Surf Party (1964)

Interesting facts

Surf Party is a 1964 beach party film directed by Maury Dexter and starring Bobby Vinton, Patricia Morrow, Jackie DeShannon, and Ken Miller. It was the first direct imitation of AIP's hit Beach Party, which was released six months earlier, and showcased several musical acts onscreen. It is one of the few movies in the genre shot in black and white.

Production

Popular singer Bobby Vinton, who plays Len, only appeared in three movies, this being his only one in the 1960s. It was Vinton's debut, although his agent had lobbied hard to get him the lead in Beach Party. He was paid $750 for a week of work.

Ken Miller, who plays the fresh-out-of-high-school "gremmie" Milo, was 33 years old at the time of filming. He had made two movies previously with Dexter.

Legendary surfer Mickey Dora doesn't have a speaking role, but is a featured extra in a sequence in the Casey's Surfer restaurant – playing the bowling-shirted surfer who follows Skeet's signal to lead the crowd in a clap-out.

The Astronauts was a Colorado-based surf band that had a Billboard Top 100 hit in 1963 with their song "Baja," composed by Lee Hazlewood. They also appeared in Dexter's later beach party movie Wild on the Beach as well as two other beach party movies, Wild Wild Winter and Out of Sight – more than any other surf band.

The Routers was a band formed by Mike Gordon, whose first release in September 1962 was "Let's Go (Pony)", which reached #19 on the Billboard charts. Gordon also formed The Marketts and wrote their million seller "Out of Limits" and "Surfer's Stomp", which was one of the early successful surf songs released in 1961. The Routers toured for over six years, in part from the popularity of the movie and the songs associated with it.

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