A SWINGIN' SUMMER - Gary Lewis And The Playboys - "Chicken Kicks And Water Slicks" (1965)

What better to follow "Wild Wild Winter" than "A Swingin' Summer," which is right around the corner, and will be here before you know it!

Just like "Wild Wild Winter," "A Swingin' Summer " doesn't really have much reason to exist except as a showcase for some of the musical groups of the day! The story isn't even worth going into!
The theme song was recorded by Jody "Queen Of The House" Miller, but this Wipe Out style instrumental by Gary Lewis And The Playboys is a lot more interesting! I love all the whooping and a hollerin'! "C'mon Baby!"

What's more interesting is that Oops, somebody forgot to spellcheck the names of the bands! The name of the band was The Rip Chords, not The Rip-Cords!

Although this wasn't Raquel Welch's first movie, it was her first credited role on the big screen! She had small bit parts before this, and had done some TV like "Bewitched," and "McHale's Navy!"

This is a great publicity still of Raquel!

This is probably my favourite shot from the film!

I'm seeing a pattern here! As you will see, somebody involved with this film had a penchant for the female posterior!

How to make a beach movie! Step one, get some bands, step two, get some girls and have them dance, step three, everything else will most likely fall into place somehow!

Gary Lewis acts as MC, and his band The Playboys are the back up band for all the other groups! I was kind of surprised to see Gary in such a backup role because he and his band had already had their smash hit "This Diamond Ring" a couple of months earlier! Maybe it was a chance to let the actual band play, because on the recording of "This Diamond Ring" the band had been replaced with music by the now notorious Wrecking Crew! Even Gary's vocals on that record were supplemented by another guy!

The big joke of the film is this scene where the guys spot this topless chick on the beach!

They get pretty excited until..........

..........They discover it's really a guy named Gypsy Boots, the bohemian "Clown Prince Of Health!"

Chop! Chop, Chop! Chop, Chop, Chop!

Trust me, this is just a small sample of the derrieres the cinematographer took advantage of!

Rockabilly Hall Of Famer Donnie Brooks performs "Pennie The Poo!"

Hot Rod Surfin' band "The Rip Chords" were at the tail end of their career! They look a lot older than I'm sure they were!

The Rip Chords biggest hit was "Hey Little Cobra"
Here they perform "Hot Rod Roadster!"

Out of 80 minutes, I'm sure 20 minutes or more is nothing but dancing!

Raquel's role was that of an intelligent nerdy kind of girl, so of course she finally strips down to her bathing suit and performs a song called "I'm Ready To Groove!" I actually have a copy of the soundtrack of this movie on vinyl, I guess it's time to break it out again!

Without much fanfare, the final band is Bill Medley and Bobby Hattfield better known as "The Righteous Brothers! The Righteous Brothers biggest hit that still gets played today was "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling" which reached number four on the charts in 1965! They've played that song so much on the radio, but I really prefer their more rockin' tunes like "My Babe," and "Little Latin Lupe Lu!" Here they perform an upbeat number called "Justine!"
So that's it for me and rock and roll in the movies for a while, I hope you liked the show!
Now it's time to get back to some more spy and secret agent movies etc.
Your guess is as good as mine what Tabonga will come up with on Friday!