tek's rating:

Muscle Beach Party (not rated)
IMDb; Rotten Tomatoes; TCM; Wikipedia
streaming sites: Amazon; Google Play; YouTube

This is the second movie in the Beach Party series, released in 1964. (I don't remember when I first saw it, but it was on a VHS set of beach movies, in the 1990s or 2000s. I later rewatched it on DVD in 2022.) The teens are once again on summer vacation at the beach, and Frankie once again has troubles with his girlfriend. This time she's called Dee Dee rather than Dolores, though I think he might've called her that in the first movie too, I'm not sure. (There are some other characters with the same names as in the first movie.) Another change this time is that there's no Big Daddy, and the hangout is now just called Cappy's Place. He's quite concerned that the place may get wrecked by these kids, if they get into a fight like they did before with Von Zipper's gang.

The bikers, however, are not in this picture. Instead, there's a totally ridiculous guy named Jack Fanny (Don Rickles), who is the trainer of a bunch of bodybuilders. The main one of these is Mr. Galaxy, aka Flex Martian. There's also this rich, beautiful, widowed contessa named Julie, who has had a string of boyfriends, and who now sets her sights on Flex. So, she has her people (S.Z., played by Buddy Hackett, and Theodore, some stuffy, vaguely British-seeming guy) work out a deal with Jack Fanny to get control of his bodybuilders and buy him a bunch of gyms (though he would rather wait to consult with his silent partner, Mr. Strangdour). Unfortunately, shortly after the deal is signed, Julie decides she isn't interested in Flex anymore. She heard Frankie singing, and decides she's in love with him, and wants to get him a record deal and make him a star.

This, naturally, complicates things between Frankie and Dee Dee, though there was already some trouble brewing. He's happy with his life just basically surfing and being free, while she thinks he should do something with his life, and also make a commitment to her. I think Frankie was kind of a jerk in this movie (maybe more so than he was in the first movie). And his potentially getting a record deal doesn't make Dee Dee or any of their friends happy. Meanwhile, Flex and Jack Fanny are not happy about Julie dumping Flex for Frankie, so of course a war breaks out between the bodybuilders and the surfers. And of course it happens at Cappy's.

Not much else to say, really. This movie is even campier than the first, but it's still okay I guess. (I wanted to rate it above the "meh" range, but I didn't want to give it the same rating as I had the first movie, which was one smiley. So I upped my rating of that movie to one and a half smileys.) And Peter Lorre makes a cameo appearance. Aside from songs by Frankie and/or Dee Dee, there's also a musical appearance by Little Stevie Wonder, in his film debut. And there's music by Dick Dale and the Del-Tones, as there was in the first movie. One of their songs is performed with Donna Loren.


surf & beach index
teen comedy index
musicals

Beach Party series

Beach Party * Muscle Beach Party * Bikini Beach * Pajama Party * Beach Blanket Bingo * How to Stuff a Wild Bikini * Ghost in the Invisible Bikini
see also Ski Party