Hi again guys.

Noticed that there is a slew of Beach Party double features (Midnite Movies) that MGM is issuing as Best Buy exclusives next month; I guess most of these have been previously released, but...

* Beach Blanket Bingo / How to Stuff a Wild Bikini

* Beach Party / Bikini Beach

* Ghost of Dragstrip Hollow / Ghost in the Invisible Bikini

So: are any of these guilty pleasures worth a place on one's DVD shelf?

I have not seen any of them but I'm curious as to their significance in the landscape of fringe movies.

Any dialogue about these is appreciated!

Thanks!

:dude:

They are quintessential 1960's drive-in fare. I love them. Lots of cameos by famous people. See if you can guess who plays Buster Keaton's daughter in How to Stuff a Wild Bikini. With this batch all the series will be on dvd. Ghost of Dragstrip Hollow is an older film and not part of the series. Others are already available that are not part of this batch. there is Beach Party, Muscle Beach Party, Bikini Beach, Pajama Party, Ski Party, How to Stuff a Wild Bikini, Beach Blanket Bingo,Ghost in the Invisible Bikini, and Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine. I don't count Dr. Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs, Italian made, directed by Mario Bava. So bad I can't sit through it. At the end of Dr. Goldfoot and Bikini Machine is a plug for The Girl in the Gold Bikini. Never got made or the title was changed. AIP also released two racing movies that are somewhat related. Fireball 500 and Thunder Alley. Annette, Frankie, and Fabian appear in these. Flix has shown both in recent months and Thunder Alley is a Midnight Movie on VHS. They are a lot of fun.

I have to agree. I have most of them so far, I've enjoyed them all. They are in widescreen so you can see a few shaking bootys that were not on the TV fare. Gotta love the custom cars in some of these movies. Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine was kinda good but a little too campy for me.

I'm also into the early Elvis movies. Lots of dancing girls, good music, etc.
My two favorites are just about to be released in Speedway and Spinout.
Nancy Sinatra co-stars in Speedway. The best of the Elvis movies were the ones where Bill Bixby co-starred.

I absolutely ADORE the Beach Party flicks! in my 1000+ DVD collection, the Beach Party movies have the highest re-watch factor of any movie series.

They became my idealized vision of growing into a teen...before the long-haired, pot-smoking hippie freak liberals ruined things in the late sixties. Love the girls, the cars, the music. These are great movies and I'll bet I have the dialogue to every single one memorized (Much to the horror of my EX-girlfriend who insisted she would never watch another Frankie and Annette movie...so I dumped her last year).

Ghost of Dragstrip Hollow is required viewing, if only to see Paul Blaisdell, the man behind such creations as The She-Creature and The Saucer Men. I'm really looking forward to the DVD!

Ghost of Dragstrip Hollow is required viewing, if only to see Paul Blaisdell, the man behind such creations as The She-Creature and The Saucer Men. I'm really looking forward to the DVD!www.sd455.com/movieghostdshollow.htm (http://www.sd455.com/movieghostdshollow.htm)

- GJS

Item of interest for Beach movie fans. There is a dvd called Vincent Price-The Sinister Image. It contains the Shindig episode "The Wild Weird World of Dr. Goldfoot" .

Here's a nice tribute essay to Eric Von Zipper
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1089324611245&call_pageid=970599109774&col=Columnist969907619063

Love it when von Zipper gives himself "the finger". Love his cameo in Dr. Goldfoot's torture chamber. Also saw Lembeck on an episode of Batman not too long ago. Batman and the beach movies go together like bread and butter. A Batman cameo in a beach movie would have been golden.

The Beach Party movies cater to a teenage mentality. They have no redeeming values whatsoever. They aim for the lowest common denominator. They are an insult to our intelligence and to our society.

And I love the hell out of them. What fun. A few hours of guilty pleasure. One of the best ways to spend a rainy Saturday afternoon or as a late night viewing.

If you've never seen one you owe yourself a favor and at least rent one. If it doesn't make you at least smile you're obviously dead.

I grew up with Annette Funicello as a mouse-ateer (sp?). When she hit the beaches as a teenager in a bathing suit, I just couldn't get enough of her. Later, she appears in a couple of nightie scenes that tipped me over. I have all of those movies.

I agree, these movies are all about just dreaming of having the kinda fun they had on the screen. Aaaaahh. if only they had the thongs on then.

Didn't Annette promise Walt Disney she would only wear a one piece bathing suit? No bikini. Which reminds me of a couple other cool movies. The Misadventures of Merlin Jones and The Monkey's Uncle.

No, She did wear a bikini (or rather a 2 piece by today's standards) in some of the movies. Here's a link to a picture where she has on a 2 piece.

http://www.allposters.com/gallery.asp?aid=338943&c=c&search=11360&cat=11360

You'll need to click on the middle picture to enlarge it.

On one of the "Beach" movies Annette was about 8 months pregnant, it's the one where she wears a lot of mu-mu's and is shown from the shoulders up a lot.

Was visiting the Midnight Monies forum. People are saying the double feature of Beach Blanket Bingo/How to Stuff a Wild Bikini only has the full screen version of "How to stuff..." The first release has both versions. In the trivia dept: Full screen versions of Beach Blanket Bingo have a song not in the widescreen version. It's thought song was cut and latter added back in for TV. The song was later used in Ski Party.

Also all Orion prints of Masque of Red Death have two scenes missing, 1.5 minutes total. This includes the dvd and laserdisc. Any non-Orion video version has these scenes.

Well, I finally got to sit down and watch Ghost of Dragstrip Hollow this week-end, after probably 37 years of fond memories... I can see why I enjoyed it as an 10 year old - and brother, you can't go home again!

Next time I see Bob Burns I need to ask him if that was what Paul Blaisdell's voice actually sounded like!

Eric Von Zipper is one of the most depressingly hopeless, idiotic characters I've ever seen in a movie. Yet, somehow, he tends to grow on you. He's not really funny but he is irritating in a fun way.

Well, I finally got to sit down and watch Ghost of Dragstrip Hollow this week-end, after probably 37 years of fond memories... I can see why I enjoyed it as an 10 year old - and brother, you can't go home again!

I can't quite discern if this is an endorsement or not... you've left me scratching my head with this analysis.

You can't go home again. Once experience we've probably all shared: saw a movie as a little kid that just stuck with you and for 30 years you wonder what it was called and would kill to see it again, finally you get to see again and it's a stinker.

On the nose RW!

As a 10 year old I liked the hot rods, goofy "haunted house" tricks, monster, corny humor and girls in their nighties/ tight outfits. At the ripe old age of 47 I still liked all of those things, but unfortunately possess the insight that a movie should have some semblance of a plot, or at least events that logically proceed to the conclusion...

I'd still recommend it though. There were laughs, both intentional and not, and some eye rolling moments :rolleyes: . How it never got MST3K'd is the real mystery of "Dragstrip Hollow"!

You beach party experts,

What was the movie where Tuesday Weld was trying to get the part in "Bikini Widow"? I can remember the scene, but not which movie.....

Not sure.....my memory fails me. You might find what you are looking for here: http://www.thevideobeat.com/teenager_beach_drugs_pg2.htm