This is a beach movie which is a bit more critically respectable because it has some excellent real life footage of surfing in Hawaii. It is flawed - Tom Lisanti thinks its the best surf movie from Hollywood. I don't really like it - maybe I prefer my beach movies more junky.
Some random observations:
* great Jan and Dean title track - but they should have played it over the opening credits to get the movie off to a brighter start
* there's a lot of three girls beach movies but this is one of the few "three guys" movies
* some excellent surfing footage but its intercut terribly with footage of the stars on the backlot
* the film gets points for being more multicultural - there's a Hawaiian surfer, and an Aussie (Murray Rose) - and also for incorporating some slang and attitudes, however badly
* Jim Mitchum is meant to be the baddy but actually the nastiest character is some random surfer called Frank ( played by Anthony Hayes) who keeps baiting Fabian - I kept expecting him to die or something but he doesn't - some undercooked drama there
* Fabian is fine, though not terribly believable as a surfer - well not a top surfer - and he has to glower and be bitter a bit too much - also there's a yuck moment where he tries to force himself on Fabares
* there's three nice romances but badly constructed scenes - Fabian goes from "I hate college" to "okay I'll go back to college" in one scene (admittedly Shelley Fabares is looking hot in the scene but still), Hunter and Hart's mother is clunk too - all the stories have good potential but the writing isn't good
* actually dramatically the whole flow of the film feels a bit wonky
* the women have nice camaraderie but the guys don't - they don't feel like friends - in part because Tab Hunter is so clearly older than the others
* Barbara Eden is a lot of fun as a kook and is even allowed to beat up Brown - though she spends most of the film watching him on a towel
* Fabares and Hart are very sweet - Fabares is more professional but Hart does have a great shimmy dance (she'd repeat in Pajama Party)
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