Oddball Films Presents Oddball Beach Party: Surf, Sand and Cinema with a groovy, sexy, funny and tubular cinematic trip to the beach. Just because San Francisco's own beach is too foggy and cold to traverse, doesn't mean we can't vicariously catch some waves, admire bikini clad beauties or twist with Louis Prima! Louis, Keely Smith and Sam Butera and the Witnesses don their pedalpushers and set the South Shore of Tahoe on fire in the rare musical treat The Wildest (1958). Catch some big waves and groovy tunes in the psychedelic surf-fest Hang Ten (1970). Woody Woodpecker and Wally Walrus are out to ruin each other's beach vacations in The Beach Nut (1944). Learn how to stay beautiful, even as a beach bum, including how keep your clothes clean, or at least off, in the sexy short Beachcombing Belle (1949) from the Bikini Girls nudie cutie series. Set out for exotic ports of call in the vintage cheeky travelogue Polynesian Holiday (1955), shot in stunning Kodachrome! One man inflates everything he needs for the perfect day at the beach, including a girlfriend in the mid-century cartoon gem and Oscar winner Ersatz (1961). One lonely bug must make it across the hell of an extremely 80's Venice Beach to make it to a romantic shoreline rendezvous in Why'd the Beetle Cross the Road? (1984). And Renee Taylor spoofs Fellini in the outrageous seaside romp Two (1971). Plus! Hawaiian Soundies, more sunny surprises and Choosing a Sunscreen (1989) for the Early Birds, this is one beach party you won't want to miss!
Date: Thursday August 8th, 2013 at 8:00pm
Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street San Francisco
Featuring:
The Wildest (B+W, 1958)
Filmed on the South Sore at Lake Tahoe, this super rare short features Louis Prima with Keely Smith and Sam Butera and the Witnesses. A very loose plot serves to feature the high-energy band tearing through When You’re Smiling, Birth of the Blues, Listen to the Mockingbird and more. Crazy lakeside capris pants twist action!
Directed and produced by the team of Greg MacGillivray and Jim Freeman (cult surf favorite 5 Summer Stories and the surf sequences in Big Wednesday, plus second unit scenes in Blade Runner, The Shining and more), “Hang Ten” is a psychedelic riff on surfing and surfculture. Image overlaps, color shifts, reverse motion coupled with a bizarre, fuzz/chamber pop soundtrack by the mystery band Topaz.
Woody Woodpecker in The Beach Nut (1944)Woody just wants to have a great day by the seaside. But his unending feud with Wally Walrus won't let him get any rest. As they ruin each other's fun, something's going up in flames, and it's not Woody's hot dog!
Bikini Girls (B+W, 1949)
Titillating tales featuring bikini-clad women and an over-the-top narrator. Shot over 60 years ago these risque shorts always feature women doing things that expose themselves like applying suntan lotion, trying on clothes and “getting comfortable” in the hot sun. A sexy and sexist look at the lighter side of eroticism in the 1940s.
“Beachcombing Belle” A brunette does laundry in a tide pool and strips down to a bikini and sun bathes. The waves wash away her clothes!
Polynesian Holiday (Color, 1955)
Filmed in stunning Kodachrome color, this rare short travelogue stars bandleader Harry Owens in a tongue-in-cheek island vacation, where he’s fanned and feted by beautiful native women. Harry established the “hapa haole” style of Hawaiian music (native music as interpreted by foreigners) and won an Oscar for his song “Sweet Leilani”.
Ersatz (AKA Surogat) (Color, 1961)
This Yugoslavian animated short was the first foreign animated film to win an Oscar. A fat man goes to the beach and inflates everything he needs. like a boat, a tent, and a shark. He manages to have a fine time until he inflates a girlfriend for himself and realizes that women are too much damn trouble. A gem of mid-century modern style!
Why'd The Beetle Cross The Road (Color, 1984)
Like a game of Frogger set on the bikini-clad boardwalk of Venice Beach, we follow one unlucky beetle as he's trampled by sexy teenagers, volleyballs, and bicyclists, all while merely trying to reach the beach. Will he make it, and why did he do it? One girl in High School knows the answer, but we're not telling...
Spoof of overwrought Italian films written by and starring Reneé Taylor (nominated for an Oscar for Lovers and Other Strangers). A delicious send up of your art house favorites by way the Borscht Belt! A glamorous pair of Fellini rejects find themselves on an empty beach and become tangled in an absurd frenzy of neurotic passion and brutal debasement! The Two lovers try to out-passion each other, then out-debase themselves until the woman walks away in disgust.In perfectly awful Italian and Yiddish with subtitled in English. Written by and starring Reneé Taylor (nominated for an Oscar for Lovers and Other Strangers).
Choosing a Sunscreen (Color, 1989)
Watch this exciting (yeah sure!) infomercial about sunscreen produced by Neutrogena. Witness shots of people windsurfing, horse riding, catamaran sailing, golf, hurling, white water kayaking, gardening, fishing, sailboat sailing, hot air ballooning while we question Dr. Nicholas Lowe, dermatologist, next to a pool. Learn everything you always wanted to know about sunscreens as we see women playing backgammon in a hot tub, playing tennis and polo, the application of sunscreen and sunscreen labels and pool side gardening, biking, roller coaster, dancing, a fashion show. Outside-it’s where we burn up!
