Maidgethma
Wonderfully offbeat film!
SparkMore
n my opinion it was a great movie with some interesting elements, even though having some plot holes and the ending probably was just too messy and crammed together, but still fun to watch and not your casual movie that is similar to all other ones.
Tobias Burrows
It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.
Jemima
It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.
JoeKarlosi
A friend of mine came over last night and we were both feeling kind of run down after the holidays, so we wanted something "light". He brought three "Frankie and Annette" films over (this, plus MUSCLE BEACH PARTY and BIKINI BEACH) and I figured they had to be fun, and with some cute chicks and all.... but oh, brother! Since it's winter we decided to watch this first, even though it comes later in this series, and Annette Funicello isn't in it except for a really quick cameo where she plays a teacher at the beginning. The thing plays like another version of SOME LIKE IT HOT, with Frankie Avalon and Dwayne Hickman as two buddies who go on a skiing trip and wind up dressing in drag while they try to make time with Yvonne Craig and Deborah Walley. Hell, they even mention SOME LIKE IT HOT in the movie! This film doesn't have much to recommend in it, and I figured going in that it had to be the least of the three movies we'd watch... but who knew it would turn out to be the "best"? At least this film had a story, even if it's clichéd. My favorite moment involved Lesley Gore popping up on the bus trip to sing her big hit "Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows", and then later on getting to enjoy James Brown belt out "I Got You (I Feel Good)". These two musical performances were the shining light. ** out of ****
moonspinner55
The "Beach Party" series taking one of its last gasps: Frankie Avalon and sniggering Dwayne Hickman hit the ski slopes and get stuck doing Tony Curtis & Jack Lemmon routines from "Some Like It Hot", and the comparison isn't favorable. Avalon is actually game, but Hickman has no screen presence and the comic hijinks are mostly juvenile. The script isn't as clever as the ones for the "Beach" flicks, and everyone just seems piqued. Avalon's main squeeze is no longer Annette Funicello, who has an unbilled cameo as a college professor (her two brief scenes are beauties). James Brown and Lesley Gore are both terrific in musical support, Deborah Walley and Yvonne Craig are pretty ski-bunnies, but this fractured gang is obviously a lackluster substitute. A.I.P. continued the following year not with "Cruise Party"--as advertised--but "Ghost In The Invisible Bikini". *1/2 from ****
TimRoger
Teenagers loved this "epic" baby boomer classic. Best part: Lesley Gore singing her huge 1965 hit "Sunshine, Lollipops, and Rainbows" on the bus! Gore had many better hits, but this one fit this movie perfectly. Some funny and interesting scenes.
yenlo
The cool kids head for the mountains and instead of Bikinis the girls have on sweaters. The fires are in a lodge fireplace instead of on the beach The guys try to impress the girls only this time they are rubbing wax underneath skis instead of on top of surf boards. The only worthwhile parts of this movie are the scenes with James Brown and Lesley Gore. Robert Q Lewis is comical for a while as a nervous wreck of a man but then it gets old. The folks who gave us such future winners with a skiing theme such as Hot Dog and Ski School must have taken their lead from this gem. The ski scenes from Dumb and Dumber were probably hatched from this as well.