Sunday, March 31, 2019

Movie review - "Wild Wild Winter" (1966) **1/2

Universal were slow out of the blocks to make a beach party movie - they were sufficiently impressed by Beach Ball to offer the same makers the chance to do another one, only it was a "ski movie", a sub genre of the beach films that also included Ski Party and Winter a Go Go.

This has a lot in common with Beach Ball - many of the same cast (including Chris Noel and Dick Miller), a similar plot driver (trying to raise money), plot structure (a smarmy guy tries to seduce a uptight girl via deception, a deception that is quickly exposed). It borrows from the Taming of the Shrew template which always basically works - I wouldn't have minded a bit more plot.

The lothario here is Gary Clarke, a tv star I wasn't familiar with though he's totally fine - it's  a shame they couldn't have gotten Edd Byrnes again, surely he wasn't that busy. The scene were me meet him at the beach up the top is a jolt - I found this in Ski Party too, I don't feel snow movies work going to the beach.

The acting is pretty solid (Noel is always fun and the cast is full of vaguely familiar people such as Steve Franken) and it's bright and colourful. The music acts aren't of the same strength as Beach Ball but I didn't mind it - the Beau Brummells, the Astronauts. There's a person in a gorilla suit running around in the climax - very AIP. It doesn't quite have the magic of Frankie and Annette but it's fun.


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