DVD Pick of the Week - Frankie and Annette: The Collection
Frankie and Annette: The Collection
Yes, I know what you’re thinking…. seriously? Just a week after she graces us with a refreshing dose of dour, non-sunshiney, anti-summertime film recommendations, she follows it up by picking probably the perkiest, corniest, reeking-of-hairspray-and-surf-wax summer film canon of all time. Look, I’m not without my guilty pleasures either. If I’m honest, the American Independent beach bunny flicks of the 1960’s that starred shellac-coiffed crooner Frankie Avalon and babeish ex-Mouseketeer Annette Funicello are not without their cornball charms, or historical value.
Now, whether or not you can get through all seven of the films in MGM’s box set out this week depends on your appetite for twee dance numbers and bouncy girls doing the twist. (Well, except for Ski Party, the lone wintry party flick in the bunch). Still, one would be hard pressed to deny the impact that these films had on teen-targeted film demographics for years to come; prior, you had a few teen-oriented dramas like Rebel Without a Cause, some b-movie titles and films shaped around artists such as The Beatles and Elvis, but no one really seemed score big genre hits marketed expressly at the young folks until the surf flicks (Frankie and Annette, but also Gidget, etc.) arrived. How would the teen flicks of the 80’s have developed in a vacuum devoid of Beach Blanket Bingo and Muscle Beach Party? Could all those boobs have been unleashed had we not had all the bikinis first? On a side note, the guest star lineups in some of these films are pretty astounding. (Don Rickles! Dick Dale! Little Stevie Wonder! Buddy Hackett! Paul Lynde! Lynda Evans! BUSTER KEATON!…twice! No horseshit…)
Also recommended this week: Beauty and Beast: Season 2; Bewitched: Season 5; A Bullet For Joey; The Stranger; The Woman In The Window
— Nicole Campos
