Lyndall Hobbs Movies
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, Rovi
- Starring:
- Frankie Avalon, Annette Funicello, (more)
- 1981
- R
This music documentary presents 30 different performances nonstop, featuring both well-known and lesser-known bands with names that sound like they were picked at random from words thrown into a salad bowl and then mixed at high speed: Pere Ubu, XTC, Wall of Voodoo, Oingo Boingo, Steel Pulse, Surf Punks, 999, UB40, Echo and the Bunnymen, and so forth. The sounds recorded on this documentary are as varied as the names of the bands, and so there is something for everyone here -- at least, everyone enthralled by music as boisterous and eccentric (in some cases) as the nomenclature of the groups themselves. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- The Police
