Product Code Database
Beach Ball is a 1965 American beach party movie starring Edd Byrnes and partly financed by Roger Corman.Ed. J. Philip di Franco, The Movie World of Roger Corman, Chelsea House Publishers, 1979, p. 145
It features appearances by The Supremes, The Walker Brothers, and The Righteous Brothers. Tom Lisant, 'Reliving the Guilty Pleasure of Beach Ball', Cinema Retro March 4, 2008
Tom Lisanti called it "arguably the breeziest and most enjoyable Beach Party clones. It is also the most blatant rip off."
According to Filmink "Roger Corman was never a great one for making musicals – he disliked the genre on the whole, and there are few on his CV. However, the profits made in the mid-‘60s by beach party movies were too alluring for him to ignore and he kicked in a few bucks for some of those."
Stephanie Rothman worked on the movie as a production assistant, shooting second unit for the car chase scene with Aaron Kincaid. Gary Kurtz was assistant director. Patton thought Corman hired Weinrib to direct "because he was a comic and it was a comedy. That was Roger's thinking."Albright p 177
In November 1964 Tommy Kirk was originally announced as male star along with Noel Edmonds.'Featured Roles', Los Angeles Times 30 Nov 1964: C21. In December 1964 Chris Noel signed and Kirk was still attached.ilmland Events: Henry King to Film Story of Guadalupe Los Angeles Times 3 Dec 1964: D9. Kirk eventually dropped out of the film and was replaced by Edd Byrnes.
Byrnes called it "a typical mindless beach movie in the spirit of Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello" and said he was "continually offered this type of film after I was released from my contract at Warner Brothers. However, the producers of Beach Ball were going to give me so much money, it would have been ridiculous to turn down Paramount’s generous offer." Byrnes enjoyed making the film calling it a "romp" but he refused to make any more beach moves.
Noel says Byrnes was "a jerk" during the making of the film although the two of them later became friends.Lisanti, p. 164
The Supremes were paid $2,500 to appear in the film. The Righteous Brothers got $500 and the Hondells $400.Lisanti, p. 166
The quality of the film impressed Lew Wasserman at Universal, who signed Patton to a two-picture deal: Wild Wild Winter and Out of Sight.Albright pp 177-178
Filmink wrote "it’s hard to tell the characters apart at times – this was a lesson the AIP knock-offs never learned from AIP beach party movies, which generally had distinctive characters. However, it’s a lot of fun."
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