Bikini Beach (1964)

It's summer and the Beach Party gang are up to their old tricks at the beach but a wealthy newspaper publisher (Keenan Wynn) wages an anti-surfer campaign in his newspaper. Meanwhile, a British Beatles like pop star (Frankie Avalon) threatens to steal the girlfriend (Annette Funicello) of our beach hero (Frankie Avalon). One of the weakest entries in the Beach Party franchise, this one is on auto control. The songs (except for Stevie Wonder) are a yawn and the jokes are lamer than usual and Harvey Lembeck's Von Zipper act was getting pretty tedious. And one has to wonder what Martha Hyer (she even has to kiss an ape) and Keenan Wynn are doing here. That "ape" is so obviously an actor in a monkey suit that one wonders how dim the characters are that they can't even notice! Directed by William Asher. With Boris Karloff, Don Rickles, John Ashley, Donna Loren, Jody McCrea, Candy Johnson, Meredith MacRae, Michael Nader and Timothy Carey.