Since I hate winter and am looking so forward to the start
of spring I thought I would do a bi-weekly feature on my favorite '60s beach
movies to help get us in the mood for the balmy weather ahead. First up:
BEACH BALL (1965)
Edd Byrnes (Dick Martin), Chris Noel (Susan), Robert Logan
(Bango), Aron Kincaid (Jack), Mikki Jamison (Augusta), Don Edmonds (Bob),
Brenda Benet (Samantha), Gail Gilmore (Deborah), James Wellman (Bernard Wolf),
Anna Lavelle (Polly), Dick Miller (Police Officer #1), Lee Krieger, Jack
Bernardi (Mr. Wilk), Bill Sampson (Announcer), John Hyden (Police Officer #2),
Rita D’Amico (Wendy). Also: Lee
Krieger. Guest Stars: The Supremes, The
Four Seasons, The Righteous Brothers, The Hondells, and The Walker
Brothers. Not credited: Bart Patton, Sid
Haig, Ron Russell, and Brian Cutler.
Beach Ball (one of
two beach films financed by Roger Corman) was the last surf movie to be
released in 1965 and it was one of the best.
The producing-directing team of Bart Patton and Lennie Weinrib adapted
the AIP formula to good effect. Four
college dropouts living at the beach (Edd Byrnes, Aron Kincaid, Robert Logan,
and Don Edmonds) secure a student loan for tribal music studies when in fact
they need the money to pay for their rock group’s instruments about to be
repossessed. When the brainy girls at
the college union (Chris Noel, Gail Gilmore, Brenda Benet, and Mikki Jamison) realize
that they have been bamboozled, they rip up the check, remove their eyeglasses,
tease their hair and head for the beach to try to entice the guys to return to
school.
Despite the drubbing from the critics and some beach movie
fans it received when released, Beach
Ball is arguably the breeziest and most enjoyable of the Beach Party clones. It is also the most blatant rip off throwing
in everything from surfing, skydiving, and hot rodding to a battle-of-the-bands
contest and the guys in drag to match the zaniness of the AIP beach
movies. The film works well because it
is fast-paced, nicely photographed in color, has some funny moments, lots of
beach scenes, a healthy-looking cast, and an excellent roster of musical
performers most notably the Supremes, the Righteous Brothers, and The Four
Seasons who are interspersed throughout the movie.
As for the cast, unlike Annette Funicello in the Beach Party movies or Noreen Corcoran in
The Girls on the Beach, perky Chris
Noel and the other girls are not afraid to show off their shapely figures in
very revealing bikinis. Pretty blonde
Anna Lavelle in particular dons the skimpiest swim suits and has some funny
moments as the guy’s addled-brained beach groupie Polly. The movie boasts perhaps the most curvaceous
set of lead actresses in any surf movie from the decade. For boy watchers, the guys’ sport nice
physiques particularly handsome Robert Logan and blonde Aron Kincaid who gives
a droll performance as ladies man, Jack.
Edd Byrnes is definitely too long in the tooth to make a believable
college guy but he does look swell in his swim trunks.
Surfing is limited to the opening stock footage of surfers
riding huge swells and as with most beach-party movies when the actors emerge
from the ocean it is calm without a big wave in sight. There are however plenty of scenes of the
gang frolicking on the beach. A scene
with the kids playing “Keep Away†with a football on the shore is nicely
photographed and scored. The film’s
major asset is the music from the catchy instrumental entitled “Cycle Chaseâ€
heard throughout to the songs lip-synched by Kincaid and the others as the
Wigglers to all of the numbers performed by the rock acts. The standout is definitely seeing the
Supremes singing “Come to the Beach Ball with Me†and “Surfer Boy.†Though the Motown songwriters did not come
close to capturing the authentic surf sound (hell they were from Detroit and what did they
know about surfing anyway?), the girls sing the catchy tunes well. Florence Ballard and Mary Wilson look great
but Diana Ross is a fright with her chipped tooth and big beehive wig. Her close-ups are truly scarier than anything
found in The Horror of Party Beach—another
reason why Beach Ball is a must to
see. Though unfortunately it is not
available on DVD and is rarely shown on TV anymore but may pop up once in a
blue moon on American Movie Classics. Catch it if you can.- Tom Listanti
For more about Tom Lisanti and the film books he has
written, visit his web site www.sixtiescinema.com.