Now, when we talk beach movies, we're not talking Frankie and Annette (though their contribution to the genre is, in a word, awesome). You're probably thinking Beach Party, Muscle Beach Party . . .
Musclehead! That kind of air-brained reaction is to deny that the beach movie is among the weightiest of movie genres. But before any serious study of surf-and-sand cinema can commence, some myths about beach movies must be dispelled.
* Myth or reality: The beach movie is entertaining fluff with absolutely no redeeming value. Myth, perpetrated by those brain-blocked, sun-blocked ignoramuses who confuse "beach movies" with "beach reading."
If you're the kind of person who thinks the beach movie means Beach Party, think about From Here to Eternity (1953), South Pacific (1958) and The Harder They Come (1973), movies that struck a deep social nerve.
Against its story of class conflict in the military on the eve of Pearl Harbor, is there a more seductive image of glands-on-the-sand lust than Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr's surf-soaked embrace in Eternity?
Has any American movie exposed learned racism more eloquently than "You've Got to Be Carefully Taught" in South Pacific?
Name one movie that better shows the similarities between a most-admired pop star and a most-wanted killer than The Harder They Come, which shows its aspiring singer-turned-outlaw on the beaches of Jamaica. (It's also the movie that introduced reggae to U.S. audiences.)
* Myth or reality: The Beach Party genre was established by the frivolous, endless-summer 1963 California musical starring Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello. Myth, perpetrated by California brain-bleached baby boomers whose
memories are shorter than Annette when she was a Mouseketeer.
