Back to the Beach
Back to the Beach
PG | 07 August 1987 (USA)
Back to the Beach Trailers

Cowabunga! The surfing '60s ride into the new wave as Frankie and Annette star in this hip update of their old-time, good-time beach movies. With special appearances by Bob Denver, Tony Dow, Pee-Wee Herman, Jerry Mathers and other familiar faces. Frankie and Annette grow up and have kids in the midwest. They return to LA to visit their daughter who is shacked up with her boyfriend and tries to hide the fact. They begin to have marriage problems when Frankie runs into Connie, who has erected a shrine to him in her night club. Their punk son has joined up with the local surf toughs, and things all come to a head when the toughs challenge the good guys to a surfing duel

Reviews
Rijndri Load of rubbish!!
BelSports This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.
Ogosmith Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.
Kaydan Christian A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.
jessegehrig Frankie and Annette were hanging on the sand when Frankie got a letter from his uncle Sam, it said get Moondog and all your clan your all invited to a beach party Viet Nam, cooking hot dogs with napalm beach party Viet Nam. Holy lord what turds. Sometimes there are movies that require booze or drugs to watch it cause the movie so does suck, the amount of drugs or booze you got to use to successfully watch Back to the Beach is dangerous. Dangerous! Oh man, does this movie not work properly, it's broken in so many ways and broken so fundamentally, there is no fixing it other than using fire- fire to burn it all away. Good ole cleansing bright fire. What do you people want from movies? I mean why do you give people your money? It only validates the very worst behavior.
preppy-3 In this movie Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon played the characters they played in all those beach party movies. They married, moved to Ohio, have a daughter named Sandy (Lori Loughlin) in Califonia and a rebellious son Bobby (Damian Slade). They also act like the 1960s never ended. They go to California to visit Sandy and find things have changed at the beach. Well...not really. The kids at the beach STILL act like a bunch of idiots (just with better bodies this time), sex and drugs are NEVER brought up, nobody would dare swear and (sigh) there's a rival beach gang (all dressed in black) whose overacting would make Jim Carrey blush!This starts off great with son Bobby always insulting his father and seeing how everybody reacts to Funicello and Avalon's naivety and sweetness. Also the cameos by Bob Denver, Connie Stevens, Don Adams etc etc are fun and Annette sings a really fun song ("Jamaica Ska"). But the jokes quickly get repetitious and the movie completely goes flying out the window when Pee Wee Herman (!!!) shows up to sing "The Bird". Bizarre doesn't begin to cover it. Still it does have a lot of truly funny gags, is VERY colorful and the cast gives it their all. Just ALL the kids on the beach acting like a bunch of morons got on my nerves (I was never a big fan of the original "Beach Party" movies anyways). There are a few funny jabs at Funicello and her peanut butter commercials. I recommend it, but only if you've seen the beach party movies. Otherwise you'll be lost. I give it a 7.
lilmike-1 What makes Back to The Beach so enjoyable is the great cast and cameos that pepper this film. We get a followup to those old cheesy beach movies, with a Chevy Chase Vacation kinda feel. The parents are as mixed up as the teenagers and it's of course all just silly st up for some cute musical numbers. While obviously not a classic love story like Dr. Zhivago or even Sleepless in Seattle, it's just a fun kitsch filled family musical picture. How can you resist Pee Wee Herman flying above the beach doing Surfin' Bird with Fishbone, or Dick Dale rocking with Stevie Ray Vaughan? This film is meant to be enjoyed, not analyzed.
MinxCat but very enjoyable, none the less. I'm 26 and still enjoy watching this movie. :) Seeing Annette & Frankie together is like all those 50s beach movies returned - and ya gotta love PeeWee Herman because 'the bird IS the word'! ;)