MUSCLE BEACH PARTY (1964)

Quickly following up on the success of BEACH PARTY, MUSCLE BEACH PARTY tells the story of Frankie, Annette and the whole gang going back to the beach and the happenings they get into.

Annette still ain't giving up the pussy, so once again Frankie starts makin' time with another chick.  This time it's some horny rich chick who was originally mackin' on a muscleman who lives next door to Frankie.  The shunned muscleman and his crew don't take kindly to the rejection.  At the same time, the gang sides with Annette and gives Frankie the cold shoulder, until he finally sees the error of his ways.  After that they go back to surfin' and partying on the beach.  The End.

MUSCLE BEACH PARTY is a fun Beach movie, but the lack of Eric Von Zipper and the Rats is unforgivable.  Don Rickles and Buddy Hackett try to fill in the comedy void left by the absent Harvey Lembeck, but they do a poor job of it.  Other than that, it's pretty much things as usual with corny humor, tons of sexy chicks in bikini's (Mary Hughes was the hottest), Annette's hair never getting wet, Jody McCrea as Deadhead acting dumb as shit, stock footage of real surfers spliced with shots of our stars surfing on rear projected waves, Dick Dale singing, Candy Johnson dancing during the end credits, Grizzly Adams in Daisy Dukes, some great musical numbers including one by a young Stevie Wonder and another with Annette's voice reverbed all to Hell and back (I think my favorite song was "Muscle Bustle" by Donna Loren), lots of dancing and I swear to Satan at 1:11:21 you can hear somebody in the background saying "Let's get the fuck out of here."  I'm totally serious.  I replayed it like 20 times and he says "fuck".  Maybe it was "buck", but I think it was "fuck".  I'm completely serious.  

Not as good as the original installment, but still totally worth a watch.

Part 1 - Beach Party (1963)
Part 3 - Bikini Beach (1964)
Part 4 - Pajama Party (1964)
Part 5 - Beach Blanket Bingo (1965)
Part 6 - How to Stuff a Wild Bikini (1965)
Part 7 - The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini (1966)
Part 8 - Back to the Beach (1987)

That's Grizzly Adams on the right.

THE MASK OF DIMITRIOS (1944)

What a pleasant surprise this film was.  I sat down to watch it because I like both Peter Lorre and Sydney Greenstreet and it ended up being a really good film.  Set in 1938, Peter Lorre is a successful mystery novelist vacationing in Istanbul when his police chief friend tells him about a notorious criminal who's body just washed ashore.  Lorre is instantly fascinated by the mysterious criminal known as Dimitrios Makropoulos (Zachary Scott) and sets off looking for more information.  The trail leads him all over Europe and at each place he hears more incredible tales of what an asshole Dimitrios was.  Along the way he meets another fellow travel (Greenstreet) who seems innocent enough at first, but he's holding a secret.  Together they set off looking for more information about the mysterious Dimitrios Makropoulos.

If you're looking for an action-packed film then you're in for a bad time, but if, like me, you enjoy Lorre and Greenstreet and a good story then you're in for a treat.  Lorre is great just on his own, but then when Greenstreet enters the picture things really take off.  I loved the way they played off of each other.  And the camerawork was really impressive too.  Definitely worth checking out.