Cinema '65: Here We Go

And so it's happening: our look back at 1965.

Over the past few months, I've caught up with 67 films released in 1965 -- the only nominated film I missed among the regular Oscar categories (non-doc, non-short, non-foreign) was Von Ryan's Express. I've watched several Beach Party movies, four Vincent Price flicks, three Japanese films, two documentaries, two Jean Harlow biopics (both titled Harlow), and four Russ Meyer experiences. Some of the films were reviewed; most will be looked at over the next month, as we go through Oscar's nominees in fifteen categories.

Yes, fifteen. For it's 1965, and categories like Art Direction-Set Decoration and Cinematography have separate awards for Color and Black-and-White -- a practice that will be discontinued for the 1967 Oscars.

After that, of course, I will name my own picks in eighteen categories for the Retro Hollmann Awards.

Tomorrow: a look at POW dark comedy King Rat, blind-white-girl-meets-black-man romance A Patch of Blue, suicide prevention drama The Slender Thread, and more! Until then...the total list of films screened follows:

The Agony and the Ecstasy

The Awful Dr. Orloff

Beach Blanket Bingo

The Beach Girls and the Monster

Bunny Lake is Missing

Casanova ‘70

Cat Ballou

The Collector

Darling

The Defilers

Devil Doll

Die! Die! My Darling!

Die, Monster, Die

Doctor Zhivago

Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine

Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors

The Eleanor Roosevelt Story

Fanny Hill

Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!

The Flight of the Phoenix

Genghis Khan

Girl Happy

The Great Race

The Greatest Story Ever Told

Harlow (Carol Lynley version)

Harlow (Carroll Baker version)

Help!

How to Stuff a Wild Bikini

In Harm’s Way

Inside Daisy Clover

The IPCRESS File

King Rat

Kwaidan

Lord Jim

The Loved One

Mondo Pazzo

Morituri

Motorpsycho

Mudhoney

Murder Most Foul

The Nanny

None But the Brave

Onibaba

Othello

A Patch of Blue

The Pawnbroker

The Pleasure Seekers

A Rage to Live

The Sandpiper

Shenandoah

Ship of Fools

Ski Party

The Slender Thread

The Sons of Katie Elder

The Sound of Music

The Spy Who Came in from the Cold

Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines

A Thousand Clowns

Thunderball

Tomb of Ligeia

The Train

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg

War-Gods of the Deep

What’s New Pussycat?

Who Killed Teddy Bear?

Woman in the Dunes

Young Cassidy

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Cinema '65: Beach Party and Its Kind

Guess who watched a bunch of beach movies? Me! I did!

In retrospect, it's nuts that my introduction to the world of Beach Party was the film Ski Party -- the main setting is different, the characters are different, and except for a quick gag where she plays a college professor who goes "parking" with students, no Annette Funicello. But boy oh boy what a flick! Frankie Avalon and Dwayne Hickman disguise themselves as ladies on a college co-ed trip to a ski lodge, with Hickman almost finding love with the big man on campus! A creaky idea? Maybe, but executed with fun, real wit -- and a Lesley Gore number! There's even a scene where our heroes choose not to stay the night with some girls they've duped because "the average age of this movie's audience is 14." Fun!

Not fun? The Beach Girls and the Monster, a cheapo horror-mystery about beach bums and their disappointed parents. There aren't enough beach girls to justify that title, really, while the conversations the movie attempts to have about the Generation Gap and Changing Times are embarrassing. I don't think the mystery holds up, either. Sue Casey plays an enjoyably boozey, acid-tongued wife, though. And Frank Sinatra, Jr., contributed to the soundtrack, so that's...something. This is not a Beach Party film, but it's clearly influenced by the success of that series.

I did wind up returning to the world of Beach Party with How to Stuff a Wild Bikini, though again, it's an atypical entry; while it's the traditional Beach Party ensemble (including big dummy Jody McCrea and leather-clad dummy Harvey Lembeck), Frankie is off the beach, serving his country, canoodling with island girls on base, but convincing witch doctor Buster Keaton to send a magical pelican to keep an eye on Annette's fidelity. Such a conceit is risible, and my jaw dropped when the opening musical number revealed exactly how one stuffs a wild bikini -- 36-22-36. Blech, though catchy. Not surprisingly, this was one of the final films in the official series.

Now Beach Blanket Bingo, I can deal with. Frankie spends the entire runtime explaining why girls can't do what boys do, while Annette does exactly what she wants and teaches him a lesson in how awesome she is. Don Rickles does a whole set mocking the fact that this franchise is still going. Paul Lynde does his mincing-sneering-hating youth routine, which is always welcome. There's a sweet subplot about big dummy Jody McCrea falling in love with a mermaid. I think someone almost gets murdered? Plus there's this one extra who's clearly a genuine 60s party girl (far right in the gif), marching to the beat of her own spectacular drum. I love her. I love this movie. Except for the scene where a jealous girl tries to accuse Frankie of rape.

Girl Happy is not a Beach Party movie -- not only is it a different studio entirely, but it stars Elvis Presley! Still, it's about some young 'uns who head to Fort Lauderdale for Spring Break. Elvis falls for his boss's daughter, and once you've seen Shelley Fabares in action, you will too. While she doesn't possess Ann-Margret's volcanic sexual energy, she's a natural comedienne who plays the hell out a drunken striptease scene. Girl Happy is more frank about sex than the Frankie & Annette flicks -- indeed, it's also more open to letting its women have a good time, without judgment. I like that! Yay for proud strippers!


Disappointingly enough, Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine was dull. From the team that brought you the Beach Party films comes another Frankie Avalon-Dwayne Hickman adventure, this time going up against mad scientist Vincent Price and his army of robot beauties. Price is game, but it's oddly listless.


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