Surf Action

This film is better than most commercial Hollywood films of the Sixties in depicting surfing, but it is uneven due to mixing the real surf action with obviously fake shots done in the movie studio.
Many scenes in this film have the actors in closeups on their surfboards in front of rear projections of the surf waves, as was standard practice in the 1960s. It is obvious and isn't at all realistic. This was also typical in the Frankie Avalon Beach Party movies, and got to be a film cliche.
Also, several scenes were shot "day for night" so that at the New Year's Eve beach party, we can see sunlit scenes with shadows on the ground when it is supposed to be near midnight. This was also typical of films of this era. Still, it's a fun surf movie and one of my favorites.

And oh, why did they have to color Barbara Eden's hair red???

If you want to see a real (non-Hollywood) surf movie made in 1964, check out Bruce Brown's excellent "The Endless Summer" with surf music by The Sandals. And 30 years later, there was a great sequel, "Endless Summer II", released in 1994.

Dejael