I think that we can all agree that the beach movies from the mid '60s were at the bottom of the cinematic barrel ("Catalina Caper" even got shown on "Mystery Science Theater 3000"). "Beach Blanket Bingo" is an eye roll-inducing piece of swill about a gaggle of sexually inactive teenagers trying to protect a mermaid from a biker gang. How tragic that they wasted a potentially hilarious plot on something so stupid. If nothing else, couldn't they have waited a few years so that they could have thrown in some sex?! I mean, THEY HAD A MERMAID AND THEY COULDN'T DO IT WITH HER?!!!!!!!!! WHY?!!!!!!!!!! And isn't it more chic to portray biker gangs as cool? Anyway, the fact that Buster Keaton appears in this just goes to show how far he had gotten reduced. I don't doubt that the two people from "Bewitched" (director William Asher and co-star Paul Lynde) probably prefer to be associated with that show and not with this. It's no accident that Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello never became A-list stars (unless you count his appearance in "Grease"). Nowadays, I think that we only know her because she has multiple sclerosis, the same thing that afflicted Richard Pryor. "MST3K" really should have shown this flick; Mike, Servo and Crow could have made some great comments.
Review of Beach Blanket Bingo
