The beach party film is an American film genre of feature films which were produced and released between 1963 and 1968, created by American International Pictures (AIP), beginning with their surprise hit, Beach Party, in July 1963. With this film, AIP is credited with creating the genre.McParland, p. 13Chidester, p. 158Burns, pp. 46–48 In addition to the AIP films, several contributions to the genre were produced and released by major and independent studios alike. According to various sources, the genre comprises over 30 films,McParlandChidesterBetrock with the lower-budget AIP films being the most profitable.Arkoff, pp. 134-135
Generally comedies, the core elements of the AIP films consist of a group of teenage and/or college-age characters as protagonists; non-parental adult characters as antagonists and/or comic relief; simple, silly storylines that avoid any sober social consciousness; teen trends and interests (such as dancing, surfing, drag racing, custom cars, music, irresponsible drinking, etc.); simple romantic arcs; original songs (presented in both the musical genre style and as "source music"); teen-oriented musical acts (frequently performing as themselves); and a tongue-in-cheek attitude toward the target audience.
The earliest films by AIP, as well as those by other studios, focus on surfing and beach culture. Although the genre is termed "beach party film", several subsequent films that appeared later in the genre, while keeping most of the core elements mentioned above, do not actually include surfing – or even scenes on a beach.
Nomenclature One of the earliest uses of the term in print is found several times in the June 1965 issue of Mad magazine in an article written by Larry Siegel.Siegel, p. 5 Commentators on the genre have used this term as well.McParland, p. 143ArkoffLucasWarshaw, Hollywood and Surfing The term "beach party film" is distinguished from a "surf film" or "surf movie" in that the former refers to the comedies of the 1960s, whereas the latter terms refer to surf documentaries (such as The Endless Summer or Riding Giants), a still-active genre. Occasionally the term "surf movie" refers to a straightforward dramatic film that uses surfing as a backdrop or plot device, such as Big Wednesday or Blue Crush.
AIP's creation of the genre
Precursors and inspiration Although both Columbia Pictures's Gidget (1959) and Gidget Goes Hawaiian (1961) have been cited as precursors to the genre, in that Gidget "launched surfing into mainstream America,"Peralta :30:37Chidester, p. 113 while its sequel merely repeated the effort, AIP had actually established an archetype for Beach Party with 1958's Hot Rod Gang and especially with its 1959 sequel Ghost of Dragstrip Hollow, both written by Lou Rusoff.McParland, pp. 13-14Mars: "While Hot Rod Gang vaguely hints at some elements of the beach party format, Ghost of Dragstrip Hollow clearly bridges the stylistic gap between 'juvenile delinquent/hot rod movies' of the 1950s and the 'Frankie/Dee-Dee surfing hi-jinks' of the 1960s drive-in attractions" Both films, which were up-front comedies for teenagers, "employed the tried and true formula of a popular trend coupled with romance and music."
Additionally, 1960's Where the Boys Are, from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and perhaps to some degree 1961's now-obscure Gidget imitator, Love in a Goldfish Bowl, from Paramount Pictures, are two films that established a tone of light-hearted adolescent sexuality that would be exploited by AIP in Beach Party.Burns, pp. 47-49 Bryna Productions' 1957 coming of age drama film The Careless Years featured extensive use of beach party scenes filmed around Santa Monica, California.
AIP Producer Sam Arkoff, in his biography, Flying Through Hollywood By the Seat of My Pants, explained that he got the idea for the first Beach Party film from an unnamed Italian film that he and fellow producer Jim Nicholson screened in Rome in the summer of 1962. Arkoff said that he didn't care much for the Italian production because "there's not enough there that American teenagers can identify with. But the beach is a wonderful setting for a teenage film. And it doesn't hurt to show girls in skimpy bathing suits." A few days later, Hot Rod Gang / Ghost of Dragstrip Hollow writer Lou Rusoff was assigned to do some research on the beaches of Southern California and by the end of the week, Rusoff was writing the script for Beach Party.Arkoff, pp. 128–129
The AIP "formula"
Music geared to a teenage audience AIP's premiere Beach Party took the Gidget idea, removed the moral lesson and the parents, added more young talent with fewer clothes, and followed the studio's usual format of pandering to teenage filmgoers with popular trends, original songs and music.Chidester, p. 158: "Itself an exploitation of the dollars made from Gidget, A Summer Place and Where the Boys Are, Beach Party banked on their popularity but added two crucial ingredients that made these cherry bombs explode: rock 'n' roll combined with teenage junk culture."
Regarding the idea of adding more music – and specifically the kind that attracted a teenage audience – film and music historian Stephen J. McParland writes:
Teen freedom, fun, and sexuality Another key to the success of Beach Party and its many sequels was the theme of teenage freedom, as parental involvement was non-existent. Unlike previous films such as the aforementioned Gidget and Love in a Goldfish Bowl, parental characters do not appear in any of the AIP films, and are rarely mentioned in their plots, if at all.McParland, p. 28Burns, p. 47 This part of the formula was something that appeared to be lost on imitators, as several films of the genre by other studios featured parents as major characters and parental interference as plot points.
The politics and problems of the day, such as the seemingly endless Vietnam War, the political assassinations, the civil rights riots and similar issues were also ignored as these were primarily viewed as problems created by adults, not teenagers. Additionally, these films were produced as escapism, so the characters in them lived in a world where the focus was on having a good time.Burns, pp. 49Siegel, p. 7
The advertising for the films was also fairly suggestive for the time period, promising on the poster much in the way of teenage sex, yet delivering little of it onscreen. For example, Beach Party teased, "It's what happens when 10,000 kids meet on 5000 beach blankets!" while Muscle Beach Party promised, "When 10,000 biceps go around 5,000 bikinis, you know what's going to happen!" Likewise, Ski Party intoned, "It's where the HE'S meet the SHE's on SKIS – and there's only one way to get warm!" Though the clothing for both sexes in the cast was revealing by the standard of the day, the films never featured any sex scenes or nudity.
Occasionally modern critics Bad Cinema Diary: The Beach Party Movie Pages by Bruce V. Edwards, 2001. – and even Arkoff himselfArkoff, p. 131 – have suggested that the so-called "clean teens" in these films did not smoke or drink, but this appears to be based on recollection rather than observation: Avalon and others smoke in both Beach Party and Muscle Beach Party (the Surgeon General's report on smoking was not released until January 1964), and beer is referenced in several of the AIP films,Muscle Beach PartyBikini Beach as well as their imitators like 1963's Palm Springs Weekend and 1965's Girl Happy.
AMC's Tim Dirk calls the AIP series a "four year, seven-film 'beach party' continuing series" (yet lists eight films) and describes it as the "mostly sexless, antiseptic, and well-groomed antics of beachgoers" – in spite of the fact that the AIP films are overflowing with sexual innuendo both in dialogue and action, as well as seduction, sexual teasing, and even include brief scenes of faking a sexual assault (Beach Blanket Bingo), gender dysphoria (Ski Party) and references to homosexuality (How to Stuff a Wild Bikini), albeit in a comedic setting. In reality, more "sex" was suggested in these films – as well as their posters and trailers – than in anything the studio had previously produced.
"Frankie & Annette"
Arkoff was able to get 1956 Academy Award winner Dorothy Malone (who had appeared in his first picture for AIP, The Fast and the Furious) and the popular Bob Cummings as adult supporting characters, but he needed a couple of names for the lead teenagers. Arkoff already had a working relationship with Frankie Avalon, who had starred in two films for AIP, Panic in the Year Zero and Operation Bikini, and had become a much brighter star than AIP regular, singer/actor John Ashley. Arkoff next made a deal with former Mouseketeer Annette Funicello, whose contract with Walt Disney had a clause stating that she could work in non-Disney films subject to the approval of Disney's legal team. The deal came with one caveat, that Funicello not appear in a bikini (reportedly, Disney himself had to be settled down by Arkoff when he discovered that his subordinates had allowed Funicello to appear in the AIP film at all).
With Avalon and Funicello on board, a shrewd pairing was evident. CinemaEditor magazine summed it up this way:
Beach Party was able to use Ashley as Avalon's sidekick; picked up Jody McCrea and Eva Six from AIP's own Operation Bikini; and secured "red-hot" surf music pioneer Dick Dale and the Del-Tones (whose second and third albums would be released by Capitol Records in 1963) to bring in their usual demographic.
Success When Beach Party hit screens in July 1963, it was a huge hit with the first five-day grosses reportedly well ahead of its competition, which consisted of the popular concurrently running major studio films Hud, Tammy and the Doctor, The Nutty Professor and The Birds.Arkoff, p. 130
AIP followed up with Muscle Beach Party barely seven months later in March 1964, and Bikini Beach, released only four months after that, was the highest-grossing film in their history – as well as the highest-grossing film of the genre.McGee, p. 146-153
The complete AIP series American International Pictures produced a series of twelve films that fall into the genre.Arkoff, p. 132 "During the 1960s, AIP produced thirteen surf-and-suntan pictures..." With the exception of Sergeant Deadhead, Fireball 500 and Thunder Alley, all were related by recurring characters. For example, much of the cast in Bikini Beach appear in the follow-up Pajama Party, albeit with different names – however, biker Eric von Zipper appears in the film, along with his gang of "Rats," playing the same characters as in two previous films. In addition, Ski Party would appear unrelated, except that the characters of Todd and Craig also appear in the later Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine, which is also linked to How to Stuff a Wild Bikini by the appearance of Eric von Zipper and Annette Funicello.
The only film not to have an appearance of some kind by either Avalon or Funicello is The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini; early promos for the film had announced that the two would appear, but it did not happen. Funicello does not appear in Avalon's Sergeant Deadhead and Avalon does not appear in Funicello's Thunder Alley.