Out of Sight

Beach bunny overhears nefarious plans by "Big Daddy" to bomb the upcoming beach fair, enlists the aid of a nerdy special agent (top-billed Jonathan Daly, who acts like his teeth are too big for his mouth). Universal aping the A. I. P. "Beach Party" flicks, which were already going out of style. Musical guests Gary Lewis & the Playboys and The Turtles help, but nothing could possibly compensate for the lack of laughs in this script, the leering/nudging performances, the ugly cinematography, and the slow, wooden direction by one Lennie Weinrib, who helms these proceedings like someone who's never seen a movie before much less directed one. * from ****

Dumb, dumb combination of a spy spoof and beach movie. Another one of those 1960's teen movies that was only worth it for the musical acts. I get the feeling that someone was trying to push Jonathan Daly as a comedic actor star, but he comes off as extremely annoying (and too damn old to be cavorting with the women in this film).

I first heard about this movie from the book "Barris TV & Movie Cars," by George Barris & David Fetherston, and immediately, I wanted to know if it was as corny as it looked. I later found out that the book mistook Carole Shelyne for Karen Jensen, and that it makes the 1966-68 Batman TV Series look like Hill Street Blues.

This crackpot spy spoof, is about an employee of a secret agent named Homer(Jonathan Daly), who impersonates one, when he's hired by a beach bunny (Karen Jensen), to stop an organization called "F.L.U.S.H.," lead by a villain with as bad slavic accent(John Lawrence), from destroying rock'n'roll. All the while, he's being hounded by F.L.U.S.H.'s agents, many of them gorgeous women, and one geeky, boy-crazy friend of the beach bunny (Carole Shelyne). As Marvin, Shelyne's character is supposed to be ugly, but this was made at a time when 'ugly' could be defined as having thick glasses and an aggressive sexual desire. The bands in this movie were supposed to be "way out," but even by 1966 standards, that's far from the truth. The only way out thing about it was Homer's car (the ZZR), F.L.U.S.H.'s motorcycle, and a custom T-Bird Sports Roadster at the beginning. The movie is terrific for the bubble-gum set, and anyone with a goofy sense of humor, but if you try to find it at your local video store, the clerk will hand you a copy of the 1998 Jennifer Lopez movie, so look for it on cable-TV instead.

Ironically, 18 years after this movie was made, a REAL organization was establish to destroy rock'n'roll, as well as rap, by a woman who is now the Second Lady of the United States, but it isn't called F.L.U.S.H.,...it's called the P.M.R.C.!

The sands were running out for the Beach party movie cycle by the time this major studio entry hit the Drive-ins in 1966."Out of sight" tries to vary the formula with a witless spy plot,aping the Bond mania of the time.A Russian type villain called Big D(John Lawrence),aiming to sabotage the local teen scene,finds himself up against pretend secret agent Homer(Jonathan Daly-who is like a cross between Jerry Lewis and Bugs Bunny).Big D tries to bump off Homer using a group of assassin babes,including Wende Wagner(from the "Green Hornet" TV series)and the amazing Deanna Lund(from "Land of the Giants"),who plays a hip swinging bad girl called "Tuff Bod"!Also featuring some gags about a girl and a male midget on a motor cycle as agents of..ahem.."F.L.U.S.H"(they are not the main bad guys),and naturally including lots of hunks and bikini girls doing the "jerk" at the beach.

I actually liked a lot of the music here,which kicks off with Gary Lewis and the Playboy's great "Malibu run",and includes the Astronauts doing a creditable "Baby please don't go",the Turtles performing a semi-psychedelic/Byrds type number in someones front room,ersatz concert footage of Brit joke rockers Freddie and the Dreamers and best of all,Dobie Gray with his classic minor dance hit "Out on the floor"(criminally interrupted by a silly chase scene).The catchy theme tune is by Nik Venet,early producer for the Beach Boys at Capitol records.

In spite of a somewhat cheesy and lame story about corny spies, midgets, and bozo beach babes,the wonderful music here really shines. Dobie Gray with his silk-soul of "(Out of Sight) Out On the Floor....The surf/rock Astronauts with a revved-up, stinging version of Van Morrison's "Baby Please Don't Go", and Gary Lewis and the Playboys' rare gem "Malibu Run", make this a classic and criminally obscure piece! Also includes the Knickerbockers, Freddie and the Dreamers and others. In it's day it seemed like a beach movie/pop festival or a cross between Hullaballoo and Shindig. Unfortunately, almost all of these tunes are unavailable anywhere.

If you can find it, and hear it...........do it!