Frankie Avalon Movies

This made-for-television biography paints a moving portrait of the extraordinary life of Annette Funicello, a former Mouseketeer who grew up to be America's sweetheart and Queen of the Beach Blanket movies of the 1960s. The story not only covers her professional rise to stardom both as an actress and a recording star, but also provides a look into her private life, notably her romance with Paul Anka, her two marriages, and her life after she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in the late 1980s. Eva LaRue Callahan plays Funnicello. The subject herself also makes a cameo appearance along with former co-star Frankie Avalon. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello not only starred in the delightfully "retro" Back to the Beach, but also served as executive producers. Appropriately set 25 years after such drive-in faves as Beach Blanket Bingo, the film finds Frankie and Annette as husband and wife, living far from the surf 'n' sand in Ohio. Heading to California to visit their daughter Lori Loughlin, Frankie and Annette are appalled to learn that she has been keeping time with punker Tommy Hinkley. In time-honored fashion, our hero and heroine set about to make the beach safe for funlovers everywhere by driving out Hinkley's unsavory pals. Along the way, Frankie nearly bollixes up his marriage by dallying with Connie Stevens-one of several pop-culture icons appearing in Back to the Beach, including Don Adams, Bob Denver, Jerry Mathers, Tony Dow, Dick Dale & the Del-Tones , Stevie Ray Vaughan, and even Pee-wee Herman! Back to the Beach is fun for a while, but its six-person writing team can't figure out a logical way to wind it all up. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Professor Bob Cummings is an anthropologist who uses a telescope to study the mating habits of teenagers, namely Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello. However, Cummings' secretary Dorothy Malone wishes that his boss would get his mind off bikinis and surfers. Meanwhile trouble brews when Eric Von Zipper (Harvey Lembeck) tries to abduct Annette. Watch for cameo appearances by Vincent Price and Elizabeth Montgomery. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Blood Song, a horror/slasher film, tells the story of a young woman (Donna Wilkes) who witnesses the murder of a hospital attendant by a psychopath during his escape from a mental institution. The young, handicapped girl, who once was given a blood transfusion from the killer, now is his next intended victim. This is an unusual thriller, with an above-average cast including Antoinette Bower as the girl's mother and Richard Jaeckel as her father. Former teen idol, Frankie Avalon also shows up in a central role. This above-average horror thriller, also released as Dream Slayer is worth a look. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide

Teen idol Frankie Avalon plays a straight dramatic role as Pvt. Eddie Cane, King Company's latest replacement. Hailing from the same neck of the woods as Pvt. Kirby (Jack Hogan), Cane informs one and all that his dead brother had been Kirby's best friend. The only squad member who feels uncomfortable about Cane's presence is Kirby himself--because now he'll have to make good on certain favors that he owed his deceased pal. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Spliced together with plentiful strips of old footage from previous films set in Africa, this routine romantic drama takes place on the east, equatorial region of the so-called "dark continent," in 1897. The story features Mariette Hartley as Ruth Knight and Lloyd Bochner as David, an engineer and Ruth's romantic interest during a safari. Frankie Avalon plays another safari member. Aside from the spliced-in scenery and animals, and the romance between Ruth and David, there is a dash of adventure here and there as slave traders enter into the action. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

In this musical aimed at teenagers, Frankie Avalon, and Fabian battle it out for Annette Funicello's affections on the stock car track. The tale begins when smugglers trick Avalon into taking on contraband during a cross-country race. He catches on to their ploy and helps the Feds capture the crooks. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

"Grease," said the poster and the Barry Gibb song, "is the word." Transferring its setting from Chicago to sunny California, and adding a dash of disco to the ersatz '50s score, producer Allan Carr and director Randal Kleiser turned this long-running Jim Jacobs - Warren Casey Broadway smash into the biggest blockbuster of 1978. 1950s teens Danny (John Travolta) and Australian transfer Sandy (Olivia Newton-John) spend their "Summer Nights" falling in love, but once fall comes, it's back to Rydell High and its cliques. As one of the bad boy T-Birds, Danny has to act cool for best pal Kenickie (Jeff Conaway) and their leather-clad mates Sonny (Michael Tucci) and Doody (Barry Pearl, in the role Travolta played on stage). Despite befriending Frenchy (Didi Conn), one of the rebel Pink Ladies, virginal Sandy is "too pure to be Pink," as the Ladies' leader Rizzo (Stockard Channing) acidly observes. Declaring their devotion in such ballads as "Hopelessly Devoted to You" and "Sandy," Sandy and Danny split, reconcile, and split again amidst a pep rally, dances, drive-ins, and a drag race, before deciding "You're the One That I Want" at the climactic carnival. With Travolta white-hot from Saturday Night Fever (1977), Grease soundtrack singles climbed the charts and summer movie crowds poured in. With the presence of Joan Blondell, Eve Arden, Sid Caesar, Edd "Kookie" Byrnes and Frankie Avalon appealing to grown-up memories, Grease became the highest grossing film of 1978, the highest grossing movie musical ever, and the third most popular film of the new blockbuster '70s after Star Wars (1977) and Jaws (1975). Its sequel, Grease 2, did not exactly set the world on fire in 1982. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide

The most horrifying part of this British spooker is seeing former clean-cut teen idol Frankie Avalon cast as Chris, a London hooligan who with his druggie friends decides to spend the night in a supposedly haunted house and hold a seance. The seance is a bust, so the buddies decide to do a little exploration and split up. Unfortunately, one of them gets brutally killed, leaving Chris and his surviving pals to wonder who did the deed. Was it one of them, or was it a monstrous demon? Not wanting to attract undue attention, the punks decide to hide the body, zip their lips, and split from the house. Unfortunately, the cops find out and begin questioning everyone, causing Chris and his friend to return to the house and look for clues. For poor Chris, it is a fatal mistake. Just for the record, though he plays a teen, Avalon was 30 years old when this film was made. In Britain the film was released as The Haunted House of Horror. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Some of the best and best-loved rock & roll acts of the mid-'60s are captured for posterity on this home-video release, which features material from the hit pop music television series Hullabaloo. Hullabaloo, Vol. 5 features Frankie Avalon playing host to musical guests the Kinks, Junior Walker & the All-Stars, the Shangri-Las, the Animals, Dobie Gray, Del Shannon, Freddie & the Dreamers, and more. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Jamboree adheres to the usual formula of late-1950s rock&roll films: A plethora of musical numbers linked together by the wispiest of plotlines. Kay Medford heads the cast as manipulative showbiz agent Grace Shaw. Hoping to land pop singer Pete Porter (Paul Carr), Grace connives to break up Pete's romance with female vocalist Honey Wynn (Freda Holloway). But who cares? The audience came to see such musical faves as Fats Domino, Count Basie, Jerry Lee Lewis, Jodie Sands, Ron Coby, Slim Whitman, Carl Perkins, Frankie Avalon, Charlie Gracie and the Four Coins. As a promotional tie-in, Jamboree also features appearances by 21 of North America's top rock-and-roll deejays. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Beach Party Gang meets a coterie of muscle-men who try to take over their spot on the beach in Muscle Beach Party. Surfing sensations Frankie (Frankie Avalon) and Dee Dee (Annette Funicello) have their security threatened when Flex Martian (Rock Stevens) and a collection of well-oiled weight-lifters invade their turf. While tensions heat up on the beach, wealthy contessa Julie (Luciana Paluzzi) arranges for her business manager S.Z. Matts (Buddy Hackett) to entice Flex into becoming the latest in her long line of boyfriends. Julie's feelings change when she meets Frankie, who, honored by Julie's amorous attentions, returns her affections, causing a rift not only between Dee Dee and himself, but a further collapse in relations between the surfers and the body-builders, which is assuaged only by the music of Dick Dale and the Del Tones and Little Stevie Wonder. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide