Beach Blanket Bango Review

Distributor: Classic X Collection Edition Details: Standard DVD Movie Specs: Genres: Golden Age Classic, Feature Film, Softcore, Comedy, Barely Legal Also known as: Teenage Throat Run Time: 78 minutes Rated: X Release Year: 1975 Director: James Bryan (as J. Morris Deal) Written by: Pete Turner (as Curtis Blankenship) Cast: Rene Bond, Tony Mazziotti, Cindy Taylor, Ric Lutze (as Ric Lutz), Nicolle Riddell (as Niccole Riddell), Fred Lorenzen (as Fred Lorenzo), Larry Barnhouse, Hank Tudor, Damon Christian (as Fred Stifflerin), Robin Geiger, Gerry Klein (as Bert Littlbeau), Sebastian Figg, Tim Eastman, Fred Millen (as Fred Mullin), Titus Moede (as Titus Moody), April Grant, S.K. James, Lazaro Valdez, William Margold Release Specs: Audio: English Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono Subtitles: none Video: Full Frame, 1.33:1 Video Format: NTSC Format: DVD Regional Code (for DVD/Blu-ray): 0 (All) Number of discs: 1

Beach Blanket Bango is James Bryan's follow-up to his earlier film High School Fantasies. This time around Bryan spoofs Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon's beach party films from the 60s along with other 60s teenage designed film. The setting has been moved from high school to college in this outing and although much of the cast is the same as in High School Fantasies, they are portraying completely different characters.

While Beach Blanket Bango is a lighthearted fun outing, there are some issues with the plot. The issues with the plot may sound odd, because there isn't much plot to Beach Blanket Bango, however, the film tries to do too much within the time allowed. Beach Blanket Bango tells the story of Veronica (Rene Bond), who is being courted by Tommy (Tony Mazziotti) and by Lance (Ric Lutze). The issue comes in with numerous subplots that are going on within the film that come and go as necessary but never have had the time to be fully developed. The result is a plot that bounces around and gets confusing at times.

The subplots could have worked had the run time for the film been extended to allow each one to be fully developed. However, what is here isn't horrible. It is a light and fluffy film that makes fun of the teen-flicks of the 60s. As time goes on, the film becomes more dated as more and more younger viewers won't have any knowledge of Funicello and Avalon's schlock fests. However, I think there is enough connection with the schlock fests that Disney now churns out, like Teen Beach Movie, that some relevance will remain.

According to producer, and actor, Damon Christian, Beach Blanket Bango was made for $25,000. For the budget, Bryan has done a good job with the film. He uses a variety of locations that work very well and give the film a low budget mainstream feel over the more typical adult film feel. The cast does a good job with their material as well. Some stock footage has been used, for scenes like the surfing ones, that were obviously more expensive to create than the film could afford. The stock footage sticks out a little but is well integrated.

As far as the sex scenes go, in the softcore version they are very disappointing. The hardcore version didn't have very long sex scenes with very little softcore footage in them. While this version has more plotted portions than the hardcore version did, it is obvious that Bryan didn't film additional softcore footage for the softcore version. The cuts made in the sex scenes are very jarring, with cuts that are very obvious and sex scenes that often last seconds at best. Most viewers fill find what is left of the sex scenes to be very disappointing.

Overall, Beach Blanket Bango is uneven. While the film is lighthearted and amusing, the plot needed to be worked out better. The lack of hardcore sex hurts the film since the cuts are so jarring. And the film has become dated due to the subject matter. Since the softcore version has more plot than the hardcore version but horrible cuts due to the removal of the sex scenes, it would have been nice to have had both versions paired together.

Classic X Collection has done a disappointing job with their release of Beach Blanket Bango. Beach Blanket Bango was released in both hardcore and softcore versions and Classic X Collection has released the softcore version of Beach Blanket Bango only on this release. Beach Blanket Bango is presented in the academy aspect ratio of 1.33:1 in 480i. Classic X Collection seems to have sourced their master from an old VHS video cassette, which means that the resolution of Beach Blanket Bango is most likely 250i. The transfer is overly dark with poor color representation. The image has a lack of definition and is likely not to please viewers.

Beach Blanket Bango is presented with an English Dolby Digital 2.0 monaural audio track. The audio for the film isn't horrible, there is a hiss throughout the entire presentation. Dialog is clear and can be heard throughout the film.

Classic X Collection hasn't included any extras on this release.

Beach Blanket Bango is an adult film that had some thought behind it, an attempt at a good plot, and some decent production values. The plot has issues though, mostly trying to do so much in such a short time that what is here gets too watered down. Classic X Collection has only included the softcore version of Beach Blanket Bango on this release which has more plot than the hardcore version but the hardcore sex is poorly chopped out. The release itself has issues with a low quality transfer.

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