How to Stuff a Wild Bikini

Director: William Asher William Asher

Overview

How to Stuff a Wild Bikini is considered to be the strangest of the "Beach Party" movies. Frankie (Frankie Avalon) is off in the navy, serving in the South Pacific, and nervous about all of the guys that will be hitting on Dee Dee (Annette Funicello) back at the beach. He makes a deal with an eccentric white witch doctor (Buster Keaton), who conjures up a woman named Cassandra (Beverly Adam) who is irresistible to all men, and she attracts all of the guys on the beach. But complications ensue when lunatic advertising man Mickey Rooney decides to try and make Cassandra a new national sex symbol, and she gets noticed by nutsy bike gang leader Erik Von Zipper (Harvey Lembeck), who vows to have her. With enough plot complications to rival +A Midsummer Night's Dream, Wild Bikini is laced with satire and some surprisingly good music.

Product Details

Release Date:	06/25/2019
UPC:	0887090142410
Original Release:	1965
Rating:	NR
Source:	Olive
Region Code:	1
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Language:	English
Time:	1:33:00
Sales rank:	15,826

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Beverly Adams	Cassandra
Annette Funicello	Dee Dee
Harvey Lembeck	Eric Von Zipper
Brian Donlevy	B.D. 'Big Deal' MacPherson
Dwayne Hickman	Ricky,Actor
Jody McCrea	Bonehead
John Ashley	Johnny
Marianne Gaba	Animal
Len Lesser	North Dakota Pete
Irene Tsu	Native Girl
Arthur Julian	Dr. Melamed
Bobbi Shaw	Khola Koku
Frankie Avalon	Frankie
Buster Keaton	Bwana
Alberta Nelson	Puss
Andy Romano	J.D.
Alan Frohlich	Ad Man,Ad Man
Tom Quine	Ad Man
Hollis Morrison	Ad Man
Guy Hemric	Ad Man
George Boyce	Ad Man
Charles Reed	Ad Man
Patti Chandler	Patti
Mike Nader	Mike,Beach Girl
Luree Holmes	Beach Girl
Jo Collins	Beach Girl
Mary Hughes	Beach Girl
Jeannine White	Beach Girl
Janice Levinson	Beach Girl
Ed Garner	Beach Boy
John Fain	Beach Boy
Mickey Dora	Beach Boy
Brian Wilson	Beach Boy
Bruce Baker	Beach Boy
Ned Wynn	Beach Boy
Kerry Berry	Beach Boy
Dick Jones	Beach Boy,Actor
Ray Atkinson	Beach Boy
Ronnie Dayton	Beach Boy
Salli Sachse	Bookend
Linda Bent	Bookend
Marianne Gordon	Chickie
Sheila Stephenson	Secretary
Rosemary Williams	English Girl,Peanuts
Tonia Van Deter	Italian Girl
Uta Stone	German Girl
Toni Harper	Barberette
Michele Barton	Manicurist
Victoria Carroll	Shoe Shine Girl
Mickey Rooney	Peachy Keane
John Macchia	Rat Pack
Jerry Brutsche	Rat Pack
Bob Harvey	Rat Pack
Myrna Ross	Rat Pack
Les Baxter	Composer

Technical Credits

William Asher

Leo Townsend

Samuel Z. Arkoff	Producer
William Asher	Director,Screenwriter
James H. Nicholson	Producer
Leo Townsend	Screenwriter

Editorial Reviews

For sheer in-joke references and pop-culture density, How to Stuff a Wild Bikini is the most rewarding entry in the entire "Beach Party" series. From the delightful Claymation opening credit sequence devised by Gumby-creator Art Clokey, one can tell that the producers were putting a little extra into this picture, probably because there was a lot less of both Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello onscreen than in prior films. Avalon, who was making other films at the time, is barely in it, except at the beginning and the end, and Funicello was several months pregnant at the time and director William Asher was doing his best to shoot around her condition. They made up for the two stars' relative non-appearances with a very busy, goofy plot that managed to satirize the advertising industry, early '60s youth culture, and even exploitation movies of this kind (Keaton looks at the camera after delivering some explanatory dialogue and says "And that's all the plot you're gonna get out of me!") The script and plot are also filled -- practically to the penultimate scene, a great comic cameo by Elizabeth Montgomery -- with lines and characterizations that were lifted right out of the television series Bewitched, no surprise since this movie was co-authored and directed by William Asher, the producer of Bewitched. The presence of Dwayne Hickman, TV's Dobie Gillis, in a prominent role, is also exploited to the fullest, even allowing the actor to address the camera (as in that television series). There are also some surprising bonuses in the music -- all good surf songs and girl-group numbers -- which are much better integrated into the plot than any of the earlier movies, advancing the story like a real musical rather than stopping it cold. Brian Wilson is on hand as an anonymous beach denizen, but the Kingsmen grab the onscreen musical glory with a superb punk number called "Give Her Lovin'." And in the middle is a line of dialogue -- "If you can't be with the girl you love, love the girl you're with" -- lifted in part from Finian's Rainbow, but anticipating Stephen Stills' pop-sexist anthem "Love the One You're With" by seven years. Anyone with a sharp eye or ear and a memory for the time will need a scorecard to sort it all out -- if they can stop chuckling long enough.