Muscle Beach Party (1964)

Pretty Good

Absolutely the worst movie.

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Muscle Beach Party (1964) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Frankie (Frankie Avalon), Dee Dee (Annette Funicello) and the gang show up to their beach when they realize that a trainer (Ddon Rickles) has his muscle men training on it. Not only does the gang have to worry about this but rich girl Julie (Luciana Paluzzi) has her eyes set on Frankie.MUSCLE BEACH PARTY was the second film in the series and I honestly couldn't say if it was any better or worse than BEACH PARTY. It's clear that neither film is Oscar-worthy but both of them do a decent enough job appealing to the intended target. That target was of course teenagers spending their weekends at a local drive in.As with the first film, this one has a fairly simple plot, which gets a few simple laughs throughout the running time. Both Avalon and Funicello are good enough in their roles and while neither delivers an excellent performance they're at least appealing enough. Rickles brings some entertainment as the whistle-blowing coach and Paluzzi and John Ashley are good as well.MUSCLE BEACH PARTY isn't a masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination but it's a decent time killer for fans of the series.

Let me start by saying that I do love the 'beach party' genre, brief as it was. Honestly though, I prefer the later films, featuring Deborah Walley and Tommy Kirk, and Muscle Beach Party is one that really shows the clumsiness of the earlier entries in the series.Beach Party wasn't that great, but it was a lot better than Muscle Beach Party manages; the first film had a pretty winning group brought together and kept things light, but Muscle inexplicably removes von Zipper and his bikers, substituting musclemen instead who, for a filmsy reason, are enemies to the surfers. Except only a small group of them. You have Don Rickles looking like he doesn't know what he's doing there, Candy Johnson who saves the day with her energetic dancing (but AIP were too cheap to spring for a speaking part, which makes her seem affected), and a Peter Lupus very new to acting. The Del-Tones have a unique part as a band that actually lingers, instead of popping up for a single number and never being seen again, and the lead has a speaking role. Shame they couldn't spring for one for Candy.Then you have Frankie and Annette, playing Frankie and Dee-Dee again. But you have to wonder why Dee-Dee even came to the beach; she's such a wet blanket, there's literally no way anyone would stay with her. The script fails both leads and makes fickle Julie seem like the most compelling and fun member of the cast, which of course is disappointing since she gets treated the worst. Frankie reflects a passion perhaps a bit naive but respectable enough, and Dee-Dee fails to support him, then sings a song about how a boy needs a girl whom she fails to realise is exactly what she isn't. The rest of the gang aren't any better, and whenever they interact with the two, it smacks of 'because the script said so', as none of them are allowed to have even the slightest personality that they showed in most all of the other films.Muscle tries to get serious and ends up depressing, because it does that right when it shouldn't and ends up ruining the lighthearted feel and the jokes that tried to follow the attempts at seriousness. The jokes aren't really all that funny though, especially in comparison to the other films in the series, and overall there are just too many clumsy scenes that go on for far too long and make almost everyone involved look terrible. The only characters who give any joy at all are Candy, with her exuberant (though curiously silent) dancing and Peter Lorre, who is a pleasure to see even in the microscopic cameo he's given.If you really feel you have to see all of the beach party films, this is definitely not where to start. Turn it on and tune out, because nothing amounts to anything -- while that may be true of the other films too, they're at least a fun ride. This one, like the prolonged fight sequence that brings it to its end, simply overstays its welcome and doesn't seem to have an idea that it's lingering awkwardly and in a way that isn't very entertaining.

I taped this hoping to be something to show my high school video classics students. But while watching it, maybe I will call it "What NOT to watch as a classic". I think they made some better ones, than this one, I am just not sure which one those are. Annette was cute. Frankly is hot. It was fun to see some of the stars when they were so much younger. Buddy Hackett and Stevie Wonder, wow that was a while ago. I never did figure out who the girl in the white frilly dress was thou? I laughed at how silly it was at times. I then realized that this was the extent of comedy at that time. So all and all it was OK. I would not put it on my top 100 but it was fun to watch.

A tribe of muscle men invade the surfer's beach. A countess falls in love with the tallest and biggest "Mr.Galaxy".But, when she sees Frankie,its love. Frankie and Annette fight over his irresponsible lifestyle and when the countess encourages him to be wild, he begins to like her.When she hears him sing, she sets up a recording contract for him.But all his friends are mad.(Some Friends!!!) So,he drops the countess and goes back to Annette. Annette sings "A Girl Needs a Boy" in this one.