Tag: Frankie Avalon

Comedies

Back to the Beach

LizLocke2 Comments
Image: Beach to the Beach, 1987

Some movies get burned into your brain at such a young age that decades later, you can still remember flashes of dialogue and music. Back to the Beach (Disc/Download) is one such movie for me, forming a core 1980s childhood imprint as well as a lifelong love of 1960s kitsch.

My gateway into loving this movie was undoubtedly Pee-wee Herman’s cameo. Back in the eighties, I adored Pee-wee, and Pee-wee on a surfboard, doing the “Surfin’ Bird” was extremely exciting. The recent documentary Pee-wee as Himself unlocked a lot of memories, making me gasp with recognition at the Tiki idol near the door of his playhouse, Miss Yvonne’s retro A-line dresses, and all that large-scale terrazzo. Somehow, I’ve styled my life like Pee-wee’s without even realizing it! But it doesn’t stop there. Back to the Beach is an important part of the Liz Locke lore because it also incorporates my love of 1960s surf culture and teen beach movies. Frankie and Annette bring their helmet hair and cheeky dialogue into the 1980s, reprising old characters as they attempt to save their marriage, save their daughter (played by Lori Loughlin, or as I know her, “Aunt Becky”), and save the beach from a group of leather-clad punks. Somehow, this spoof of the beach movies works even better than the originals because it never takes itself seriously. We’re supposed to laugh at Annette singing “Jamaica Ska”, all those silly rear projections, and Frankie Avalon’s obsession with his hair. And boy, do I laugh.

Another thing I love about this movie is the incorporation of Tiki. It’s kind of amazing, considering Tiki was largely out of fashion by the 1980s, yet there was still a subculture of cool Los Angeles creatives who embraced it. Annette gets tempted by something called a Stunned Mullet, and while I’m not sure what’s in it, the mystery gives us freedom to make it up as we go along. Kind of like the plot of this movie!

Stunned Mullet

2 oz Vodka

4 oz Pineapple Juice

1 oz Coconut Cream

1 oz Macadamia Nut Liqueur

1/4 oz Lime Juice

Pineapple, Cherry, Umbrella (suggested garnish)

Combine vodka, pineapple juice, coconut cream, macadamia nut liqueur, and lime juice in a blender and add 2 cups of crushed ice. Blend until slushy, then pour into a coconut Tiki mug. Garnish with pineapple, cherry, and umbrella.

It’s interesting how Back to the Beach is both a time capsule of the 1980s as well as the 1960s, existing now as a retro joke within a retro joke. I don’t know which particular era Pee-wee calls home, but I like to think he’s timeless, surfing through our memories like the Big Kahuna he’ll always be. Cheers!

Classic Films · Comedies

Beach Blanket Bingo

LizLocke1 Comment
Image: Beach Blanket Bingo, 1965

Despite an enduring love of Gidget, 1960s swimwear, and rear projection scenes, the Frankie Avalon/Annette Funicello beach movies somehow never made it to the top of my watch list. Luckily, this cinema oversight has been corrected this week with the fifth “Beach” movie in the series, Beach Blanket Bingo (Disc/Download).

Like Ryan Gosling’s Ken, as far as I can determine, Frankie Avalon’s job in the 1960s was “beach”. What a gig! There were many gorgeous girls prancing around him in bikinis, but none as charming as Annette. She had oodles of charisma, along with an unflappable comb-over hairstyle that could survive wind, waves, and even a skydiving helmet. I love the mermaid side character in BBB, with Lorelai acting as a precursor to Daryl Hannah’s “Madison” in Splash. It’s a shame the romance between the mermaid and her beachbum lover Bonehead gets interrupted time and again with the antics of a middle-aged motorcycle gang masquerading as adolescents. Honestly, if this movie had been nothing more than mermaid rescues and drinks at the local bar with Frankie and Annette singing their hits, I would have been a happy viewer. Who needs skydiving and lame kidnapping plots when you have “beach”???

Although the sexcapades of these teenagers seem pretty chaste by today’s standards, there’s a surprising amount of double entendre and suggested nudity. We’re left to imagine what may have happened during Bonehead’s date with the mermaid, which results in the loss of her dress by the end of the night. For this reason, it seems like a great time to mix up the classic eighties resort drink, a Sex on the Beach.

Sex on the Beach

1 ½ oz Vodka

½ oz Peach Schnapps

½ oz Chambord

1 ½ oz Orange Juice

1 ½ oz Cranberry Juice

Add the vodka, peach schnapps, Chambord, and cranberry juice to a hurricane glass. Fill with ice. Top with orange juice, and garnish with a cherry and cocktail umbrella.

Like other 1960s teen movies, the cameos in this are incredible. Paul Lynde as the scheming music manager, Don Rickles as the nightclub owner, and even Buster Keaton as an aging pervert! The plot doesn’t make sense, but it doesn’t need to. As long as you’re okay with a film based entirely around shimmying teens and retro bikinis, you’ll do just fine. Cheers!