CineTV is running a contest in conjunction with the Rising Star Game. The challenge is to write a post about a favorite song used in a movie. A challenge I am up to! Actually, it is a hard choice as I wanted to choose both a song and a movie that I enjoy, and there are so many. Here goes.
Favorite song – “Pipeline”, by the Chantays, as performed by Dick Dale (King of the Surf Guitar) and Stevie Ray Vaughn in the movie Back to the Beach (1987). Dueling guitars playing a classic surf song. Two different styles of guitar playing running up and down the riffs that make up this classic instrumental. You have the hard-driving lead playing by Vaughn, trading off with Dale’s reverb style, as they perform in a beach bar hangout.
(Dick Dale and Stevie Ray Vaughn - Back to the Beach)
As for the movie, Back to the Beach, it is a parody of the classic beach movies, and staring both Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello making fun of their classic movies of the ‘60s, and a lot of great tunes. This film also introduced me to the musical genre Ska (“Jamaica Ska” – duet with Funicello and Fishbone).
(Annette Funicello with the band Fishbone, Back to the Beach)
As a long time fan of American International Pictures’ beach movies (I have all of them except the last one in the series on DVD), I can tell you a bit about them. Dick Dale appeared in the first two Frankie and Annette films, and featured cameo appearances of many performers, including a very young Stevie Wonder, as well as classic actors such as Vincent Price and Boris Karloff, but that is a whole different story.
Back to “Pipeline”. This was one of the earliest big hits comprising the California sound more commonly referred to as Surf Music. “Pipeline” was the only hit for The Chantays, reaching #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 in May of 1963. It has been covered numerous times and used in several other films.
As for the film Back to the Beach, Frankie and Annette play husband and wife, living in Ohio having left the beach for suburban America. They head back to the Beach with teenage son Bobby (much of the viewpoint of the film is from Bobby’s perspective, and he provides the narration) played by Demian Slade, as they travel to visit their daughter, Sandi, played by Lori Laughlin. Of course, Frankie and Annette have their typical “make the other-one jealous” spat, while Bobby takes up with a gang spoofing von Zipper, although this gang surfs, unlike von Zipper and his Carbon Monoxide Commandos, aka The Rat Pack. This new gang, controlled by the nefarious Zed, played by Joe Holland. And much hilarity ensues as Frankie gets entangled in the beach conflict and a surfing challenge, as well as giving some guidance to Sandi’s boyfriend, Michael, played by Tommy Hinkley.
Great movie, great music, and a lot of fun cameo appearances throughout the film makes for a great time.
Thank you Cine TV for giving me a good reason to write about one of my favorite songs and movies all in one shot. and thanks for stopping on. Rock On!
