Sergeant Dead Head

Second-string drive-in fare from American-International Pictures, here trying to evolve their "Beach Party" series into a more standard comedy genre--but with Frankie Avalon on-board, who could tell the difference? Sergeant Avalon is sent into orbit with a chimpanzee. Deborah Walley is his love-interest, Buster Keaton is an Air Force handyman, and Fred Clark is the befuddled general (no Annette Funicello this time, not even in a cameo). The nickname "Dead Head" was very popular with AIP's stable of writers; Frankie gets to wear the moniker this time, and he looks more than a little embarrassed monkeying around with this script. Eve Arden has a few funny lines and gets her own number, "You Should've Seen the One That Got Away", composed by Guy Hemric and Jerry Styner (who also contribute a cute love song for the gals in the barracks, "How Can You Tell"). Some frisky scenes--such as when the female Airmen drop their bath towels to salute the brass--but the rest is slapstick-stupid and routine. *1/2 from ****

It's cool to see the 'beach party' gang play different roles, and to see the great Buster Keaton in his 4th and final appearance in one of the AIP studios comedies. Another reviewer on here said Gale Gordon was on sabbatical from 'The Beverly Hillbillies'--WRONG! Gale Gordon was Mr. Mooney on 'The Lucy Show' at this time. Raymond Bailey was Mr. Drysdale on 'The Beverly Hillbillies', not Gale Gordon. (Bailey isn't in this movie, by the way.) I think that's who they were thinking of.

But...this has to be the WORST of the Nicholson/Arkoff produced AIP musical comedies of the 1960's.

I pretty much have all of the 'beach party' films on DVD, so I know what I'm talking about.

YIKES! It is cool to see character actors like Eve Arden, Fred Clark, Harvey Lembeck, Cesar Romero, Pat Buttram and Gale Gordon, but this is such a bad movie! The other AIP movies aren't the best either, but this one is truly bad in comparison. WHAT WERE THEY THINKING? It's available on DVD if you look hard enough online. Message me for the site where I found it if you really want to see/own this movie.

Inept is a kind word to describe this misfire. Appalling is more accurate. For some reason, Arkoff and Nicholson decided to branch out from beach pictures, taking most of their regular cast and crew along for the ride. Frankie plays two characters again (though nowhere near as endearingly as in his Frankie/Potato Bug double role) and this time Deborah Walley is the love interest--apparently Annette had enough sense to stay out of this one. Unbelievably they are cast as lovers stationed at the same military base (this decades before the services were sexually integrated) where space missions originate. Ms. Walley's superior officer is played brassilly by the always fine Eve Arden (who sings a dreadful song mid-picture); Frankie's counterpart is the equally good Fred Clark. Gale Gordon, on sabbatical from The Beverly Hillbillies, is also along, as is Cesar Romero as an Admiral. Buster Keaton, Harvey Lembeck, John Ashley, Bobbi Shaw...how can it be BAD? Well, it is. I didn't laugh once. There is one vaguely funny scene between two military policemen but it's too short to generate any real guffaws. The songs are much worse than usual and Deke Heyward's story is unforgivably poor.

When I say that this a screen comedy for dead heads I don't mean for followers of the Grateful Dead and Jerry Garcia. In fact to avoid seeing this film people ought to be grateful they've passed.

There's a little bit of The Nutty Professor in Sergeant Dead Head and by the way that's Frankie Avalon's character name, O.K. Deadhead. An accidental trip into outer space with a chimpanzee has him changing personalities from being a lovable klutz to being an aggressive Buddy Love type. That's causing consternation with all concerned from the president on down to Deborah Walley fellow Air Force non-com and in love with the lovable klutz.

But when Avalon becomes aggressive like Buddy Love all concerned he might be too hard to handle. So they look for a lookalike and find another Frankie Avalon in the Air Force. After that this whole affair becomes witless beyond the point of endurance.

When casting Pat Buttram as a Lyndon Johnson like president is someone's idea of humor you know this film has to be bad. Frankie Avalon isn't even given any good songs to sing.

If you like Frankie Avalon wait for a beach film.

American-International decided to put Frankie Avalon in the Air Force for this latter day installment in the "Beach Party" series. There are quite a number of differences between this and the typical "Beach" movie. First of all, there is no beach what so ever. Secondly, Frankie Avalon plays opposite Deborah Walley instead of Annette Funicello. This had happened before in "Ski Party", but Annette makes a cameo appearance in that one. Here, she is nowhere to be found. Thirdly, the number of veteran character stars has increased. We get Cesar Romero, Eve Arden, Fred Clark, Reginald Gardiner, Pat Buttram, and, best of all, Gale Gordon in one of his few big screen roles. Buster Keaton is here, but he is given less to do than in previous AIP flicks. Harvey Lembeck is cast in his usual bumbling tough guy role, but he does not play Eric von Zipper. I wish he had! John Ashley is cast against type as a nerdy airman and he plays the role well. We get six new songs by Jerry Styner and Guy Hemric thrown into the slapstick mix. But there is a big difference in the songs. Except for Donna Loren's guest spot, these songs are written in traditional musical comedy style as opposed to California Beach Pop. Frankie Avalon had developed into a good comedian and he holds his own with the more seasoned comedy players in the film. His role(s) could have been played at the time by Jerry Lewis or Soupy Sales, but Avalon shows that he can be as funny as those master comics. Avalon shows that he can be effective as both a mousy guy and a confident braggart. Having veteran director Norman Taurog guiding the film adds to the sheen and he is able to keep everything looking good, despite the low budget. This may not be the best film in the series, but it is an enjoyable way to spend 90 minutes.