Mickey Dora Movies
- 1965
How to Stuff a Wild Bikini is considered to be the strangest of the "Beach Party" movies. Frankie (Frankie Avalon) is off in the navy, serving in the South Pacific, and nervous about all of the guys that will be hitting on Dee Dee (Annette Funicello) back at the beach. He makes a deal with an eccentric white witch doctor (Buster Keaton), who conjures up a woman named Cassandra (Beverly Adam) who is irresistible to all men, and she attracts all of the guys on the beach. But complications ensue when lunatic advertising man Mickey Rooney decides to try and make Cassandra a new national sex symbol, and she gets noticed by nutsy bike gang leader Erik Von Zipper (Harvey Lembeck), who vows to have her. With enough plot complications to rival A Midsummer Night's Dream, Wild Bikini is laced with satire and some surprisingly good music. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Annette Funicello, Dwayne Hickman, (more)
Part of American-International's "Beach Party" series, Beach Blanket Bingo was directed by William Asher. Frankie (Frankie Avalon) briefly deserts Dee Dee (Annette Funicello) in favor of pop star Sugar Kane (Linda Evans). Also around and about is a mermaid, appropriately named Lorelei (Marta Kristen). Scurrilous cycle gang leader Eric Von Zipper (Harvey Lembeck) finds time to sing a tune, while Paul Lynde sneers a lot, Don Rickles insults a lot, Buster Keaton mimes a lot, and columnist Earl Wilson lets everybody know who he is by exclaiming "That's Earl, brother." The whole cast rushes to the rescue when South Dakota Slim (Timothy Carey) binds the lovely Sugar Kane to a buzzsaw. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Frankie Avalon, Annette Funicello, (more)
- 1965
Ski Party is essentially a beach-party flick with snow and capri pants replacing the surf and bikinis. Frankie Avalon and Dwayne Hickman decide to crash a girls-only party at a skiing lodge. You know what happens next--and boy, are Avalon and Hickman a sight in lipstick and high heels. Avalon's usual vis-a-vis Annette Funicello has a mere guest role here, allowing Deborah Walley and Yvonne Craig to supply the pulchritude. All that's really missing are the usual Beach Party guest stars: Robert Q. Lewis is hardly a fair exchange for Buster Keaton and Don Rickles. One of the songs in Ski Party was co-written by no less than Marvin Hamlisch. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Frankie Avalon, Dwayne Hickman, (more)
- 1964
Arizona adolescents harken to the call of the distant surf and head off for a fun-filled romantic adventure in swinging Malibu. Songs include: "If I Were an Artist," "Surf Party," "Fire Water," "Glory Wave," "Crack-Up" and "Great White Water." ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1964
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
- Starring:
- Frankie Avalon, Annette Funicello, (more)
Filmmaker Bruce Brown won international acclaim in 1966 with his film The Endless Summer, a fascinating and superbly-photographed documentary about three top-rank surfers following the summer (and the waves) around the globe. But The Endless Summer was hardly Brown's first film, and this re-release of his 1961 effort Surfing Hollow Days shows that Brown was already creating a priceless insider's look at both the culture of surfing and the men and women who rode the waves. Shot in California and Florida, Surfing Hollow Days shows such legends as Robert August, Mike Haley, and Kemp Aaberg in action, as well as Phil Edwards taming the infamous "Pipeline" and Peter Johnson taking on the surf at Sunset Beach at the tender age of 12. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
