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I Was A Teenage Werewolf just barely makes it onto this page since there is only one song in the movie - "Eeny, Meeny, Miney, Mo" sung by Ken Miller and written by Jerry Blaine. Ken Miller not only sings the song, but also has a little dance number during the instrumental break. A nice little number that doesn't rock, but does swing. If you check youtube you can see the performance.
I Was A Teenage Werewolf stars Michael Landon as a troubled teen who angers too quickly and lashes out in violence. To help control these outbursts, Landon is steered to a psychiatrist/scientist for help. Unbeknownst to Landon the good doctor is actually performing an experiment on him to regress him back to earliest man, which for some reason makes Landon a werewolf.
I Was A Teenage Werewolf was a top moneymaker at the time for American International Pictures, and besides being a story that appealed to teens, I think Michael Landon, in his breakout role as the titular character, might have had something to do with its popularity. He definitely had on-screen charisma and while some of his acting comes off as James Dean lite, for the most part his acting ability was as good or better than the adult actors in the film.
My favorite lines of dialogue from the movie:
Landon "People bug me."
Police Detective "That's right, hide behind jive talk."
I was really excited when I saw Fox Movie Channel was going to show this rare "beach party" movie, since it has never been officially released. I think I should have saved my excitement for something else, since Surf Party should have been titled Dull Party.
Surf Party was the first release by another studio trying to compete with American International Pictures' much superior Beach Party which, in my opinion, was the weakest entry in the AIP series anyway, but was still a masterpiece compared to Surf Party. I could even get over the fact Surf Party was shot in black and white, IF the movie had been entertaining. Surf Party has more in common with 1960's "Where The Boys Are" than it does with AIP's "Beach Party", since it involves a trio of girls (much like the four girls in "Where The Boys Are") looking and finding love at the beach. Surfing just happens to be a subplot of the movie. I guess you could classify Surf Party as "The Chick Flick of Beach Party Movies".
I won't rehash the plot, but if you're interested CLICK HERE for a summation of the story. One of the reasons for watching Surf Party was to check out the musical acts. Jackie DeShannon, one of my favorite female singers, not only sings two songs in the movie,"Glory Wave" and “Never Comin' Back", but also stars as one of the three girls looking for love. Unfortunately, Ms. DeShannon was sorely lacking in the acting department and the two songs given to her were nothing special and not worthy of her talent.
Bobby Vinton, the leading male star of the movie, comes off a little better with his song," If I Were An Artist", since it's suitable to his style of crooning. As a side note, Vinton got cast in Surf Party, because his agent wanted him to have the part Frankie Avalon got in Beach Party. It's hard to imagine Vinton could have handled that part with the light touch Avalon brought to his role in AIP's Beach Party Series.That's not to say his acting ability wasn't good, since in Surf Party he was as good and better than a lot of the other actors. I read somewhere he got paid a flat $750 for his part in the movie which is a real shame.
Patricia Morrow (Peyton Place) sings "That's What Love Is", The Routers perform "Crack Up" and Ken Miller sings "Pearly Shells". The Astronauts (a surf band originally from Colorado!) perform the theme song over the credits and play "Fire Water" in the movie, both are great surf music songs. Their performance of "Fire Water" is probably the highlight of Surf Party. So unless you're like me and just have to see every "Beach Party" movie ever made or you're just a big fan of Vinton's or DeShannon's, I would pass on this movie and look elsewhere for your evening's entertainment.
