Was there actually a time in American history when people thought Frankie and Annette were interesting, sexy, funny or in any way entertaining? They're blander than WonderBread.Is there anyone under the age of 30 in this movie allegedly about and presumably for teenagers?The music. Horrible. Keenan Wynne. That man cashed a lot of cheques over the years and this is no exception.Don Rickles. I was embarrassed for him.

This third film in the series (after "Beach Party" and "Muscle Beach Party") has "Frankie" (Frankie Avalon), "Dee Dee" (Annette Funicello) and the rest of the surfer gang headed back to the beach to enjoy some sun, waves and music. When they get there they meet a millionaire named "Harvey Huntington Honeywagon III" (Keenan Wynn) who seeks to rid the beach of the surfers so that he can construct a senior citizens home on it. To help him in that regard is a pet chimpanzee named "Clyde" (played by Janos Prohaska) who drives, surfs and dances the Watusi better than anybody there. Another visitor to the beach is a famous British rock star by the name of "Potato Bug" (also played by Frankie Avalon) who has all of the young ladies squealing with delight whenever he sings. Throw in a bar and drag strip owner named "Big Drag" (Don Rickles), a beautiful defender of the surfers by the name of "Vivien Clements" (Martha Hyer), a motorcycle gang known as "the Ratz" led by "Eric Von Zipper" (Harvey Lembeck) and a bevy of attractive young women and the result is a film that is light on substance but fun never the less. What was probably most interesting was the way this movie managed to assimilate the relatively new "surf music" with the brand new sound characterized by the "First British Invasion". On the other hand, while I appreciated the scenery provided by Annette Funicello, Martha Hyer, Meredith MacRae (as "Animal") and a host of other young ladies, I didn't especially care for the amount of time devoted to Clyde or "Candy" (Candy Johnson). Neither did I feel that Don Rickles was given an adequate script to showcase his comedic talent. But that's just my opinion. In short, this wasn't a bad movie but it wasn't that great either. Accordingly, I rate it as average.

British superstar Potato Bug shows up and causes friction between Frankie and Annette. Meanwhile Keenan Wynn and his pet chimp try to put a stop to teens on the beach so he can build an old folks' home there. This is a fun movie with a terrific dual performance by Frankie Avalon. Annette Funicello looks beautiful and sings a couple of nice ballads. I'm not the biggest fan of the Beach Party series but some of them are good fun. This is the second best, I think, behind Beach Blanket Bingo. It's got everything you could want from a beach movie. Girls in bikinis, nice songs, goofy comedy, a guy in a chimp suit, and a great cameo by Boris Karloff. If you like simple, fun, innocent movies then you'll like this a lot.

There's one thing it took me forever to notice about this series. In the early movies, they smoke and drink (beer, at least). In this one, "Big Drag" makes a point of saying that he doesn't sell liquor or cigarettes to the surfers. This might be before the phrase "role model" really took off, but maybe they were trying to get on the good side of parents. It might not be mentioned here, but "Clyde" the chimpanzee is played by Janos Prohaska, an actor who specialized in playing apes and monsters (he wore the same suit in a famous Outer Limits episode). One of Don Rickles best moments is when Keenan Wynnn is lecturing him - you really have to watch the frown on his face, because even for Rickles, it's hilarious. And Harvey Lembeck had some of his best moments of the series, when he becomes "strange bedfellows" with Wynn's character, then feels betrayed when Wynn sides with Martha Hyer - "It's a regular Delilah and Simpson!" I don't think anyone here has mentioned the cameo at the end, which, as usual, was by a horror actor. The man whose face is never shown (in other scenes) walks in during the fight between the surfers and the motorcycle gang, and it turns out to be Boris Karloff. He says a few lines, looks around at the fighting and says, "Monsters."