Something odd has happened over the years. As I get older, I see crap that appeared in the 60s and 70s gain "classic" status. Now, people talk about the wonderful shows and movies of this bygone era (such as I dream of Jeanie, Gilligan's Island, Bewitched, etc.) and I think I must have lost my mind! I mean, even in the time they were being produced, these TV shows were seen as, at best, meaningless fluff. Movies, it seems, have also undergone this revisionism. Rotten old duds are now seen as "great fun" or "classics". I HATE the word "classic"--it no longer has any meaning as it seems to apply to ANYTHING as long as it is old--by that standard, Plan 9 From Outer Space is a classic!.

So why did I pick this particular movie to review? There surely are MANY grossly overrated pictures but this one gets the nod because I just opened by Leonard Maltin guide and found he gave this movie 3 stars. That's like hanging a velvet Elvis painting in the Louvre!! Come on folks--don't be fooled. This is American-International Pictures AND Annette Funicello AND Frankie Avalon! There can't be a greater recipe for dreck than this!

The gang at the beach led by Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello get themselves innocently involved in a publicity stunt staged by Paul Lynde. Lynde hires Deborah Walley who is a professional skydiver to fall from the air and then has his client, singer Linda Evans in the same outfit be rescued by one of the beach kids. Which of course turns out to be Avalon.

The budding relationship between Evans and Avalon of course arouses the jealousy in Annette. Their pal Jody McCrea who plays Deadhead and as you can imagine not the sharpest knife in the drawer or riding the waves gets a romance with Mermaid Marta Kristen in this one.

Beach Blanket Bingo is not all that bad. Frankie Avalon was a teen idol who could actually sing as his career which is still going shows. The songs aren't bad for the type usually featured in these films.

But what makes Beach Blanket Bingo a treat is seeing such fine performers as Paul Lynde, Buster Keaton, Timothy Carey, and most of all Harvey Lembeck in his usual role of Erich Von Zipper leader of the most inept motorcycle gang around until John Quade took that title in Every Which Way But Loose. When Lembeck decides that Evans ought to be the gang pinup girl it's the beach kids versus the motorcycle crew.

And Frankie and Annette make a lovely couple once again.

I could never get into the sun and surf films of the Sixties because frankly, they looked kind of dumb. However in the interest of maintaining a well rounded view of cinematic achievement, I caught this today on Turner Classic Movies. Boy, was it dumb.

The host on TCM stated that each of the Frankie and Annette beach party movies were shot completely in a few hours, and then took about forty minutes to edit. It didn't sound like he was kidding about that, and judging by "Beach Blanket Bingo", that formula is probably pretty close. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if the film makers were working without a script too, because the situations and dialog at times appear to be completely at random, with no help from editing. For example, there's a scene where Bonehead (Jody McCrae) begins to pine after Lorelei (Marta Kristen) as she swims away in the moonlight, but instead of allowing the situation to build with emotion, the scene abruptly cuts to one of the skydiving sequences in bright daylight.

It also would have helped if Dee Dee (Annette Funicello) and Frankie (Frankie Avalon) managed to stay in character from scene to scene. With Frankie scanning every babe to pass into view throughout the film, one minute Dee Dee is jealous, and the next the pair are lovey dovey. It doesn't help that Frankie epitomizes male chauvinism with his 'boys are different' philosophy, as much as stating that Dee Dee should concentrate on staying in the kitchen instead of learning to sky dive.

It would be hard to come up with the movie's low point, but the leading contenders have to include Rickels' monologue when he tells Annette he never did like her anyway, and Zipper's (Harvey Lembeck) song lyric 'We'll give them the finger now". For me personally, it would be South Dakota Slim's (Timothy Carey) trip to the 'booby shack', by that time I felt like Jack Nicholson after the lobotomy in 'Cuckoo's Nest'. For my money, Slim is in the running for the most pathetic movie character ever.

But hey, at least Linda Evans has that Lesley Gore thing going for her in a couple of singing numbers, which I would have bet were dubbed but weren't. And I did like the description of Von Zipper's 'Rats' as Carbon Monoxide Commandos; that was about the most thought put into this flick. But come on, you know you saw that 'fish out of water' line coming from a mile away.

I know I'm in the minority here based on some of the other posters for this film, but nostalgia only goes so far. When the final scene came down blessed by that 'Fin-ee', I could only scratch my head and repeat one of Frankie Avalon's lines from the picture - "You know, I just don't know".

Oh yeah, Buster Keaton is in the movie too, but I just don't believe it.