Southern California surf shop proprietor teaches three giggly girls from Phoenix to surf, but the flirty little blonde he's attracted to is the sister of Skeet Wells, the beach big shot and hot-dogger (he doesn't even answer his doorbell when his baby sister arrives...he's busy entertaining!). Black-and-white surf-genre entry from Twentieth Century-Fox has awkward segues from comedy to drama (usually involving Richard Crane as the local law), and from narrative into the music numbers (which include a faux calypso ditty and a hand-waving spiritual!). Singing stars Bobby Vinton and Jackie DeShannon are among the kids surfing, fighting, necking...and being warned to stay on the north side of the pier! Some of the cinematography is good (particularly at the beginning), but the repeated shots padding the movie give it a cheap, crummy feel. *1/2 from ****
Review of Surf Party
