How to Stuff a Wild Bikini

Frankie Avalon off doing his Naval Reserve training in those innocent days before Vietnam is wondering whether Annette is being true to him back at the beach with all those other hunks around. He's stationed on a tropical Pacific Isle with lots of other curvaceous cuties around. He asks one of them to bring him to the local witch doctor for help. The witch doctor sends a pelican out to spy on Annette back at the beach.

So help me this is the beginning of the story. But it's not a half bad film, in fact it gets down right satirical at times. In addition to Frankie, Annette and the rest of the beach crew, some Hollywood old timers got some work in this film and they get a chance to overact outrageously. They include Brian Donlevy and Mickey Rooney as a pair of scheming advertising executives along with Dwayne Hickman who's their schemer in training, Harvey Lembeck as a Marlon Brando type motorcycle gang leader and Buster Keaton as the witch doctor.

I'd try to see How to Stuff a Wild Bikini if for no other reason than to see all these players ham it up. Though in some spots the pelican gives the best performance in the film.

"How to Stuff a Wild Bikini" is almost a pretty good movie. It looks good and has a game cast. It's just a little too dumb to really enjoy. There aren't any real laughs. There are quite a few almost laughs. There are a lot of songs but they are all pretty bad. The only thing the songs have going for them is that they are short, very short. I managed to watch all of "How to Stuff a Wild Bikini" but I don't think I'll be revisiting it anytime soon.

I purchased the DVD version of this movie and would like to inform other 'Beach Party' movie lovers that MGM has done a great job on the video and sound. I have in the past had to suffer through very low quality VHS copies of the Beach Party movies, where I wound up throwing away the tape and putting a VHS tape that I recorded off TV into the box. That won't be the case here! (even if I could record a DVD) As for the movie ... Well, it is my least favorite of the Frankie and Annette Beach Party movies ... And I think I'm in the majority there. But if you love the Beach Party genre of movies you have to have this one too and you don't need me to tell you about it.

<standing salute to MGM>

The review above regarding Mickey Roony touching the actresses' breast was true. The actress was Sue Willliams and she was a Playboy playmate. She was the first Playmate to get breast implants, so I don't know if Mickey did it on purpose or not. In any case it should have been caught. If you watch her act her small part thru out the movie she really tried to be noticed and shine. Sadly she was also the first Playmate to take her own life, September 2,1969. She was only 23. She was called Peanut in the movie and in real life she was only 4' 11". Sue acted in several of these types of movies and then it seems the parts dried up which may have led to her depression.

My 12 year old watched this with me this morning (it was raining) and she was laughing at the old fashionedness of the movie. I would have rather watched a better example of the "beach movie" but we still had fun.

At one point Mickey Rooney tells one of the bikini clad girls how cute she is and goes to chuck her on her chin, and on the way to her chin, his hand clips her right breast. My daughter said, "Hey, did he just touch her boob?" Well, we have TIVO and rewound the movie. Yes he did. How'd that get by the censors?

But the musical scenes were hysterical for her, and we both agreed that Annette looked way too old to be hanging out with all of the bikini girls! And why wasn't she screaming when she took that motorcycle ride?