Bikini Beach

Released Jul 22, 1964

1h 40m

Musical

Comedy

List

40%

Tomatometer

5 Reviews

42%

Popcornmeter

250+ Ratings

Dee Dee (Annette Funicello) and Frankie (Frankie Avalon) are primed to hit the beach for some fun in the sun. The only thing standing in the way of their good times is curmudgeonly developer Harvey Huntington Honeywagon (Keenan Wynn), who is intent on turning their teenage hotspot into a grazing ground for seniors. If that weren't bad enough, British rock 'n' roll singer Potato Bug (also Avalon) shows up to spark a summer romance with Frankie's main squeeze -- Dee Dee.

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Eugene Archer

New York Times

A horrible juvenile comedy in which surfers fight cyclists and convert their elders to the pleasures of the bronzed physique.

Rated: 1/5

Apr 2, 2012

Full Review

Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

You get a Famous Monsters of Filmland contest winner as a werewolf and Timothy Carey as the anti-Minnesota Fats, “South Dakota Slim.”

Rated: 2.5/4

Jan 1, 2024

Full Review

Tim Brayton

Antagony & Ecstasy

Bikini Beach isn't 'good'. It's just tremendously, wonderfully goofy.

Rated: 6/10

Jul 19, 2013

Full Review

David Cornelius

Popcornworld

If the first two Beach Party movies were anything goes, Bikini Beach is everything goes.

Apr 3, 2013

Full Review

TV Guide

In an acting stretch, Frankie Avalon here plays both his usual surfing namesake and a vacationing mop-top English singer named the Potato Bug (the sort of British invader that sank Avalon's recording career)...

Rated: 2/4

Apr 2, 2012

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dave s

Bikini Beach, yet another ‘beach' movie from American International, is pretty much the same as all of the others in the franchise. On the positive side of things, Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon have a nice chemistry and are always fun to watch. The beach scenes are a bit silly, but you can't help but enjoy yourself when you watch a bunch of kids having a blast. And, to top it off, most of the songs, while totally forgettable, manage to be catchy. On the negative side, the plot (or, more accurately, plots) are so insignificant they are almost pointless. The secondary characters, including the idiotic, over-sized chimp, are generally annoying. The slapstick finale seems to go on forever and offers nothing in the way of laughs or entertainment value. And worst of all, Bikini Beach offers up what may be the most annoying character in the history of movies, the always cloying Eric Von Zipper.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

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Audience Member

Frankie and Annette hit the beach again. This time they are joined by millionaire Keenan Wynn who wants to prove that his pet monkey chimp is smarter than teenagers. There's also Timothy Carey as a scary dude, Boris Karloff in a cameo appearance, Little Stevie Wonder and series regulars Harvey Lembeck and Don Rickles. You can't really review these films separately. It's pretty hard to distinguish one from the other, so if you liked another one of the Beach Party films, you'll probably like this one too.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/31/23

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Audience Member

Classic. Parents liked these movies.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

01/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

annette n frankie keep it going

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/21/23

Full Review

Audience Member

The writer of this would be distaster needs to rethink everything put into this flim because not even alchole can make this film amazing,but there is still something there that makes it just slightly interesting. Maybe it's the cast, the music, or some combination, but it's hard to tell in all the predicatability and cliche lines.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

02/03/23

Full Review

Audience Member

This "Beach" movie has the worst plot of the series. It's still some fun to watch, but it's predictable and stupid, and my least favourite of the movies.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

01/22/23

Full Review

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William Asher

Director

Frankie Avalon

Frankie

Annette Funicello

Dee Dee

Martha Hyer

Vivien Clements

John Ashley

Johnny

Don Rickles

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Synopsis

Dee Dee (Annette Funicello) and Frankie (Frankie Avalon) are primed to hit the beach for some fun in the sun. The only thing standing in the way of their good times is curmudgeonly developer Harvey Huntington Honeywagon (Keenan Wynn), who is intent on turning their teenage hotspot into a grazing ground for seniors. If that weren't bad enough, British rock 'n' roll singer Potato Bug (also Avalon) shows up to spark a summer romance with Frankie's main squeeze -- Dee Dee.

Director: William Asher
Producer: Samuel Z. Arkoff, James H. Nicholson, Anthony Carras
Screenwriter: William Asher, Leo Townsend, Robert Dillon
Distributor: American International Pictures
Production Co: American International Pictures (AIP)
Genre: Musical, Comedy
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jul 22, 1964, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Apr 30, 2017
Runtime: 1h 40m

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