How to Stuff A Wild Bikini arrived as the sixth film in the AIP Beach Party series. After 20 minutes of the film, it should be painfully obvious that logic went straight out the window. Frankie was stationed in Tahiti for some reason, so he hires the help of a local witch doctor. The doctor Bwana is played by legendary comedian Buster Keaton.
American International Pictures should have patted themselves on the back for luring Mickey Rooney and Buster Keaton into this movie. Especially since it’s about creating a bikini powered homunculus to keep a guy’s girl from cheating on him. What follows is a pair of goofy ad execs, the Kingsmen and a motorcycle gang of people in their early 40s.
The sea beauty Cassandra arrives on Bikini Beach (I’m making up better names than the filmmakers) and proceeds to spy on Annette. Now, she also wants to steal away Dwayne Hickman’s focus. This leads to games of chicken, car races and motorcycle gangs threatening ad execs. Why is that? Well, because kids in the mid 60s needed background noise while they made it to 3rd base.
This has to be the oddest Frankie and Annette movie ever made. The opening credits were made by the Gumby animators for no discernible reason. Hell, Samantha Stevens even lands a cameo as Buster Keaton’s daughter. Things just happen and the film is better for it.
Buster Keaton playing a witch doctor has to be seen to be believed. While I don’t like thinking of a comedy great pulling this kind of work later in his life, it’s obvious he understood what was going on. This wasn’t like Bela Lugosi working for peanuts with Ed Wood. Everyone had a ball on the film, but I’m willing to bet that no one could make sense of the plot.
By the time How to Stuff A Wild Bikini ended, I had learned something. While I was familiar with the title for ages, I avoided most of the Beach Party movies for being fluff. They are fluff, but there is a degree of art in making something so random. Just to think, kids. Your grandparents might have been doing something cool.
The Blu-ray comes with no special features. However, this might be one of Olive Films’ best transfers. The 1080p transfer looks fresh and really makes Floyd Crosby’s cinematography come to life. I’d recommend a purchase.
How to Stuff A Wild Bikini arrives on June 25th!
