Spy-themed Beach Party follow-on doesn’t measure up

American International Picture’s spy-themed 1965 follow-on to their successful Beach Party series does not measure up to its teen-fun predecessors nor its spy-film lampooning peers. Frankie Avalon and Dwayne Hickman each made better teen films, and though co-star Vincent price is a hoot and Susan Hart is hot, the screenplay is a dud. Worse yet, the script’s original musical bent was trimmed down to only the terrific Guy Hemric/Jerry Styner-penned theme song. The film’s low production values are mediated by great location footage of San Francisco and a terrific claymation title sequence by Gumby’s creator, Art Clokey. Like any number of 1960s spy films – dramas and comedies – there’s a lot of opportunity to pick out things Mike Myers poached for his Austin Powers series, not least of which are the gold bikini clad fembots. Lots of slapstick from the entire cast (which includes character actor Jack Mullaney), and some entertainingly bad green screen work in which Avalon and Hickman ride a motorbike amongst what seem to be gigantic trucks and cars. Keep your eye peeled for cameos from several AIP Beach Party stars. The original Beach Party films are better entertainment (particularly for their musical content) and better mid-60s spy spoofs can be found, but if you’ve exhausted both genres, see this one for completeness. Nice crisp print, but the original trailer is the only extra. [©2009 hyperbolium dot com]