim (Timothy Carey) kidnaps Sugar and ties her to a buzz-saw.
RELATED MEDIA
Watch the FULL FILM on Amazon
Buy the DVD at Video Beat
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BBB? Oi ! Diggin a bit deep in the muck pile ….. aint we ?
Eeesh ….
oh, don’t worry, i have films for decades! 😉