The Frankie and Annette Collection [4 Discs]The Frankie and Annette Collection [4 Discs]

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MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

    Frankie Avalon, Annette Funicello. Life's a beach! Pack your surfboard and join everyone's favorite beach blanket couple for some fun under the sun. Includes Beach Blanket Bingo (1965/98 min.), How To Stuff a Wild Bikini (1965/93 min.), Beach Party (1963/101 min.), Bikini Beach (1964/99 min.), Fireball 500 (1966/92 min.), Thunder Alley (1967/90 min.), Muscle Beach Party (1964/94 min.) and Ski Party (1965/90 min.). 4 DVDs. Color/NR/widescreen.

DVD FEATURES:
  • Number of Discs: 4
  • Screen: Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV
  • Audio: Dolby Digital Mono
  • Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 (Cinemascope)
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
REVIEWS:
  • American International's series of "beach" movies were among the most successful independent pictures of the 1960's, a fact which strikes many modern audiences as unbelievable. A staple of drive-in theatres, they basically existed merely to show Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon in various swimming attire and to showcase a number of not-always-inspired musical sequences. Muscle Beach Party is typical of the series, evincing a strange mix of naivete and sexuality that nowadays provokes howls of derisive laughter. Adding to the extensive camp content is the presence of the body builders that give the film its title. Never taking itself too seriously (and how could it?), Muscle's script pays only lip service to its announced plot, preferring instead to serve as filler between numbers and as an excuse to showcase "hip" dialogue and to set up jokes that even at the time were shopworn. Avalon and Funicello are their usual selves; some will find them appealing, others appalling, but like the film itself, they simply are what they are. Luciana Paluzzi is on hand to add some spicy humor, and Buddy Hackett is actually pretty amusing. The score, some of which is performed by a young Stevie Wonder, includes Funicello's "classic" "A Girl Needs a Boy," as well as such typical fare as "Surfin' Woodie" and "Surfer's Holiday." For those with an appreciation for a certain style of camp, Muscle is a treasure trove, but even for those not tuned into that wave, it still is kind of fun. ~ Craig Butler, Rovi
  • For sheer in-joke references and pop-culture density, How to Stuff a Wild Bikini is the most rewarding entry in the entire "Beach Party" series. From the delightful Claymation opening credit sequence devised by Gumby-creator Art Clokey, one can tell that the producers were putting a little extra into this picture, probably because there was a lot less of both Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello onscreen than in prior films. Avalon, who was making other films at the time, is barely in it, except at the beginning and the end, and Funicello was several months pregnant at the time and director William Asher was doing his best to shoot around her condition. They made up for the two stars' relative non-appearances with a very busy, goofy plot that managed to satirize the advertising industry, early '60s youth culture, and even exploitation movies of this kind (Keaton looks at the camera after delivering some explanatory dialogue and says "And that's all the plot you're gonna get out of me!") The script and plot are also filled -- practically to the penultimate scene, a great comic cameo by Elizabeth Montgomery -- with lines and characterizations that were lifted right out of the television series Bewitched, no surprise since this movie was co-authored and directed by William Asher, the producer of Bewitched. The presence of Dwayne Hickman, TV's Dobie Gillis, in a prominent role, is also exploited to the fullest, even allowing the actor to address the camera (as in that television series). There are also some surprising bonuses in the music -- all good surf songs and girl-group numbers -- which are much better integrated into the plot than any of the earlier movies, advancing the story like a real musical rather than stopping it cold. Brian Wilson is on hand as an anonymous beach denizen, but the Kingsmen grab the onscreen musical glory with a superb punk number called "Give Her Lovin'." And in the middle is a line of dialogue -- "If you can't be with the girl you love, love the girl you're with" -- lifted in part from Finian's Rainbow, but anticipating Stephen Stills' pop-sexist anthem "Love the One You're With" by seven years. Anyone with a sharp eye or ear and a memory for the time will need a scorecard to sort it all out -- if they can stop chuckling long enough. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi
  • There's no sand, and very little Annette Funiclleo, but Ski Party is still nothing more than a "beach movie" in the snow -- and for fans of this very special subgenre, that should be just fine. Sure, Ski is not in the same ballpark as the more "classic" beach movies, but it's still a lot of silly fun for those who want something very, very mindless and very, very innocent. This one even has a slightly different plot from other beach movies -- although it's hardly original, as it's a steal from Some Like It Hot, thereby unfortunately inviting inevitably unfavorable comparisons with that classic. Frankie Avalon and Dwayne Hickman are -- well, exactly what you would expect them to be, and Yvonne Craig and Deborah Walley are cute and perky, as required. The supporting cast suffers a bit; one keeps waiting for someone like Don Rickles to show up, but he never does. The film's highlight is definitely the one and only James Brown performing "I Feel Good," but it's also fun to see Lesley Gore singing the ultra-bubblegum "Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows." ~ Craig Butler, Rovi

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