Beach Follow Up

 

 (imdb)

WILD ON THE BEACH-1965-Adam (Frankie Randall) and Lee (Sherry Jackson) both rent the same beach house. Oodles of funny things happen in this pretty unfunny rip-off of AIP's Beach movies. Sonny & Cher, The Astronauts and Sandy Nelson provide the music and Russ Bender as a college professor/record producer even croons a tune! Booth Colman is a college dean and Justin Smith is his bumbling assistant.

This was Maury Dexter's follow up to SURF PARTY and it was co-written by his usual screenwriter Harry Spauding. Lead Frankie Randall hosted a summer replacement show for Dean Martin and his cover of The Who's “I Can See For Miles” is featured on “Golden Throats: The Great American Sing Off” from Rhino records.

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Hit The Beach

 

 (imdb)

SURF PARTY-1964-3 women Terry (Patricia Morrow; TV's 'Peyton Place”), Junior (singer Jackie DeShannon; she was in INTIMACY in 1966) and Sylvia (Lory Patrick) take their trailer from Arizona go to the California beach to meet Terry's brother Skeet (TV actor/stuntman Jerry Summers). A police officer (Richard Crane from THE ALLIGATOR PEOPLE) isn't happy to learn that Skeet is Terry's brother. They take surfing lessons from Len Marshall (Bobby Vinton; his song “Blue Velvet” was a hit the year before). Skeet is a big man on the beach but everyone blames him for a surf accident a guy named Milo (Kenny Miller (I WAS A TEENAGE WEREWOLF) who sings “Pearly Shells”) has. Len who is sweet on Terry, thinks Skeet is a bad influence. 

There's music by The Astronauts and The Routers (with Scott Walker) but the women sing too. Things just seem to get started when Skeet's sugar mama (Martha Stewart) returns and throws him out. The girls leave, still single. 

This little teenage musical was made by the team of Harry Spauding, writer and Maury Dexter, director to cash in on the popular Beach Party movies of AIP. The duo had already made THE DAY MARS INVADED EARTH, HOUSE OF THE DAMNED and HARBOR LIGHTS. They must have thought this was good because the next year they made a similar “beach movie”.

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Before Purple Rain There Was....

 

 (tmdb)

THE PURPLE HILLS-1961-A drifter named Sheppard (Gene Nelson) shoots Beaumont, a wanted criminal for the bounty but he has to shoot his own horse and can't carry the body back. He buries the body and walks to town. Meanwhile Beaumont's partners in crime Johnny (Kent Taylor) and Chito (Danny Zapien) wait for him but become suspicious when they see vultures. They find his body and plan on collecting the bounty but they are in Apache territory and the tribe liked Beaumont for all the wrong reasons (he sold them guns, booze, etc.). To get the body back Johnny leaves Chito with the Indians and goes looking for Sheppard. Both claim the reward. To settle things the deputy marshal (co-writer Russ Bender) goes with them to the grave but they are accompanied by Amy Carter (Joanna Barnes) and her young charge Martin (Jerry Summers), revenge seeking younger brother of the deceased Beaumont. 

This modest little 60-minute western is actually a remake of a 1915 silent film. This was third film produced and directed by Maury Dexter (THE DAY MARS INVADED EARTH (1962); also with Kent Taylor).

Crime Drama

 

 (imdb)

AIR PATROL-1962-This is a little murder mystery that seems more like a condensed version of a TV show, a crazy whodunit about the theft of an expensive painting using a helicopter as a getaway car. 

Mona Whitney (Merry Anders) gets conked on the head but is also a suspect because she once hit a cop. Grouchy police Lt. Taylor (Williard Parker; THE EARTH DIES SCREAMING (1964)) and Sgt. Kurnitz (Russ Bender) investigate and call in Sgt. Bill Castle (Robert Dix) from the police air patrol, who also narrates. Murcott (John Holland), the owner of the painting, is mad and having financial troubles. Insurance investigator Howie Franklin (George Eldredge) helps out. A faded actor (Douglas Dumbrille) also figures into the plot. Mona is forced to be the drop off and Castle follows her by chopper. Ray Dannis (THE UNDERTAKER AND HIS PALS (1966)) is a security guard. 

AIR PATROL was directed Maury Dexter, who made THE DAY MARS INVADED EARTH the same year. It's not very interesting but it's short!

Thanks for reading!  RIP Terry Funk....

House of The Damned

 

HOUSE OF THE DAMNED-1963-Architect Scott Campbell (Ron Foster) and his wife Nancy (Merry Anders) go to do a sur-veying job at an old castle (The Rochester House) after getting a midnight phone call from a guy named Joe (Richard Crane; THE ALLIGATOR PEOPLE) who they don't seem to like. They go to the castle but can't get in. Something weird is going on though as the door opens after they go away. Mr. Quinby (Dal McKennon), a real estate agent gives them the keys and a rundown on the castle including the former owner Priscilla Rochester. 

The couple settle in but it's obvious they are not alone. Especially at night when some creature shuffles in and steals the house keys. Next day the missing keys turn up but with 2 keys gone. Later Joe's wife Loy (Erika Peters) shows up looking for her husband. She decides to sunbathe and while undressing is watched by a mys-terious woman. Scott and Nancy measure the house. Joe finally shows up. He and Loy seem to be having martial problems and Loy prepares to leave but is pursued by a giant (Richard Kiel; a year after EEGAH!) and disappears. The others look for her. 

Nancy finds her headless in a chair but still moving! Of course when she brings the two men Loy isn't there. Later Joe and Scott break into a locked room and find the withered corpse of Capt. Arbuckle, another former owner. When Scott has a run-in with the giant he's saved by a circus fat lady (Ayllene Gibbons; later Mrs. Joyboy in THE LOVED ONE) because the captain was using the the castle to house circus people. It has a weird happy ending. 

Director Maury Dexter uses a large estate as the back drop similar to his THE DAY MARS INVADED EARTH.

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Wet Crime Drama

RAIDERS FROM BENEATH THE SEA-1964-Bill (Ken Scott), a scuba diver hatches a plot to rob a bank on Catalina Island. He enlists his ex-friend Tucker (Russ Bender) to help him. Bill plans to scuba over from the main island to where the money is kept. Meanwhile his deadbeat brother Buddy (Garth Benton) spies on Bill's wife Dottie (Merry Anders) while she undresses. Somehow Buddy and a trouble maker named Perdy (Booth Colman) nozzle in on the caper. However before the big heist Bill catches Buddy putting the moves on Dottie and nearly kills him. They pull off the robbery but Tucker dies and then complications set in resulting in Bill being killed and Perdy and Buddy being arrested. Dolly watches the whole thing from afar. 

Director Maury Dexter (THE DAY MARS INVADED EARTH) had been making low budget crime dramas (and westerns) for a while. After this he went on to make MARYJANE and HELL'S BELLES and a few others before going into TV (namely THE LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE). It's pretty boring but has cool “Telstar” like music.

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