Muscle Beach Party (1964)

User Rating:

3.5/10   

Director:

William Asher

Writers:

William Asher (story)
Robert Dillon (screenplay)

Release Date:

25 March 1964 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Musical

Tagline:

Hear 8 new swim hits!

Plot:

Local beach-goers find that their beach has been taken over by a businessman training a stable of body builders.

Plot Keywords:

Beach | Muscle | Party | Bodybuilder | Beach Party

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Frankie Avalon	...	Frankie
Annette Funicello	...	Dee Dee
Luciana Paluzzi	...	Julie
John Ashley	...	Johnny
Don Rickles	...	Jack Fanny
Peter Turgeon	...	Theodore
Jody McCrea	...	Deadhead
Dick Dale	...	Himself
Candy Johnson	...	Candy
Peter Lupus	...	Flex Martian (as Rock Stevens)
Valora Noland	...	Animal
Delores Wells	...	Sniffles
Donna Loren	...	Donna
Morey Amsterdam	...	Cappy
Stevie Wonder	...	Himself (as Little Stevie Wonder)

Runtime:

94 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Pathécolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:G | Finland:K-8

Filming Locations:

Paradise Cove - 28128 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu, California, USA

Company:

Alta Vista Productions

Trivia:

During the climactic fight scene, Frankie Avalon and Peter Lorre stare at each other for a few seconds with Frankie saying that Lorre looks familiar. This is in reference to the fact that the two of them worked together previously in the film Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1961).

Goofs:

Continuity: A helicopter is hovering over the beach. It is shown equipped with pontoons but its shadow clearly and repeatedly shows a helicopter with metal rails for landing gear.

Quotes:

Julie: [signalling to the chopper pilot to land on the beach] Lower! Go lower!
S.Z. Matts: If we go any lower, we'll cut off their heads!
Julie: I'm not interested in their heads!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Drive-in Movie Memories (2001)

Soundtrack:

A Girl Needs a Boy

Muscle Beach Party (1964) *1/2

I wouldn't think you could go far wrong with both Don Rickles and Buddy Hackett, but I was mistaken. Rickles plays an unfunny coach who never gets any laughs while he works with a group of oily muscle men (that may be your thing; it's not mine). Hackett (whom I don't believe I've ever seen looking so trim and normal) is no more than the aide to a rich heiress (Luciana Paluzzi) who sets her sights on Frankie Avalon, much to the disapproval of his girl Annette Funicello. All the vignettes going on herein are disjointed and tiresome, and Candy Johnson (who reminds me of a young Polly Holiday from the ALICE TV series) isn't as alluring as she thinks she is when regularly shaking her booty and causing men to freeze-frame and fall off their surfboards... and not even having the indecency to wear a bikini while doing it. John Ashley is present too. Don't ask me what the point of having Morey Amsterdam in this mess was. Peter Lorre pops in for a short time in a humorous cameo, and at the end we get to enjoy the very young Little Stevie Wonder do his stuff, but it's not enough. It's not very often you can say the end credits sequence is the best thing about a film, but that was the case here.