Here are our 12 favorite beach party movies.
Beach party movies aren’t as common as they used to be, but they used to be quite popular. In fact, there was an entire series of beach party movies starring the duo of Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello. Most of them would make a list of the best beach party movies, because they are honestly largely good within the parameters of what they aim for. However, for this list of the 12 best beach party movies, we’ll limit ourselves to only a few films from that series.
Now, we aren’t saying any of these movies should have won Best Picture at the Academy Awards, but if that’s what you want from a movie about a beach party, your priorities might be misaligned. These movies are, largely, fun. They may be silly, but that’s want they want to be. It’s a party! Lighten up!
Beach Party (1963)
This is not the first film to feature a party on a beach, but it started the American International Pictures “Beach Party” series, and also the beach party genre.
This AIP movie established all the tropes, as well as many of the regular cast members. Teenage lovebirds, broad comedy, unthreatening villains, adult characters with their own storylines, musical acts, famous old celebrities, and a bunch of good-looking people in bathing suits.
Beach Party introduced Frankie and Annette as the soon-to-be stars of this series, but it also introduced Jody McCrea as the dopey Deadhead and Harvey Lembeck as ineffectual biker gang leader Eric Von Zipper. Vincent Price has a cameo. Dick Dale and the Del Tones play music. What else do you want?
It’s a fun watch, a mix of stuff that doesn’t work but is still entertaining and jokes and bits that are genuinely good. Plus, who doesn’t enjoy seeing a bunch of sun, surf, and dancing on the beach?
Bikini Beach (1964)
They really churned these movies out over at AIP. In fact, there were three films in the beach party series came out in 1964 alone. The best of those three, though, is Bikini Beach. There’s no subtlety to that title, but there’s no subtlety to this series.
Keenan Wynn plays a millionaire with a chimpanzee who surfs and dances better than a lot of the teens, which he uses as proof that he should replace the beach with a retirement home. That’s the kind of slim premise these films thrive on, but anything more serious would feel jarring.
The other storyline features Frankie Avalon in a dual role as Frankie and also The Potato Bug, a British pop sensation. Yes, he is a parody of the Beatles. Yes, it is dumb. It’s also the exact some of fun kind of dumb we were talking about when it comes to these films. The whole thing is goofy, but it’s part of the ride.
Beach Blanket Bingo (1965)
Beach Blanket Bingo is probably the most-famous title in the “Beach Party” series, and it also has one of the best titles of any movie ever.
Also: Buster Keaton, Paul Lynde, and Don Rickles are all in Beach Blanket Bingo. We don’t need the hard sell after that, do we?
The beach party movies would often try and capitalize on exciting trends of the era, like hot rods, for example. This movie has a heavy skydiving subplot, and a villain tying a girl to a log to feed it into a buzzsaw.
There were a couple more films in the series after Beach Blanket Bingo, and then there were a couple spinoff films such as Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine, which is the kind of movie Austin Powers would take someone to on a first date.
There’s also some crossover with Our Favorite Ski Resort Movies.
Catalina Caper (1967)
Other studios and production companies besides AIP wanted a piece of the beach party pie in the 1960s. Oftentimes, they were just a year or two behind the trend. Catalina Caper is certainly an example of that. It didn’t have quite the same quality of cast, either, with Tommy Kirk in the Frankie Avalon role.
Catalina Caper was featured on Mystery Science Theater 3000, and we aren’t here to say it is actually “good” in the traditional sense. It is, however, one of the better films ever featured on that show. Certainly it is light years ahead of Pod People or Hobgoblins or an Ed Wood vehicle. We mean, Little Richard is in it!
The movie is watchable, even without Joel and the bots. It scratches a lot of the same itch as the AIP “Beach Party” movies, and it has plenty of dancing and people in bathing suits. The comedy is a little bit sweatier, but it’s generally not annoying. That allows you to let it wash over you as you have some fun.
Clambake (1967)
There are a few Elvis Presley movies that are beach party-adjacent, and could be considered beach party films. A couple of them are even good! However, Clambake is a true-blue, of-the-moment beach party film, and it’s enjoyable, so it’s easy enough to make the call for this to be our Elvis entry. Even if, you know, Elvis didn’t enjoy it.
Elvis plays the scion of an oil fortune who travels down to Florida to get away from the life of the idle rich. He and the waterskiing instructor at a hotel in Miami agree to swap places. Elvis’ Scott gets to see if people (particularly girls) like him without knowing he’s rich, and Will Hutchins’ Tom gets to live the rich life for a bit.
Complications ensue, naturally, but along the way there are some songs and some good locations. Maybe Elvis’ heart wasn’t fully in it, but that doesn’t keep Clambake from being an enjoyable entrant into the beach party genre.
Don’t Make Waves (1967)
Speaking of quality casts, Don’t Make Waves, based on a book called Muscle Beach, is led by Tony Curtis. It also features Claudia Cardinale and Sharon Tate. The poster tagline was “Turn on! Stay Loose! Make Out!” Sold.
It’s a film about several love triangles in Southern California, and it is dedicated to the ins and outs of life in Southern Cal in the 1960s. So, yes, bodybuilding, hence the title of the book, but also gurus, surfing, and mudslides for some reason.
Don’t Make Waves is a film that works in fits and starts, but it doesn’t leave you hanging for very long. The cast is talented and carries some lesser offerings, and the whole thing has that beach party energy to it. Stay loose, as they suggest.
We may need to add this one to our list of 1960s Movies That Are Still a Pleasure to Watch.
Private Resort (1985)
Many people know Johnny Depp’s first film was A Nightmare on Elm Street. That is a common bit of film trivia. However, his first starring role came the next year when he was in Private Resort. His co-star? None other than future Northern Exposure lead actor Rob Morrow.
Private Resort closed out the “Private Trilogy” of teen sex comedies. This one, of course, takes place at a beach resort down in Miami. Depp and Morrow play two college friends out to have a good time. Because this is a silly beach party film, they run afoul of a jewel thief played by Hector Elizondo.
If two famous faces in Morrow and, particularly, Depp didn’t star in Private Resort, maybe we wouldn’t recommend it. There would still be some amusement to be had. However, there is definitely a heavy curiosity factor to seeing Johnny Depp starring in a teen sex comedy as a young man.
Back to the Beach (1987)
In the 1980s, the Beach Party movies got an affectionate parody in Back to the Beach. The movie stars Frankie and Annette as “Frankie and Annette,” so clearly they didn’t mind being in on the fun. A generation that had grown up on those movies was now ready to lampoon them a bit.
As the title suggests, after years living an unhappy life in the Midwest, Frankie and Annette find themselves going back to the beach. It’s a beach party movie by the way of campy spoof by way of the 1980s.
Don Adams, Barbara Billingsley, and both Gilligan and The Skipper have roles in Back to the Beach. Paul Reubens plays Pee-wee Herman in the film as well. That should let you know exactly what you’re getting into.
Shag (1988)
The title Shag is a reference to the Carolina shag, a popular dance of the 1960s. See, while this film was released in 1988, it is set in 1963. The beach party era was now getting period pieces dedicated to it.
Shag is about four teenage girls who go to Myrtle Beach for one last getaway. The film is quite enmeshed with both nostalgia and the culture of the Carolinas. This is not always a good thing. A girl wins a beauty contest while wearing a Confederate flag bikini, but she’s also one of the villains so…call it a wash?
The movie has a solid cast, including Bridget Fonda, Annabelle Gish, and Phoebe Cates when she still acted. Being set on the East Coast definitely gives Shag a chance of pace from many of these movies.
Psycho Beach Party (2000)
We end with a parody that goes further than Back to the Beach. Psycho Beach Party is absolutely bananas, and it serves a different audience from Back to the Beach. It mixes up beach party films with psychodramas of the 1950s and slashers of the 1980s. Truly, it is chaotic, but it delivers something uncommon.
Lauren Ambrose stars as “Chicklet,” a parody of Gidget, a surfer gal who may also have multiple personalities, and may also be a serial killer. But also, beach parties! It’s completely bananas, intentionally, and it doesn’t all work, but that also may be baked into the proceedings.
If you have any affinity for beach party movies, or campy horror-comedies, then check out Psycho Beach Party. Also, a pre-fame Amy Adams has a supporting role.
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Main image: Amy Adams in Psycho Beach Party. Strand Releasing.