Beach Ball

All teen beach or period flicks deserve their own catagory stars and all should be a 3 or better....if one gets the point.Sadly too many 60's fans either missed the entire scene, were born after it was even current or too young to actually be "in the teen scene" and are just bitter. These are not Academy Award projects nor did they ever attempt to be. All 60's teen films had a positive message entwined within the absolute silliness of the wrap around scenes that glue it together. Look where the Monkees TV show was developed from; the original Batman TV show; most slapstick comedies of the future are all pulled and revamped from these (and others) 60's teen flick's cherrys.....or cherry bombs. It is a good chance to see great bands do songs that they might not have performed (some thankfully) at all. But remember the point of all of these teen berach flicks, this gem included: To have fun, escape into someplace totally or close to unreal and with a happy or comical ending. Beach Ball is a great,a typical 60's teen flick and is as good as any other "beach" flicks of the era. To analyze this or these types of films with the slashing of a "Freddy" movie is missing the point. Beach Ball is total nostalgia from sets, dialogue, scenery, cars, bands, girls and guys. Grab some popcorn, put your feet up, whack it on the TV and just enjoy a period that many wish was still around. Beach Ball still has plenty of smile bits to remind us of our potential to just enjoy these teen era flicks without dissecting it like a stiff lab frog.

You remember that routine that they used to do on NBC'S Saturday Night, the "Sixties Movie" thing? This is it. The lighting, the music (though persuasive... the Righteous Brothers kick butt), the chicks, the cars, the comic relief. It has "1965" scrawled all over it.

... with mixed results. Edd Byrnes stars as Dick, who's trying to manage his buddies' rock trio (Robert Logan, Aron Kincaid, and Don Edmonds) into a successful act. When they come up short for paying their instrument rental fees, Dick comes up with a plan to hoodwink a university for the money to buy their own equipment. The school sends four young ladies (Chris Noel, Mikki Jamison, Brenda Benet, and Gail Gilmore) to oversee the expenditure, with the expected romantic results. Also featuring Anna Lavelle, James Wellman, Jack Bernardi, and Dick Miller as "Cop #1".

With musical performances by The Supremes, The Four Seasons, The Righteous Brothers, The Walker Brothers, and the Hondells. The fictitious band in the film, "The Wrigglers", perform the most songs, generic surf-rock/teen idol stuff. The comedy is bad, Edd Byrnes is terrible and brings nothing but his meager name recognition to the table, and the movie looks cheap. However, the women are gorgeous and often in bikinis, the music is pretty good if silly and imminently forgettable, and there's a big custom hot rod show at the end.

Tell yourself you are studying lesser cinematic history to get through it all.

Let's see. . .twentysomethings who's only goal in life seems to be partying, comic book villain types who want to spoil their fun, popular R&B and rock groups of the day. Must be a 1960's beach movie! If you see this on video, fast forward to the musical acts, in particular, The Supremes singing "Surfer Boy". Otherwise, this movie is forgettable.

This movie is common for it's species, it's terrible. If there were a writer, a director, or a plot then it would not even have mattered because the cast is so terrible that whatever this is (or could have been) is so far beyond help that it needs never be mentioned as a film, or even a mild stupid form of entertainment.

That said, I have the whole thing on tape and will preserve it forever in my archive.

Besides, the fact it was made for one reason and for one moment in time for a cotton-candy world where teens got their little fix of good-looking boys and girls in swim-suits while set to a compilation of hit songs that made for a perfect Saturday night with the girl next door...it was in essence a time like today where stupid teen movies and bad music dominate the entertainment needs of dumb kids. MTV madness!!!

So, I freaking hate this movie but...

Enough negativity. Let's now focus on the good points, no, Great points. Mixed into this soundtrak of terrible baby music are two moments of greatness. Number one is an appearence by the Walker Brothers. They do a terrible song but for those us of who are huge Scott Walker fans or admireres of the Walker Brothers it is a huge treat to simply look at them, at Scott while he breezes through this odd little movie shoot.

The other moment of pure genius is the performance of the legendary Supremes. We all know the three black girls and Diana and all of those hits etc...but here in this movie there is a song that is amazing, very dark, tonally intriguing, and to my ear one of the most serious pop songs of the early sixties. I have looked hard for this song on any Supremes product but cant find anyhing about it. The words "Surfer Boy" repeat in the chorus but I dont know the actual title of the song.

Without this movie life would be a little less good.