It's a Bikini World

Deborah Walley and Tommy Kirk compete against each other in this battle of the sexes played out on sunny California beaches. When Walley initially rejects him, Kirk takes on a disguise and pretends to be the kind of guy that she claims she really likes. As usual in beach movies, there are popular music acts of the day, including the Toys and Eric Burdon and the Animals. Silly plot, yet one of the better non-Frankie and Annette beach movies as far as the fun quotient goes.

I enjoyed this one, but not as much as the Frankie and Annette beach movies. This one has The Animals singing one of their hits, so that made it worth watching to go back to a different era. Lots of bikinis and Tommy Kirk just seemed older than I expected...lol. I guess it's my memories of him from the Disney movies. Anyway, this movie delves into how women can do whatever men can do...Deborah Walley, whom I always thought was so cute, trying to successfully complete and beat Tommy Kirk's character...and of course doesn't because at the time women were still considered "the weaker sex". However, she did manage to outsmart him, proving women are smarter than men...lol.

I just found this cheesy film enjoyable to watch, as I had never seen it before. I wouldn't rank this as one of my favorites. It simply cannot compare to the earlier, more carefree and fun loving beach movies. IMO it's worth watching....once. If you enjoy beach movies, stick to the earlier ones and Elvis movies.

It's Christmas in Los Angeles, and yet there are still kids hitting the beach in the early morning hours! Brrrr. Tommy Kirk plays the local Lothario who gets put down by the new girl on the block; he dons nerdy glasses and attempts to woo her Clark Kent-style, but she's more interested in showing up his alter-ego at skateboarding and speedboat racing. Stephanie Rothman directed, and though she doesn't cut back on the cheesecake factor, neither does she seem to know where exactly to point the camera. We get glimpses of behinds and legs and exposed tummies, but without faces and personalities it's all a beach blur. The skateboard race around local side streets is fun, and Deborah Walley twinkles and giggles pleasantly enough, but the quasi-pop art look is scuttled by the low budget and the musical numbers are lethargic. In fact, nearly everyone here seems to be dragging their feet, as if benumbed by the whole enterprise. *1/2 from ****

As a fan of the original beach party flicks, it was sad and disappointing to discover this rarely seen bit of cinematic fluff. By the time it was released, the genre had run its course and this was in no way going to revive it. It took the original pairing of Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello to resuscitate it in Back To the Beach, a fond look back at the genre.

Deborah Walley, who co-starred in some of the original beach party movies gets to star here along with Disney alum Tommy Kirk, who really should have hit the gym before running around with his shirt off. The movie has a poverty row feel about it. The jokes fall flat and the hipster lingo and characters are just embarrassing, as they probably were in the late 60's.

The only reasons to see this are for an early film appearance by Sid Haig who has recently had a career resurgence of sorts with his turn as Captain Spaulding in Rob Zombie's House of 1,000 Corpses and its sequel The Devil's Rejects; and of course for the music and the groups. They are still pretty cool, and the only way this film got 3 stars from me.

Stick with the original beach party movies, they are way more fun.

This is a different kind of flick because it doesn't have Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello. Also, the score is probably more different than the ones used in the Avalon/Funicello epics. However, this film is not on the same league with those films. The only thing that I really enjoyed was watching the Castaways perform their garage/punk anthem "Liar, Liar". You pretty much can tell that this film was done on even more of a shoestring budget than the AIP films. Tommy and Deborah are sure no Frankie and Annette.