They’re all crap and lasted a mere three or four years (early to mid-‘60s), but because they hit during peak Baby Boomer adolescence, the AIP Beach Party/Beach Blanket pics left an outsized cultural footprint. This one, usually considered last & least of the lot, is likely the best. Unlike earlier entries, which have something passing for plot & motivation (jealousy, dangerous waves, sentiment bucking hormonal overload), STUFF is more ‘Dada’ meets HELLZAPOPPIN. Writer/director William Asher, running tv’s BEWITCHED at the time*, sits back while Frankie Avalon worries that main squeeze Annette Funicello (shy of flesh on the beach/shy of pitch on the songs) will slip with junior ad man Dwayne Hickman who's helping Mickey Rooney find the perfectly shaped girly-girl for Brian Donlevy’s latest ad campaign. The film almost defiantly untethered to reality right from the git with Claymation titles from Art Clokey (of Gumby fame), nobly giving Guest Star Buster Keaton his due by animating his signature pork pie hat. (Buster paying back by getting decent laughs out of his wheezy tropical ‘Medicine Man’ routine.) And rather than merely spot Top Pop wannabee hit songs in front of shoddy backscreen projection (an AIP tradition), they also try out two integrated Musical Comedy numbers from a dismal/imagined Road Tour sequel of HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING. One song with a chorus of biz execs for talented but annoying Mickey Rooney; the other with a chorus of bikers for untalented and annoying Harvey Lembeck. Dead 40 years, Lembeck’s still hunting up his first laugh.
DOUBLE-BILL: Aging players, late-‘60s political assassinations, and the war in Vietnam saw American International Pictures segue from WILD AT THE BEACH pics to WILD IN THE STREETS/’68. https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2022/01/wild-in-streets-1968.html
ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: *Asher’s daytime job (and spouse) explains the gag right at the end.
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