Frankie Avalon
A young man, Ben Freidman (Scott Wilson) raised by wealthy adoptive Jewish parents in Beverly Hills, decides that he is ready to finally meet his biological parents. He faces disappointment upon learning of the death of his biological mother. His biological father, meanwhile, resides in a psychiatric care unit.
The story behind the classic movie musical. The programme examines the original stage musical in the early 1970s, which starred a young Richard Gere, and the changes that occurred between stage and screen, including the addition of several new songs and toning down the original show's darker elements. Plus, a look at some of the actors who could have played the roles made famous by John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John.
The documentary consists of tape of Don's show (never been filmed before), interviews with Don's contemporaries, (Steve Lawrence, Bob Newhart, Debbie Reynolds, etc.), established comedians (Billy Crystal, Rosanna Barr, Robin Williams, Chris Rock, etc.) and young comedians (Jeff Atoll, Jimmy Kimmel, Sarah Silverman, etc.).
Phyllis Diller’s brand of comedy is as timeless today as it was in the 1960s, when she became a regular on popular variety and talk shows. From her outrageous costumes to wildly teased hair, Diller was a pioneer among female comediennes, paving the way for future stars. Who can forget her hilarious housekeeping and marriage tips, her beleaguered husband Fang, her cackling laugh and self-deprecating sense of humor? Phyllis Diller: Not Just Another Pretty Face highlights some of her best routines. Special guest stars such as Don Rickles and Dean Martin make this a fun trip back in time.
This documentary celebrates the ridiculous stunts used by Hollywood over the years to market its worst movies. These include the ’50s drive-in where moviegoers could drop off their dirty laundry and pick it up after the show, horror filmmaker William Castle’s vibrating seats and producer Sam Arkoff’s offer to pay for the funeral of anyone scared to death by his film. Amusing interviews with critic Roger Ebert and director John Waters, creator of Smell-O-Vision, enliven a program that has one central failing: host Frankie Avalon, who remains as schlocky as ever.
This highly-rated television film covers the life of American movie/TV/pop music idol Annette Funicello. The movie starts with the move of her family from New York to California, where in 1955 shy Annette becomes one of the cast of The Mickey Mouse Club. The movie covers her child stardom, her teen idol years, her singing career with big hits like "Tall Paul", her romance with Paul Anka, her classic beach party films with Frankie Avalon, and her first marriage. It also shows her large comeback in the late 1980s and her second marriage, and the day when she found out she had multiple sclerosis.
A Beverly Hills housewife in the middle of a divorce tries to find focus in her life by taking over her daughter's Wilderness Girls troop.
Pee-wee Herman and pals are celebrating Christmas in the Playhouse in their own creative ways: Pee-wee makes a list for Santa Claus 1 1/2 miles long, teaches Little Richard how to ice skate, goes for a sleigh ride with Magic Johnson, commands Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello to make Christmas cards, receives a long phone call from Dinah Shore, even has more musical fun with k.d. lang, the Del Rubio Triplettes and Charo! Finally, Big Red arrives and announces that Pee-wee's Christmas list was so big, he didn't have enough presents for all the children of the world. Will Pee-wee follow his own advice and help others?
Cowabunga! The surfing '60s ride into the new wave as Frankie and Annette star in this hip update of their old-time, good-time beach movies. With special appearances by Bob Denver, Tony Dow, Pee-Wee Herman, Jerry Mathers and other familiar faces. Frankie and Annette grow up and have kids in the midwest. They return to LA to visit their daughter who is shacked up with her boyfriend and tries to hide the fact. They begin to have marriage problems when Frankie runs into Connie, who has erected a shrine to him in her night club. Their punk son has joined up with the local surf toughs, and things all come to a head when the toughs challenge the good guys to a surfing duel
A rock 'n roll extravaganza with hosts Frankie Avalon and Connie Stevens, as they preside over music, contests, parties, and fireworks from the beach in Fort Lauderdale and other Florida locations.
A psychopath escapes from a mental institution and starts a murder spree, which ends in the pursuing of a young handicapped girl, who once got a blood transfusion from him.
Detectives Calabrese and Jameson become emotionally involved in a robbery/homicide/rape crime spree when a friend becomes a victim.
Teenagers gathered in an old mansion are being murdered one by one. The survivors must discover who among them is the killer before he finishes off everybody.
Frankie Avalon and George Nader (that guy from "The Robot Monster") are a couple of wise-cracking, swingin' secret agents. Their enemy is Shirley Eaton as Su-Muru, who plans to remove all of the men who are currently in power and replace them with her army of women.
Stock car racer Dave Owens plays into the hands of whiskey runners by agreeing to drive in a cross-country road race.
In this campy spy movie spoof Dr. Goldfoot (Vincent Price) has invented an army of bikini-clad robots who are programmed to seek out wealthy men and charm them into signing over their assets. Secret agent Craig Gamble (Frankie Avalon) and millionaire Todd Armstrong set out to foil his fiendish plot.
An astronaut goes into space with a chimpanzee. When they return to Earth after their orbit, it is discovered that the chimp has the brains of the astronaut, and the astronaut has the brains of the chimp. Complications ensue.
Remember the beach movies of the sixties? They're back! Well, not quite, but since Avalon, Hickman, and even Funicello appear in this one, it sure feels right. This time, though, read snow instead of sand and you got it. Ski lodge, to be precise, and though the plot is somewhat inane, with the boys cross-dressing to discover the secret of a friend's success with the girls, it's still a somewhat fun outing.
When he's stationed in Tahiti, a sailor hires a witch doctor to keep an eye on his girlfriend.
In the fourth of the highly successful Frankie and Annette beach party movies, a motorcycle gang led by Eric Von Zipper kidnaps singing star Sugar Kane managed by Bullets, who hires sky-diving surfers Steve and Bonnie from Big Drop for a publicity stunt. With the usual gang of kids and a mermaid named Lorelei.
Bob Holcomb will do anything to stop his daughter JoJo from tying the knot with her lazy boyfriend, even move her all the way to Sweden! But once they're "safely" out of the country, JoJo falls for a sly Swedish playboy.
A Martian teenager sent to prepare for an invasion falls in love with an Earth girl.
Local beach-goers find that their beach has been taken over by a businessman training a stable of body builders.
A millionaire sets out to prove his theory that his pet chimpanzee is as intelligent as the teenagers who hang out on the local beach, where he is intending to build a retirement home.
David Moore is in East Africa to get to his employer's railway construction site. He's accompanied by the owner's son Brian and they've lined up Jack Cuortemayn, reputedly the best guide available, to take them there. Cuortemayn refuses as he doesn't care for the impact the railroad will have on the local inhabitants. While Moore tries to make other arrangements, he meets Ruth Knight who has lived there for many years working with her father in a medical clinic. There will be adventures along the way but when Ruth is captured by slave traders, it's up to the others to rescue her.
Also released as Valley of the Swords, this lugubrious US/Spanish co-production features the usual mid-1960s "tax shelter" international cast. Broderick Crawford plays a despotic 10th century Spanish king who, in cahoots with the invading Moors, has banished handsome Castilian nobleman Spartaco Santoni. With the surreptitious aid of Crawford's daughter Teresa Velasquez, Santoni assembles an army to march against the Moors. In keeping with the 13th century epic poem from which this film was derived ("El Poema de Fernan Gonzales") Santoni's path is smoothed by the celestial intervention of patron saints Milan and Santiago. Among the big names picking up a few tax-free dollars in The Castilian are Cesar Romero, Linda Darnell, Alida Valli and Fernando Rey.
The film takes place aboard an American submarine in the Pacific during World War II. The sub's commander is ordered to stop and pick up an underwater demolition team led by Lt. Hayes, whose mission is to locate and destroy a US submarine sunken in a lagoon off Bikini Atoll before the Japanese are able to raise it and capture the advanced radar system on board.
Anthropology Professor Robert Orwell Sutwell and his secretary Marianne are studying the sex habits of teenagers. The surfing teens led by Frankie and Dee Dee don't have much sex but they sing, battle the motorcycle rats and mice led by Eric Von Zipper and dance to Dick Dale and the Del Tones.
While on a fishing trip, Harry Baldwin (Ray Milland) and his family hear an explosion and realize that Los Angeles has been leveled by a nuclear attack. Looters and killers are everywhere. Escaping to the hills with his family, he sets about the business of surviving in a world where, he knows, the old ideals of humanity will be first casualties.
A bungling burglar, determined to go down in the annals of crime as a genius, steals a ship in New York in order to rob a bank in Boston.
The crew of an atomic submarine battle to save the world from global destruction.
Logger Jim Hadley (Alan Ladd) and his lumberjack crew are looking for new forest to cut. They locate a prime prospect outside the town of Deep Wells. The residents of Deep Wells led by Laura Riley (Jeanne Crain) are opposed to the felling of the trees, believing that losing them would cause mudslides during the heavy rains. Conflict between the town's residents and the loggers is inevitable.
Jamboree adheres to the usual formula of late-1950s rock&roll films: A plethora of musical numbers linked together by the wispiest of plotlines. Kay Medford heads the cast as manipulative showbiz agent Grace Shaw. Hoping to land pop singer Pete Porter (Paul Carr), Grace connives to break up Pete's romance with female vocalist Honey Wynn (Freda Holloway). But who cares? The audience came to see such musical faves as Fats Domino, Count Basie, Jerry Lee Lewis, Jodie Sands, Ron Coby, Slim Whitman, Carl Perkins, Frankie Avalon, Charlie Gracie and the Four Coins. As a promotional tie-in, Jamboree also features appearances by 21 of North America's top rock-and-roll deejays.
Documentary about the making of the John Wayne film The Alamo (1960). Included are behind-the-scenes photos and footage of the actual production of the film, clips from it and interviews with members of the cast, crew and local residents in Brackettville, TX, where it was filmed.
