It's a Bikini World

As a fan of the original beach party flicks, it was sad and disappointing to discover this rarely seen bit of cinematic fluff. By the time it was released, the genre had run its course and this was in no way going to revive it. It took the original pairing of Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello to resuscitate it in Back To the Beach, a fond look back at the genre.

Deborah Walley, who co-starred in some of the original beach party movies gets to star here along with Disney alum Tommy Kirk, who really should have hit the gym before running around with his shirt off. The movie has a poverty row feel about it. The jokes fall flat and the hipster lingo and characters are just embarrassing, as they probably were in the late 60's.

The only reasons to see this are for an early film appearance by Sid Haig who has recently had a career resurgence of sorts with his turn as Captain Spaulding in Rob Zombie's House of 1,000 Corpses and its sequel The Devil's Rejects; and of course for the music and the groups. They are still pretty cool, and the only way this film got 3 stars from me.

Stick with the original beach party movies, they are way more fun.

"It's A Bikini World" was a production of famed B movie studio American- International Pictures, but was released under their Trans American Films label. A.I.P. used that label on movies they handled that they thought might tarnish their reputation, and it's easy to see why they were probably uneasy about this movie. Unlike their other beach party movies, this movie is sorely lacking in energy. Scene after scene goes by that immediately falls on the ground with a thud. There's also not much of a story on display here, resulting in a lot of padding. Even the music (save for when The Castaways perform their hit "Liar, Liar") is nothing special. Sid Haig is kind of fun in his scenes, but he doesn't get a lot of screen time. A beach blanket bomb!

Skateboarding champion Tommy Kirk (as Mike Samson) poses as his own bookworm brother "Herbert" in order to woo pretty bikinied Deborah Walley (as Delilah Dawes). "It's a Bikini World" begins with a great instrumental opening and graphics sequence, which was usually a strong suit in American International's "Beach Party" movies. That series was sputtering to an end, and this film follows the formula well enough, but audiences were moving on...

The Animals, The Toys, The Gentrys, and The Castaways are lip-syncing highlights...

Although Mr. Kirk performs well fully clothed, he is obviously not in shape to play the muscle-toned, athletic "Samson" on the beach. As his "Delilah", Ms. Walley (still) fills her bikini well. Kirk and Walley had appeared in original "Beach Party" spin-offs. The second-tiered players fall in line: Bobby "Boris" Pickett (as Woody) provides Kirk with a foolish-looking, older beach pal. Suzie Kaye (as Pebbles) is a shapely sidekick for Walley.

*** It's a Bikini World (4/14/67) Stephanie Rothman ~ Tommy Kirk, Deborah Walley, Bobby Pickett

So much fun weirdness going on here...the plot is pure '60s cornball but the actors are game and there are a lot of strange subtleties to appreciate: The Pop Art feel of the film, from the comic book opening titles (this was made at the height of the Batman craze, after all) to the Warhol/Lichtenstein style artwork hanging on the walls (pretty ahead of its time...I want a pad just like Mike's!) -- Veteran horror actor Sid Haig as an Ed "Big Daddy" Roth type -- The Crispin Gloveresque "McSnigg" character -- Bobby "Boris" Pickett of Monster Mash fame playing the goofy sidekick Woody (?!?!) -- Nice musical performances, more imaginatively photographed than in most films of this sort. The Animals' "We Gotta Get Out Of This Place" is a highlight -- Not to mention beautiful sunny locales and lots of bright, 1960s colors. If you enjoy beach party films, give this one a shot!

This is a different kind of flick because it doesn't have Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello. Also, the score is probably more different than the ones used in the Avalon/Funicello epics. However, this film is not on the same league with those films. The only thing that I really enjoyed was watching the Castaways perform their garage/punk anthem "Liar, Liar". You pretty much can tell that this film was done on even more of a shoestring budget than the AIP films. Tommy and Deborah are sure no Frankie and Annette.