Hollywood Surf and Beach Movies

Surfers loathed them, teenagers flocked to them, critics dismissed them, producers banked on them—surf and beach movies. For a short time in the 1960s they were extremely popular with younger audiences—mainly because of the shirtless surfer boys and bikini-clad beach girls, the musical performers, and the wild surfing footage.
This lavishly illustrated filmography details 32 sizzling fun-in-the-sun teenage epics from Gidget to the Beach Party movies with Frankie and Annette to The Sweet Ride plus a few offshoots in the snow!) Entries include credits, plot synopses, memorable lines, reviews and awards, and commentary from such as Aron Kincaid of The Girls on the Beach, Susan Hart of The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini, Peter Brown of Ride the Wild Surf, Chris Noel of Beach Ball, and Ed Garner of Beach Blanket Bingo. Biographies of actors and leading actresses who made their marks in the genre are included.

Tom Lisanti is the award-winning author of multiple books about film history, and he blogs at www.sixtiescinema.com. He lives in New York.

Thomas Lisanti
Foreword by Aron Kincaid
Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 456
Bibliographic Info: 96 photos, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2012 [2005]
pISBN: 978-0-7864-7297-0
eISBN: 978-1-4766-0142-7
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments      vii

Foreword      1

Preface      5

Introduction      7

PART I: THE MOVIES

1. Gidget (1959)      29

2. Where the Boys Are (1960)      38

3. Blue Hawaii (1961)      50

4. Gidget Goes Hawaiian (1961)      61

5. Beach Party (1963)      71

6. Bikini Beach (1964)      86

7. For Those Who Think Young(1964)      97

8. The Horror of Party Beach (1964)      109

9. Muscle Beach Party (1964)      117

10. Pajama Party (1964)      128

11. Ride the Wild Surf (1964)      139

12. Surf Party (1964)      151

13. Beach Ball (1965)      158

14. Beach Blanket Bingo (1965)      170

15. The Beach Girls and the Monster (1965)      181

16. Daytona Beach Weekend (1965)      189

17. Girl Happy (1965)      193

18. The Girls on the Beach (1965)      204

19. How to Stuff a Wild Bikini (1965)      215

20. One Way Wahine (1965)      224

21. Ski Party (1965)      229

22. A Swingin’ Summer (1965)      241

23. Wild on the Beach (1965)      252

24. Winter a-Go-Go (1965)      261

25. The Endless Summer (1966)      270

26. The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini (1966)      282

27. Out of Sight (1966)      295

28. Wild Wild Winter (1966)      306

29. Catalina Caper (1967)      315

30. Don’t Make Waves (1967)      324

31. It’s a Bikini World (1967)      334

32. The Sweet Ride (1968)      343

PART II: THE PLAYERS

John Ashley      353

Frankie Avalon      355

Peter Brown      358

James Darren      361

Sandra Dee      363

Mickey Dora      367

Don Edmonds      369

Shelley Fabares      373

Johnny Fain      376

Annette Funicello      378

Ed Garner      380

Susan Hart      383

Aron Kincaid      385

Tommy Kirk      390

Jody McCrea      393

Yvette Mimieux      396

Mike Nader      399

Chris Noel      402

Quinn O’Hara      405

Bart Patton      407

Pamela Tiffin      410

Deborah Walley      413

William Wellman, Jr.      415

Bibliography      419

Index      433

“Lisanti gives 1960s glamour girls something they never had before in film circles: respect. His approach is a mixture of fun with the seriousness of a film historian. The concoction is irresistible, and it’s fantastic that these gals get their turn to tell their stories and share their good and bad times in the movie world…valuable…highly recommended. Lisanti is the supreme chronicler of the ’60s era…simply amazing…definitive…excellent writer”—Classic Images; “refreshing”—Scarlet; “exhaustive and highly entertaining”—Brutarian; “written with high style, an aficionado’s love of his subject, and packed with meticulous…information…a must-read”—Show Business Weekly; “an overview of the surf movie genre with an in-depth look at 32 of the most popular surf movies”—BudPlant.com.