Commando Bikini

As if the really fake submarine deck scenes and awful dialog wasn't bad enough, we then have to contend with the Eva Six character falling in love with Tab Hunter, right after he HITS HER. I guess that's what defined male/female relationships in 60's cinema. "Beat me up and I will immediately fall for you." Thankfully, she dies before the end of the movie, so we don't have to imagine them going back to the States to continue this ugliness as a married couple.

Jim Backus looked so bad in this movie that I had to infer that he was preparing for his role in "Gilligan's Island." His delivery was stilted, slow and terrible - as though he had to be prompted from off-camera before each line. The whole production must have consisted of scenes wrapped after the first take.

Operation Bikini is a unique entry in filmmaking history. AIP knew they had a bankable star in Frankie Avalon, but they hadn't quite found the right formula for him, so they stuck him in this war programmer about the Submarine Service. Also along for the ride are Jim Backus, Jody McCrea, Tab Hunter, and a bunch of other familiar faces. The film is basically Beach Party At Sea, and is surely the only film bold enough to feature Frankie singing schlocky pop songs in between explosions and two fisted action. Not only does Frankie sing, he does it whilst projected in black and white against a proto-psychedelic colour background of nubiles and nymphets. Your jaw will drop. Save one last gasp of indignation for the truly tasteless ending which could only have come from the over-heated imagination of Samuel Z. Arkoff.

When I saw this in the cable listings, I thought, 'OMG, Tab Hunter AND Frankie Avalon in the same *serious* war movie?!' I just had to watch it. I was going to give it a few minutes till I read BrunoCat's amusing review and decided to slog through the whole thing. A mini-time capsule of a sad era in Hollywood, when actors' kids and slack-jawed pretty boys kept talented actors out of work. The double-digit IQ fairly oozes from poor Michael Dante's pores. This is the time when Sinatra's ultra cool Vegas persona was in full swing, and an attempt is made to fit Frankie into this mold. Fuhgedaboudit! Only the divine Bobby Darin could do that, and he out-cooled Sinatra most of the time. I still miss him! Another historical aspect is the view of women: the sexy/gorgeous ones are for sex, the wholesome/pretty ones for love, and the non-white ones can be sort of loved but mostly coerced, as their true purpose is to sacrifice for the white lover's success. Sadly this is still a frequent theme; "El Mariachi" (1992) comes to mind. Anyway, I agree with BrunoCat: this is something you've never seen before and should watch just for the experience!

It was raining outside and I thought I would watch a movie on one of the cable stations. Not really reading the storyline I saw this movie called 'Operation Bikini'. Hey, a war movie about submarines- thats interesting, think I will watch. WHAT THE .........

This movie was down right terrible. I understood the plot but had no idea what was happening on the TV screen. It felt more like it should have been a bad script from 'McHale's Navy' than a WW2 action movie.

I will not even progress to the bad acting but what about the casting. Why in God's name is Jim Backus in this movie? Why would anyone want Frankie Avalon singing in a picture about World War? I step out of the room a minute and upon returning thought a commercial was on. But it was Frankie Avalon singing in color with the rest of the movie in black and white. I never understood that dreamy scene.

At one point in the film they were trying to show that many Japeneese were giving chase to the American. They showed a patch of dirt and all you see is feet running. They used that clip over and over again but never showed any people. Now that was cheap.

The only thing good about the movie was the ending. Not only because the film was ending but they had girls frolicking on a beach in bikini's. Oh yes, that was in color also.

Just poor overall.

1st watched 6/16/2002 - 4 out of 10(Dir-Anthony Carras): Unfocused war movie that tries to throw in video clips from Frankie Avalon and dancing girls in bikini's at the end to lighten it up? If it would have been a war adventure from beginning to end it would have been better. This film is basically about a special mission being sent to Bikini Island in the south Pacific to rescue a sunken U.S. submarine(for what reason I wasn't sure). A miniature romance begins with Tab Hunter and an island girl, but she gets killed in the next scene, and supposedly Frankie is enticed in his dreams by a seductive island girl and is tempted by her in his song while his girl is at home waiting for him(of course this is just a setup for his singing - he never encounters the temptation). Silly little things like this, and Jim Backus trying to throw in lame humor when his character really doesn't seem like he should have any, is also silly. This movie reminds me of something the studio chopped up and sold for what it wasn't about, to try and make some money(which I hope it didn't). Bottom line this is a lame attempt at a war movie with a couple of lame songs song by Mr. Avalon.