Surf Party | |
---|---|
Directed by | Maury Dexter |
Written by | Harry Spalding |
Produced by | Maury Dexter "By" Dunham |
Starring | Bobby Vinton Patricia Morrow Jackie DeShannon Ken Miller Richard Crane Lory Patrick Martha Stewart Jerry Summers The Astronauts The Routers |
Cinematography | Kay Norton |
Edited by | Jodie Copelan |
Music by | Jimmie Haskell |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Twentieth Century-Fox |
Release date |
|
Running time | 68 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Surf Party is a 1964 beach party film directed by Maury Dexter and starring Bobby Vinton, Patricia Morrow, Jackie DeShannon, and Ken Miller. It was the first direct imitation of AIP's hit Beach Party, [1] which was released six months earlier, and showcased several musical acts onscreen. It is one of the few movies in the genre shot in black and white. [2]
It has rarely been screened, and only received its first home video release in April 2013 as a DVD-R "on demand" through Fox.
Arizonans Terry (Patricia Morrow), Sylvia (Lory Patrick), and Junior (Jackie DeShannon) drive to California's Malibu Beach to take a vacation, learn how to surf, and find Terry's brother "Skeet", Malibu's Big Kahuna bad boy (and a former football star whose career was ended with a skull injury).
While the girls are learning to surf, Terry falls in love with Len (Bobby Vinton), the operator of a local surf shop; Junior falls in love with Milo (Ken Miller), a new surfer; and Sylvia falls in love with Skeet (Jerry Summers).
Milo takes the girls to Casey's Surfer, the hangout on the pier where the surfers and their ilk gather. While the girls get into the club on the virtue that Terry is Skeet's sister, Milo is kept out because he is just a "gremmie."
In an effort to qualify for membership into Skeet's unruly surfing club (called "The Lodge"), Milo attempts to "shoot the pier" (surfing through the pier – called "run the pier" in the movie) and is injured when he smacks into one of the posts. As a result of Milo's smash-up, Len gets into an argument with Skeet, and just as they are about to fight, Terry warns Len that Skeet's football injury is still dangerous. Throughout all the proceedings, Sgt. Wayne Neal (Richard Crane), the decidedly "anti-surf" police sergeant, is on Skeet's back, waiting for him to screw up so he can either throw him in jail or out of town. Terry soon learns that her brother's reputation is greater than the reality.
Skeet is further humiliated when he throws a party and Pauline (Martha Stewart) – the wealthy older woman who apparently owns the beach house that Skeet has been living in – finds him in her bedroom with Sylvia. Pauline reveals that Skeet is indeed a "kept man". To the delight of Sgt. Neal, Skeet decides to return to Arizona with Sylvia when he realizes how much he loves her, and the girls enjoy the rest of the vacation with their boyfriends.
Popular singer Bobby Vinton, who plays Len, only appeared in three movies, this being his only one in the 1960s. [3] [4] It was Vinton's debut, although his agent had lobbied hard to get him the lead in Beach Party. [5] He was paid $750 for a week of work. [6] [7]
Ken Miller, who plays the fresh-out-of-high-school "gremmie" Milo, was 33 years old at the time of filming. He had made two movies previously with Dexter. [8]
Legendary surfer Mickey Dora doesn't have a speaking role, but is a featured extra in a sequence in the Casey's Surfer restaurant – playing the bowling-shirted surfer who follows Skeet's signal to lead the crowd in a clap-out.
The Astronauts was a Colorado-based surf band [9] that had a Billboard Top 100 hit in 1963 with their song "Baja," composed by Lee Hazlewood. [10] They also appeared in Dexter's later beach party movie Wild on the Beach as well as two other beach party movies, Wild Wild Winter and Out of Sight – more than any other surf band. Their recording of the title track "Surf Party" would go on to become a classic within the canon of first-wave surf music original songs, and would be covered by countless bands including The Surf Raiders, The Surf Coasters, Slacktone and many more. [11] [12] [13] [14]
The Routers was a band formed by Mike Gordon, whose first release in September 1962 was "Let's Go (Pony)", which reached #19 on the Billboard charts. Gordon also formed The Marketts and wrote their million seller "Out of Limits" and "Surfer's Stomp", which was one of the early successful surf songs released in 1961. The Routers toured for over six years, in part from the popularity of the movie and the songs associated with it. [15]
In addition to appearing as extras, surfers Mickey Dora and Johnny Fain, who appeared in several of AIP's beach party movies, performed the surfing stunts for this movie.
The pier featured throughout the movie is the historic 1905 Malibu Pier near Surfrider Beach. The exterior of Casey's Surfer on the pier is the westernmost of the two wood-sided white buildings with royal blue trim at the beachward end of the pier. Originally called Alice's, the restaurant and bar was operated as the Beachcomber Café from 2008 to 2012. [16] [17] "Len's Surf Shop" was situated in Malibu, west of the pier, near the intersection of Malibu Road and Webb Way, at 23651 Malibu Road.
Filming started September 1963 and was finished by October. [18] [19]
Jimmie Haskell composed the score and co-wrote five songs for the movie.
Jackie DeShannon performs two songs in the movie, "Glory Wave" and "Never Comin' Back", with Patricia Morrow and Lory Patrick (both written by Haskell and 'By' Dunham).
Bobby Vinton performs (twice) "If I Were an Artist", and Patricia Morrow sings "That's What Love Is" (both written by Bobby Beverly and Dunham).
The Astronauts perform two songs, the instrumental "Surf Party", heard over the opening and closing credits (written by Beverly and Dunham); and the onscreen performance of "Fire Water" (written by Haskell and Dunham).
The Routers perform "Crack Up" (written by Haskell and Dunham) onscreen.
Ken Miller performs "Pearly Shells" (written by Lani Kai, Jericho Brown and Dunham).
Dunham and Haskell also wrote "Great White Water", which is heard as source music on a jukebox in the sequence at Casey's Surfer restaurant.
Although the poster states "Hear ‘em Sing These Surfin Hits!" and listed nine tracks, only two tracks can be deemed as "surf music." In It's Party Time: A Musical Appreciation of the Beach Party Genre, Stephen J. McParland writes: "The commissioned song-writing team of Jimmie Haskell and By Dunham were hard-pressed to come up with enough convincing items to carry the soundtrack to the masses. What cognizance they possessed of ‘surf music’ was scant at best and only the Astronauts’ instrumentals...bore any real resemblance to the musical genre." For example, "Never Comin’ Back" is written as a folk song, "Pearly Shells" is in the style of a Hawaiian folk song, "That's What Love Is" is a country & western song, and "Glory Wave" is written and performed in the style of a Negro spiritual. [20]
Regarding the two tracks by The Astronauts, the book Pop Surf Culture states "The Astronauts bang out a thick, reverb-laden instrumental called ‘Firewater,’ and their theme song ‘Surf Party’ happens to be one of the best surf instrumentals ever recorded." [21]
Upon release, Eugene Archer of The New York Times wrote "Flaming youth may be passé, but you'd never know it from Surf Party...It's only the attitudes that seem archaic, as they bounce into passionless love affairs, take reckless surfboard risks in pointless tests of courage and display an alarming lack of inhibitions and not a trace of social responsibility." [22]
Tom Lisanti writes "Surf Party is [a] realistic, albeit melodramatic, look at the surfing craze and Malibu surfers in particular. It is also an obvious rip-off of Beach Party without the zaniness. There is some neat surfing footage featuring pros like Mickey Dora and Johnny Fain but the flat black-and-white photography doesn’t do it justice though it buoys the story. The female leads all do well but Bobby Vinton and Kenny Miller fail miserably trying to pass themselves off as surfers." [23]
Pop Surf Culture states "It was in the crummy-but-perfectly-named Surf Party that true beach crud reached its peak". [21]
Lisanti later wrote that "with a bigger budget and more convincing male leads, Surf Party could have been considered one of the best Hollywood surf movies of the time, instead of just a middling cheap knock off of Beach Party." [24]
Filmink argued "It has good moments but is weighed down by melodrama and focusing on the male characters when the women are more interesting." [25]
The Surf Punks were a pop punk band formed in 1976 by Malibu residents Dennis Dragon (1947-2017) and Drew Steele. Dragon recruited the additional talents of Malibu residents Tony Creed AKA the "Hulk", for lead guitar and blues harp, fellow bodysurfer/frisbeeist John Hunt on the bass, and South Bay resident John Heussenstamm for lead guitar. This was the original core group, produced and engineered by Dragon in his garage studio across the street from Zuma Beach, his favorite body surfing spot. Mark Miller joined them on "Locals Only." Jeff "Ray Ban" Eyrich joined the Surf Punks on bass when John Hunt left the group.
Gidget is a 1959 American CinemaScope comedy film directed by directed by Paul Wendkos and starring Sandra Dee, Cliff Robertson, James Darren, Arthur O'Connell, and the Four Preps.
Psycho Beach Party is a 2000 comedy horror film based on the off-Broadway play of the same name, directed by Robert Lee King. Charles Busch wrote both the original play and the screenplay. As the title suggests, Psycho Beach Party, set in 1962 Malibu Beach, is a parody of 1950s psychodramas, 1960s beach movies, and 1980s slasher films.
Don't Make Waves is a 1967 American sex comedy starring Tony Curtis, Claudia Cardinale, Dave Draper and Sharon Tate. Distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the film was directed by Alexander Mackendrick and is based on the 1959 novel Muscle Beach by Ira Wallach, who also co-wrote the screenplay.
Back to the Beach is a 1987 American comedy film starring Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello, directed by Lyndall Hobbs. The original music score is composed by Steve Dorff. The film generated a total domestic gross of $13,110,903. It received a "two thumbs up" rating from Siskel and Ebert, who compared it favorably to Grease.
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. 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, with the lower-budget AIP films being the most profitable.
Surf movies fall into three distinct genres:
Beach Party is a 1963 American film and the first of seven beach party films from American International Pictures (AIP) aimed at a teen audience. This film is often credited with creating the beach party film genre.
How to Stuff a Wild Bikini is a 1965 Pathécolor beach party film from American International Pictures. The sixth entry in a seven-film series, the movie was directed by William Asher and features Mickey Rooney, Annette Funicello, Dwayne Hickman, Brian Donlevy, and Beverly Adams. It was written by Asher and Leo Townsend. The film features a brief appearance by Frankie Avalon and includes Buster Keaton in one of his last roles.
Ski Party is a 1965 American teen musical comedy film directed by Alan Rafkin and starring Frankie Avalon and Dwayne Hickman. It was released by American International Pictures (AIP). Ski Party is considered as a beach party film spin-off, with a change of setting from the beach to the ski slopes – although the final scene places everyone back at the beach.
Muscle Beach Party is the second of seven beach party films produced by American International Pictures. It stars Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello and was directed by William Asher, who also directed four other films in this series.
It's a Bikini World is a 1967 American musical comedy film starring Tommy Kirk, Deborah Walley and Bobby Pickett. The film features cameos by the music groups the Gentrys, the Animals, Pat & Lolly Vegas, the Castaways and R&B girl group the Toys. Featuring a pro-feminist plotline, it is the only film in the beach party genre to be directed by a woman.
Wild Wild Winter is a 1966 Universal Pictures beach party comedy film directed by standup comedian Lennie Weinrib and starring Gary Clarke and Chris Noel. It was produced by Bart Patton and is notable for featuring Jay and the Americans and the duo of Dick and Dee Dee in their only film appearances. The Beau Brummels, Jackie and Gayle and The Astronauts also perform onscreen.
Ride the Wild Surf is a 1964 American romantic drama film. It was filmed in 1963 and distributed in 1964. Unlike the beach party movies of the era, this was a departure from the typical Hollywood approach to surfing as it was a drama, not a comedy. It is known for its exceptional big wave surf footage – a common sight in surf movies of the time, but a rarity in Hollywood films. Likewise, the film has only one pop song – the titular Jan and Dean track, which is heard once, at the end of the film.
The Beach Girls and the Monster is a horror and beach party film, released in 1965, directed by and starring Jon Hall. It is notable for its surf music instrumental soundtrack, bad acting, and not-very-terrifying-monster.
Out of Sight is a 1966 comedy film with elements of the spy spoof. It is the third and last of a series of films geared at teenagers by director Lennie Weinrib and producer Bart Patton for Universal Pictures. Patton called it "an over the top kind of thing".
Wild on the Beach is a 1965 beach party film directed by Maury Dexter and starring Frankie Randall, Sherry Jackson, Gayle Caldwell, and Jackie Miller. It is notable for the musical acts showcased onscreen, being the film debut of Sonny & Cher in particular. It is one of the few films in the genre to be filmed in black and white.
Summer Surf is the fifth studio album of surf music by Dick Dale and His Del-Tones. Dale wrote three of the tracks on the album, with Beach Boys' session musician Steve Douglas writing another three. The rest are culled from various writers that were not necessarily writing in the classic surf style. For example, the track titled "Glory Wave," written in the style of a spiritual, was originally written for the 1964 beach party film, Surf Party, where it was performed by Jackie DeShannon. This was the last album Dick Dale recorded with the Del-Tones due to his battle with rectal cancer, and the last album he would record until 1986.
Beach Ball is a 1965 American beach party movie starring Edd Byrnes and partly financed by Roger Corman.
The Del-Aires were a Paterson, New Jersey rock band of the 1960s. They were featured as themselves in Del Tenney's 1964 B-movie beach party film, The Horror of Party Beach. For the film, Gary Robert Jones and Ronnie Linares wrote one song together, "Drag", and one song each: "Just Wigglin' 'n' Wobblin'" (Jones) and "Elaine" (Linares). The Del-Aires performed all six songs in the film, which included "Joy Ride", "The Zombie Stomp" and "You Are Not a Summer Love." Following his stint with the Del-Aires, saxophonist/guitarist/keyboardist Bobby Osborne was a member of the band Gas Mask, perhaps best known for having their first album, Their First Album, produced by Teo Macero.