Back to the Beach (1987)

Director:

Lyndall Hobbs

Writers:

James Komack (story) and
Bill L. Norton (story) ...

Release Date:

7 August 1987 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

Fasten your seatbelts and get ready for a totally NEW WAVE motion picture experience.

Plot:

Frankie and Annette grow up and have kids in the midwest. They return to LA to visit their daughter...

Plot Keywords:

Surfing | Family Relationships | Surfer | Beach Party | Beach

Cast

Frankie Avalon	...	Annette's Husband
Annette Funicello	...	Annette
Lori Loughlin	...	Sandi
Tommy Hinkley	...	Michael
Demian Slade	...	Bobby
Connie Stevens	...	Connie
Joe Holland	...	Zed
John Calvin	...	Troy
David Bowe	...	Mountain
Laura Urstein	...	Robin
Linda Carol	...	Bridgette
Marjorie Gross	...	Airline Hostess
Hartley Silver	...	Fleishman (as Hartly Silver)
Alan Barry	...	Salesman
Thomas David Parker	...	Salesman

Also Known As:

Malibu Beach Girls (USA) (alternative title)

Runtime:

92 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Ultra Stereo

Certification:

Australia:PG | Iceland:L | UK:PG | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Paradise Cove - 28128 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu, California, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

Annette opens a kitchen cabinet and replaces two jars of peanut butter on a shelf filled with nothing but Skippy peanut butter (10 jars). Annette Funicello was the star of a series of television commercials for Skippy peanut butter at the time. (The other shelves are similarly strangely stocked: the top shelf is nothing but Heinz ketchup (16 bottles), while the next is nothing but Campbell's soup (29 cans)).

Goofs:

Continuity: The initial external shot of the airborne Boeing 747 is a full-length version of the plane. Upon landing, it is clearly the much-shorter "SP" version of a TWA 747.

Quotes:

Frankie, the Big Kahuna: What does that mean, "we're not in?"
Annette: Uneducated guess? I think it means they're not in.
Bobby: Boy, it's quite a piece of dialogue when you intellectual masterminds get together! I should be writing this down!

Movie Connections:

Spoofs The Breakfast Club (1985)

Soundtrack:

Limbo Rock

Frankie and Annette get back to their home turf

For those of us who grew up on Beach Party movies, this is a fun revisiting of the genre. Done as a combination homage/spoof to these early/mid 60's drive-in specials, the movie reunites some of the principle players and revisits the myth of California as Shangri-La.

Annette, Frankie, Connie and dozens of guests in cameo roles gently rib the genre and themselves. As usual, Annette and Frankie have some difference of opinions and go off in different directions--even though they have been married for 20 years. Their plots to make each other jealous and the ultimate reconciliation are no surprise, but still make for a pleasant 90 minutes.

Annette and Connie are as lovely as ever. The villains are redeemed in the end and, of course, the "Big Kahuna" overcomes his anxiety and wins the surfing competition(even though he has not been on a board in over 20 years)..