Beach Blanket Bingo is a 1965 American beach party film directed by William Asher. It is the fifth film in the Beach Party film series. The film stars Frankie Avalon, Annette Funicello, Linda Evans, Deborah Walley, Paul Lynde, and Don Rickles. Earl Wilson and Buster Keaton appear. Evans's singing voice was dubbed by Jackie Ward. It was the last time Avalon had the lead in a beach party films.
Plot[]
A singer, Sugar Kane, is unwittingly being used for publicity stunts for her latest album by her agent, for example, faking a skydiving stunt, actually performed by Bonnie.
Meanwhile, Frankie, duped into thinking he rescued Sugar Kane, takes up skydiving at Bonnie's prompting; she secretly wants to make her boyfriend Steve jealous. This prompts Dee Dee to also try free-falling. Eric Von Zipper and his Rat Pack bikers also show up, with Von Zipper falling madly in love with Sugar Kane. Meanwhile, Bonehead falls in love with a mermaid named Lorelei.
Eventually, Von Zipper "puts the snatch" on Sugar Kane, and in a Perils of Pauline-like twist, the evil South Dakota Slim kidnaps Sugar and ties her to a buzz-saw.
Cast[]
- Frankie Avalon as Frankie
- Annette Funicello as Dee Dee
- Harvey Lembeck as Eric Von Zipper
- John Ashley as Steve
- Deborah Walley as Bonnie
- Jody McCrea as Bonehead
- Marta Kristen as Lorelei
- Linda Evans as Sugar Kane
- Don Rickles as Big Drop
- Paul Lynde as Bullets
- Donna Loren as Donna
- Timothy Carey as South Dakota Slim
- Buster Keaton as Buster
- Bobbi Shaw as Bobbi
- Earl Wilson as himself
- Michael Nader as Butch
- Donna Michelle as Animal
- Patti Chandler as Patti
- Andy Romano as J.D.
- Alberta Nelson as Puss
- Myrna Ross as Boots
- Chris Cranston as a beach girl
Cast notes:
- Beach Blanket Bingo was Frankie Avalon's last starring role in the beach party films. He appears for only a few minutes in How to Stuff a Wild Bikini and not at all in The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini.
- Donna Michelle, who portrays Animal, was Playboy magazine's Playmate of the Year for 1964.
- Bobbi Shaw once again plays her "ya, ya" Swedish bombshell role.
- Though this was Rickles' fourth film in the series, it's the only one in which he stepped out of his character in one scene and does a little of his night-club act, tossing some barbs at the characters, notably asking why Avalon and Funicello were in the picture, teasing "You're 40 years old!"