Back to the Beach

Starring:Frankie Avalon, Annette Funicello, Lori Loughlin, Tommy Hinkley, Demian Slade, Connie Stevens, Joe Holland (II), John Calvin, David Bowe, Laura Urstein, Linda Carol, Marjorie Gross, Hartley Silver, Alan Barry, Thomas David Parker, Todd Bryant, Floyd Foster Jr., Emil McKown, Jon Paul Jones, Eddie Vail
Director: Lyndall Hobbs
Studio: Paramount
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

Is Back to the Beach a masterpiece of postmodernism? Or just a slaphappy hoot? Hey, why can't it be both? Either way, this is a zippy tribute to/spoof of the 1960s Beach Party pictures. Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello, landlocked in the Midwest since their surfing days, return to the California sun with their wild kids. There are mucho gags about the earlier films (including Frankie on a surfboard in front of a cheesy rear-projection wave), and cameos (much of the Leave It to Beaver cast, surf-guitar king Dick Dale). Pee-wee Herman sails in to perform "Surfin' Bird," and Annette teaches a thousand people "The Jamaican Ska." All that's missing is Erich von Zipper. This is a genuinely smart and funny movie, although it helps to know the original films, so you can savor the moment a beach boy gazes at Annette and marvels, "After all that surfing, her hair's perfectly dry!" --Robert Horton

Customer Reviews:

A GREAT Classic!.......2006-11-03

I watched this as a young child and I still enjoy this movie to this day! Back to the Beach is a wonderful film loaded with several great beach hits that will have you rocking!

SOME THINGS LIVE FOREVER..........2006-10-05

A classic. Perhaps my favorite movie of all time. Delightful and silly, with fun & lovable characters, a few surprising cameos (OJ!), and a solid soundtrack with plenty of feel-good tunes. SRV and Dick Dale jam together on "Pipeline." Now THAT is cool.

Good,but not my cup of tea........2006-07-12

I usually don,t like beach movies,not being a fan of 60,s movies,but it was actually pretty good for a beach movie. I would recommend it to "non-beach movie" people.

Not Quite up to the Originals..........2006-06-24

This was mildly cute, but, not even close to the humor of the originals, and, didn't even quite follow as a "whatever happened to?" of the characters from the Beach Party movies. First off, Annette's name in the Beach Party movies was Dee Dee (although, Frankie was still Frankie.) This was really a spoof of a spoof, y'know? Because, the beach movies were campy as get out to start with, but, they had an adorable quality to them, and a specific formula: Frankie does something stupid, Dee Dee gets mad. They flirt with other people to make each-other insanely jealous. They make up. (Yes, this happened here, too, but... meh.) And, where was Dead-Head, Animal, Candy, the Von Zipper Gang, for pity's sake? And, what was with Pee Wee Herman??? While the beach movies were made long before I was born, I still grew up watching them on the old movie channels and loved them. This I thought would be great, a "what happened to?". It, however, was a severe disappointment.

It is a masterpiece of post-modernism!.......2005-10-28

Gosh, I love this movie. It was my personal candidate for movie of the year when it came out in 1987. If postmodernism--nicely described by Umberto Eco as the "ironic discovery of the past" or words to that effect--can be absolute pure unadulterated pleasure, this is it. The underlying concept--that the Franklie / Annette beach had not changed an iota since they left--has to be one of the great pop movie ideas of all time. The whole film is beyond criticism--everyone is, quite simply, perfection.

For a really, shall we say, enjoyable double feature, couple this with Psycho Beach Party.

Movies With Soul Collection (How Stella Got Her Groove Back / Waiting to Exhale / Soul Food)

Average customer rating:

The Best Deal Ever
Excellent Movies
Wonderful

Movies With Soul Collection (How Stella Got Her Groove Back / Waiting to Exhale / Soul Food)
Starring: Whitney Houston , Angela Bassett , Loretta Devine , Lela Rochon , and Gregory Hines
Director: Forest Whitaker , George Tillman Jr. , and Kevin Rodney Sullivan
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

Drama | African American Cinema | Genres | DVD | Video

General | African American Cinema | Genres | DVD | Video

Comedy | Boxed Sets | Stores | DVD | Video

Drama | Boxed Sets | Stores | DVD | Video

( M ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

The Best Man
Love Jones
The Wood
What's Love Got To Do With It?
The Brothers

ASIN: B00006G8J2
Release Date: 2002-10-15

Description

Disc 1: Soul Food Disc 2: How Stella Got Her Groove Back Disc 3: Waiting to Exhale

Customer Reviews:

The Best Deal Ever.......2007-03-18

I really enjoyed this purchase these are three of my favorite movies that I did not own on dvd. They really help me alot when I need to get things back into perspective when my life is going a little aray.

Excellent Movies.......2004-06-24

GREAT movies. All three are very entertaining and uplifting. I can watch them over and over again and never get tired of them. They are all about LOVE, FAMILY & FRIENDSHIP.

Wonderful.......2003-07-15

These movies are great! The thing i like the most about them is that you can watch them over and over and not get tired. If you don't have this package you should get it but i will warn you they will be more enjoyable for women.

It's a Love Thang Boxset (Brown Sugar / How Stella Got Her Groove Back / Waiting to Exhale)

Average customer rating:

It's a Love Thang Boxset (Brown Sugar / How Stella Got Her Groove Back / Waiting to Exhale)
Starring: Whitney Houston , Angela Bassett , Loretta Devine , Lela Rochon , and Gregory Hines
Director: Forest Whitaker , Rick Famuyiwa , and Kevin Rodney Sullivan
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

Comedy | Boxed Sets | Stores | DVD | Video

Drama | Boxed Sets | Stores | DVD | Video

Romantic Comedies | Boxed Sets | Stores | DVD | Video

( I ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

The Best Man
Love and Basketball (New Line Platinum Series)
Disappearing Acts
Love Jones
The Brothers

ASIN: B000JJSJQE
Release Date: 2007-01-09

Amazon.com

Brown Sugar: One of 2002's most underrated films, Brown Sugar offers more than you'd expect from a conventional romantic comedy. The love story between Dre (Taye Diggs) and Sidney (Sanaa Lathan) is the least interesting part of the movie; the costars have delightful chemistry, but their hookup is a given. What's refreshing is the way the story draws a parallel between Dre and Sidney's longtime friendship (they meet as kids in a 1984 flashback) and the evolution of hip-hop music from urban roots to dubious mainstream acceptance. Dre's a disillusioned producer at pop-fueled Millennium Records, married to a beauty (Nicole Ari Parker) who cheats while embracing her coveted status quo. Editor of an influential music magazine, Sidney's tentatively engaged to a basketball star (Boris Kodjoe), but these loves are obstacles, and Dre and Sidney are meant for each other. In bringing them together, Brown Sugar allows for human mistakes, intelligent solutions, and the kind of three-dimensional behavior that romantic comedies typically don't provide. --Jeff Shannon

How Stella Got Her Groove Back: Based on Terry McMillan's best-selling novel, How Stella Got Her Groove Back stars Angela Bassett as a 40-year-old, Manhattan stock trader and single mom whose static life gets a jolt during a vacation with her pal (Whoopi Goldberg) in Jamaica. Sparks fly when Bassett meets a 20-year-old stud (Taye Diggs) who has an ambivalent career path but a great body and lots of sexual energy to burn. After some prodding by Goldberg's warm-funny secondary character, Bassett gets it on with the fellow--and proceeds to worry about what she's doing with a man half her age. The film is most enjoyable in its sunny, exotic early scenes and becomes more formulaic once the unlikely couple transports their will-we-stay-together-or-won't-we tensions back to the Big Apple. But director Kevin Rodney Sullivan goes out of his way to make a movie unabashedly thick with fantasy and wish-fulfillment for female audiences (it's Diggs who reveals a lot more flesh than the regal Bassett). This is a Saturday-night movie all around. --Tom Keogh

Waiting to Exhale: Based on a novel by Terry McMillan, this weepy melodrama about four African American women and the men who wronged them became an instant cultural phenomenon when it was released back in 1995. It's easy to see why Exhale struck a nerve: the movie boasts an attractive cast of African American actresses and personalities, including Whitney Houston, Angela Bassett, and Lela Rochon. Unfortunately, though, Exhale sags under the weight of its soapy, crisis of the week plotting and relentlessly cheery "you go, girl!" optimism. And African American men, cast here as insensitive lovers and pigheaded materialists, get the very short end of the feminist stick. Perhaps moviegoers were simply responding to the brilliant soundtrack by R&B superstar Babyface, who provided the movie's only real groove. --Ethan Brown

Average customer rating:

The Worst Memories
Back To The Beach
Disheartening- a waste of time AND money
Not very cherry!
A big disappointment

Back to the Beach
Starring: The Beach Boys
Manufacturer: Unicorn
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Pop | Styles | Music

General | Rock | Styles | Music

Surf Rock | Oldies & Retro | Rock | Styles | Music

General | Music Video & Concerts | Genres | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $7.49 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( B ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

4-for-3 Music Video & Concerts | 4-for-3 DVD | Stores | DVD | Video

4-for-3 All DVDs | 4-for-3 DVD | Stores | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

The Beach Boys - Special Edition EP
The Beach Boys - Endless Harmony
Summer Dreams: The Story of the Beach Boys
The Beach Boys - The Lost Concert
Beach Boys - An American Band / Brian Wilson - I Just Wasn't Made for These Times

ASIN: B000B8QF9G
Release Date: 2005-10-25

Description

The Beach Boys are an American phenomenon. Now, for the first time on DVD, Unicorn Videos Performance Series is proud to present Back to The Beach with the Beach Boys captured live in Saint Louis. The Beach Boys are Rock & Roll royalty, with such classic songs as: California Girls, Catch A Wave, Under The Boardwalk, Be True to Your School Plus, as an added bonus, Back to the Beach features a rare live performance by surf legends Jan & Dean. This is the first time The Beach Boys and Jan & Dean have ever appeared on a DVD together, making Back to the Beach a must have for rock & roll fans of all ages!

Customer Reviews:

The Worst Memories.......2006-09-04

This DVD reminds me of why I stopped seeing the Beach Boys in concert. I stopped shortly after Dennis died as the band was quickly deteriorating into a Vegas lounge act, that more or less relied on gimmicks. As others have said, this is more or less the Mike Love show. Given that I consider him to be the reason for the decline of the band, this DVD is useless. If you like Mike Love, just go see the band traveling as the Beach Boys now. Mike's used the legal system to get monies and the Beach Boy name which is more of the same from him. He strong armed the guys to change the show more in his favor, going for his "formula" argument. It's a waste.

Oh and by the way, to the reviewer previously who said that John Stamos was playing with the guys since 1972, you are incorrect. Ricky Fataar became the drummer for two or three years during that time. He and Blondie Chaplin (sp?) joined the band from South Africa. Check the live album from 72/73. Ricky even sings lead on "We Got Love." John Stamos didn't begin playing with the guys until the mid 80s.

Back To The Beach.......2006-01-20

One of John Stamos's few recorded appearances with The Beach Boys (Also appears on Forever from the Summer In Paradise albums, Kokomo, and various Jan & Dean Albums) , he is featured as a drummer and guitarist. John has been a part time member dating back to 1972, when he filled in for an injured Dennis Wilson. The date of this video is 1993, and shows Al Jardine during his long haired, pony-tail days. Jan & Dean appear by a swimming pool, obviously lip-syncing to old recordings. Only one problem, the original recording of Surf City also featured Brian Wilson. So you have two vocalists featured on the video, while you are hearing 3 different voices, a huge disappointment.

Disheartening- a waste of time AND money.......2005-11-28

BEWARE! The text on the DVD's box DOES NOT accurately describe the video's contents; one may be fooled ( as I was ) into thinking it is a complete concert performance, but it is not- only FOUR songs are performed live by the Beach Boys. Jan and Dean do NOT appear together on stage with the Beach Boys as one would assume by the description on the DVD cover, but rather lip-synch to two of their recordings (accompanied with clips of surfers, etc.) made back in the early '60's...

To add insult to injury is the horrible camera work/editing. It is definitely the "Mike Love show". All the band sidemen plus Carl Wilson, Al Jardine, Bruce Johnston, especially Matt Jardine(?)AKA Brian Wilson's "vocal substitute", barely had a chance. Hardly any close-ups of them, let alone vocal solos.

( an incredibly MUCH better and highly recommended video is the Knebworth concert from 1980 )...

Also of note: Nowhere to be found is the date of the performance, which I have determined to be 1992 from Mike Love's mention of their current album (at the time) of new material-"Summer in Paradise". Also, I have seen this concert tour in Chicago, as I am reminded by the inclusion of the pretty female dancers. But again, the camera too painfully bypasses them mostly in favor of focusing on Mike Love, or worse, John Stamos, a guest musician, as if he really mattered to the legacy of the Beach Boys sound and reputation. Apparently, at least to the female members of the audience, Stamos's presence was the only thing worth reacting to.
This DVD is totally disappointing, but if you absolutely must check it out, try to rent or borrow it just to say you saw it.
I consider myself a fan of collecting rare Beach Boys material, but after seeing Jan & Dean's 'performance', I am sooo embarrassed that I bought this DVD.

Not very cherry!.......2005-11-11

As a HUGE Beach Boys fan of many years I am sorry to say that I was VERY disappointed with this dvd. The picture quality is good (with some video dropouts but that is to be expected with older video) and the audio mix is ok, but it should have been labeled the "Mike Love Show" due to the fact that the camera is mainly on him and rarely shows the other guys. If you are a Mike Love fan then you will like this particular dvd. Brian Wilson appears on the cover but was not at this show... or at least didn't make it on camera. Carl Wilson and Al Jardine appear to be sidemen and not frontmen which was a HUGE disappointment also. If you don't already own a Beach Boys dvd this is slightly better than nothing, but it is not a true representation of the bands talents nor does it showcase their earth-shattering harmonies as one would have hoped. This is what they are best known for and what the buying fanbase really wants! Plus we miss Carls angel-like voice and look forward to every new release hoping to hear him sing lead at least once. Same with Al (the most under-rated Beach Boy) PLEASE Mike (he now owns the rights to the Beach Boys name), release another dvd BUT with ALL the guy's singing lead. AND/Or at least a dvd longer than an average half hour TV sitcom.

A big disappointment.......2005-10-26

This DVD is features 5.1 and 2.0 Audio. Picture quality and sound quality is great. The only other great thing about this is that it is less than 23 minutes in length. The photos on the box feature Brian, Carl and Dennis Wilson, Mike Love and Al Jardine. The Beach Boys performing on the show, a 1994 concert from Saint Louis, MO, are Carl, Al, Mike and Bruce Johnston. The drummer? Oh, that's pretty boy John Stamos living out his fantasy of being a rock stor. You see 4 songs performed by the Beach Boys: California Girls, Catch a Wave, their classic hit, Under the Boardwalk and Be True to Your School.
They certainly make it seem that Jan & Dean appear with the Beach Boys, but this is not true. Jan and Dean perform from pool side, lip-syncing to Surf City and SideWalk Surfing. No band, no Beach Boys, but some decent footage of surfing and skate boarding and pretty girls.
I can really find nothing of value with this product. It's not worth the postage to mail it to you, the gas money to drive to the store to pick it up, or the shoe leather to walk to the DVD store.
It is a trememdous disspointment. Not even the more arden Beach Boy fan will want to admit he purchased this.

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