First off, before the review, there's gotta be a reason for certain movies that no one has seen to be rating almost below a four, and it must have something to do with the title, or type of movie, in this case, a 1960's low-budget surfing teen (or teens surfing) flick... But here goes...
In SURF PARTY, Bobby Vinton plays a nice guy who runs a surf shop, and gets the last song in this, the second Maury Dexter teen movie and first bonafide beach movie, and by far, in-between THE YOUNG SWINGERS and WILD ON THE BEACH, is the best. Well written and character-driven, this SURF PARTY has three babes driving to the beach in a trailer to meet one of the girl's brothers, Skeet, a champion surfer and leader of a grungy pack of beach bums...
Though this blond-haired girl-next-door sister is intentionally played down next to the two cliche "bombshell" types (songwriter Jackie DeShannon and Lory Patrick), Patricia Morrow stands out as the legend's passive yet still energetic, and completely adorable sister: Eventually she has to talk sense into both a smitten Vinton and her troubled, mysterious older brother (Jerry Summers, who'd become a stunt man from MAGNUM FORCE to MIDNIGHT RUN)...
All the girls wind up with a dude: one the token dip i.e. a "gremmie" trying hard to be part of the surf club even by risking his life, which initially cold-hearted Skeet can care less about. In most movies about youth at this time, there's always a snoopy yet ultimately friendly cop. Since no real laws are broken except loitering the beach, this particular detective gets in the way but it doesn't matter. The kids, each with their own distinctive personalities, make up for the built-in flaws of a b-surf drive-in flick with more to offer than even the famous ones.
In SURF PARTY, Bobby Vinton plays a nice guy who runs a surf shop, and gets the last song in this, the second Maury Dexter teen movie and first bonafide beach movie, and by far, in-between THE YOUNG SWINGERS and WILD ON THE BEACH, is the best. Well written and character-driven, this SURF PARTY has three babes driving to the beach in a trailer to meet one of the girl's brothers, Skeet, a champion surfer and leader of a grungy pack of beach bums...
Though this blond-haired girl-next-door sister is intentionally played down next to the two cliche "bombshell" types (songwriter Jackie DeShannon and Lory Patrick), Patricia Morrow stands out as the legend's passive yet still energetic, and completely adorable sister: Eventually she has to talk sense into both a smitten Vinton and her troubled, mysterious older brother (Jerry Summers, who'd become a stunt man from MAGNUM FORCE to MIDNIGHT RUN)...
All the girls wind up with a dude: one the token dip i.e. a "gremmie" trying hard to be part of the surf club even by risking his life, which initially cold-hearted Skeet can care less about. In most movies about youth at this time, there's always a snoopy yet ultimately friendly cop. Since no real laws are broken except loitering the beach, this particular detective gets in the way but it doesn't matter. The kids, each with their own distinctive personalities, make up for the built-in flaws of a b-surf drive-in flick with more to offer than even the famous ones.