Wild on the Beach

Laughably awkward teen-opus, filmed on the cheap in black-and-white, concerns young male and female college students battling each other over the rights to a swanky beach-house. It's the boys against the girls! (Wouldn't it makes things more interesting for these kids if the pad were co-ed?) Worth a quick peek for the musical cameo by Sonny & Cher down at the local hot-spot (they sing the growly slow-burner "It's Gonna Rain"), but their bit comes early--at the 22-minute mark--leaving nothing but godawful acting and teenage contrivances for the next hour. Positively painful! "Wild on the Beach" makes the A.I.P. "Beach Party" flicks seem Oscar-caliber by comparison. * from ****

Frankie Randall (who?) and Sherry Jackson try a mean imitation of Frankie Avalon and Annette in this dreary,black and white rip-off of the beach party flicks.There's too much plot,(something about sharing a beach house,disliking each other,rousing the ire of the local college board,until the happy ending.) Frankie sings alot (songs you'll never hear again),Sherry Jackson does a nice Annette pout but it's all for naught.Sonny and Cher and the Astronauts do a brief guest bit,there's some lame comic turns (one guy is always losing his contacts,etc.),stuffy adult reactions to the kids,no beach scenes,no babes in bikinis,just alot of plot.Even boys and girls forced to share the same house isn't presented in a spicy way.Everyone is too hostile.I saw this picture when it first came out and thought it was great but I grew up!

Without a doubt the absolute worst beach-party-style rip-off film that I've seen, and there is plenty of competition. Adam (Frankie Randall) and Lee (Sherry Jackson) both rent the same beach house for the summer, and each refuses to give up their claim. Zero laughs and amateur drama ensue. Also featuring Russ Bender, Gayle Caldwell, Jackie Miller, and Booth Colman. If you haven't ever heard of these people, there is a reason for that. There are also performances by Sonny & Cher, The Astronauts, and Sandy Nelson. The Sonny & Cher song, "It's Gonna Rain", may be one of the worst songs in the history of Western Civilization. The entire film is like hammering a railroad spike through your foot.

Way outdated plot (old-timers don't like the idea of boys and girls living together in the same house), brainless script, terrible songs that the producers apparently thought "the kids" would think was cool but definitely weren't, a bland leading man whose singing and acting are on the same level (lousy), chintzy production values (to be expected from a Lippert picture) and some of the unfunniest "comedy" bits (consisting mainly of old people tripping and falling down) in recent memory all combine to make this cheap "Beach Party" ripoff barely watchable. At least the "Beach Party" movies were shot in color so the audience would see nice shots of the beach and the ocean; this thing is shot in black-and-white, so the few scenes where you actually see the beach are bland and uninteresting.

Just about the only things this mess has going for it are Sherry Jackson, who was adorable as a child actress and grew up to be an absolute knockout; and a couple of shots of some cute girls running around a beach house in their nighties. That's it. Period.

Don't waste your time.

If you ever needed proof of the superiority of AIP's Beach Party series, here it is. Lippert couldn't even bring themselves to shoot this in colour, and they certainly couldn't afford stars of the magnitude of Frankie and Annette. The only saving grace of this tiresome take on teenage life in the mid 60s is, not surprisingly, the music. Sonny and Cher appear performing It's Gonna Rain, a garagey b-side that belies their pop leanings. The Astronauts are on hand performing a sub-Elvis number and the film's highlight, Here Comes Speedy Gonzales, and Sandy Nelson pounds out a little teen beat while a rather tuneless (and nameless) band backs him up.