Throughout the history of cinema, there are watershed movies that are so fresh and original that they create a whole new genre of cinema altogether. Rob Reiner’s This is Spinal Tap, George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead, and Frank Capra's It Happened One Night. Many concepts and ideas originated from these films-- the landscape of cinema would have a gigantic void without them, and some classics would not exist without their influence. However, there is one film, one franchise, that created a genre, that, without its existence, the landscape of film would look a lot different- that’s William Asher’s 1963 film Beach Party. Beach Party and its sequels are remembered as a “kitschy fad” of the 1960s and the epitome of shlock drive-in movie fare. For the Baby Boomers, who grew up with Beach Movies the sentiment and nostalgia would likely be similar to a Zoomer looking back at the Alvin and the Chipmunks movies of the 2000s, that being “Why did I like these as a kid?” However, I’d argue (and maybe it’s just because I need to justify binge-watching the entire franchise) that Beach party movies are watershed movies, as they invented the “teen movie,” and that the DNA of these movies still exists in film today.

Now it’s important to note that the concept of a teenager is incredibly modern. The idea of adolescence, as in the transitionary period between childhood and adulthood was first argued by Psychologist G. Stanley Hall as early as 1898, with his first publication on the subject being in 1904. This means movies are an older concept than a teenager! By the late 1920s as the world transitioned from localized agrarian economies/ factory work, as well as the rise of child labor laws, making education compulsory, public education became the main vocational choice for middle and lower-class children. By the 1940s, the idea of the teenager had fully reached the mainstream. Additionally along with this transition came a new style of courtship, known as dating. Before the 20th century, courtship was exclusively done through chaperone supervision. The event would be extremely formal, and the process was purely for the commitment of marriage rather than for fun.  However, by the 1920s the formal idea of courting for the strict purpose of marriage slowly became outdated, and again by the 1940s, this new form of courtship, known as dating, had become the norm. A good example to understand this literal pre-teen world/ film is Vincente Minnelli’s Meet Me in St. Louis (1944). Much of the focus of the storyline is the depiction of the formality of courtship practices of the time, parties, gatherings, and dances of the teenagers.  Meet Me in St. Louis was the Stranger Things of its day. It could be one of the first Hollywood nostalgia pieces. The movie was advertised as a comforting, nostalgic look back at the “good old days” of the 1900’s decade. The film was meant to soothe the nation during the turbulent time of WW2. However, the nostalgia could also be read as remembering a time when people in their adolescence behaved like adults, and courtship was king.

Despite teenagers being officially considered a market demographic by the 1950s,  there were no movies for or about them. The film industry was strictly for adults and families. Sure there were juvenile delinquent movies, like Nicholas Ray’s Rebel Without a Cause and Edward Bernds’ High School Hellcats, but those movies painted teenagers as the villains and menaces to society, and to the teen, the plots came across as lectures. Additionally, there were some rock n roll movies like Fred F. Sears’s Rock Around the Clock and Will Prices’ Rock, Rock, Rock!, but let's face it, these are just glorified concerts. The genre that seemed to care about teens and give them a voice was Horror, with movies like Irvin Yeaworth & ​Russell S Doughten Jr.’s The Blob and Invasion of the Saucer Men depicting the kids being the only ones knowing what was going on. Then there are the teenage horror movies like Herbert L. Strock’s I Was a Teenage Frankenstein, and Tom Graeff’s The Teenager from Outer Space, being movies teenagers could see themselves in. But still, this genre wasn’t always about them, and likely didn't appeal to those who didn’t like to be scared. 

 That all changed with Paul Wendko’s Gidget, a movie about a young girl on summer vacation who accidentally falls in love with two surfers. The film was a hit with teenagers and is often cited for popularizing surfing in mainstream American culture-- like all hits in Hollywood history, the studios wanted to cash in on this success. Enter American International Pictures, the only B movie studio that specifically made movies for teenagers, and whose repertoire of movies was primarily making low-budget horror movies, with the occasional juvenile delinquent and hot rod film. Seeing the successes of Gidget the studio sparked a genius idea, “What if we made our version of Gidget, but removed the parental authority and made it 100% about the kids?” Thus, American International did what they always did when they came up with a premise for a movie, created a mock poster for the movie and a title, showed it to investors, and only after they received money for the picture did they hire a screenwriter to make a movie based on the poster. After 3 months of production, on July 14th, 1963, most likely at a drive-in with their dates, teens across America were exposed to a movie starring teen heartthrob Frankie Avalon, and the Godmother of all Disney child stars, Annette Funicello.  A movie filled with young love, Surf Rock music, and movies with a lot of girls in bikinis. The movie was a smash hit at the box office, doubling even what Gidget made, leading to sequels, spin-offs, and even rip-offs by B Movie studios. Mad Magazine would go on to describe these movies as “Beach Party movies” and the name stuck. It would eventually evolve to become a new genre of film.  These movies also served a different function than a film like Gidget, as these movies would become popular date night movies with teens. The lack of plot and its hip romantic feel made these movies prime for make-out dates at the drive-in. The trend would go on for a couple of years up until about the late 1960s as trends changed. The legacy of the franchise as a whole has been one of a weird fad of the early '60s, being parodied in movies such as That Thing You Do and tv shows like Saturday Night Live (there is a skit in which Princess Leia from Star Wars is transported into one of those Beach films). However, I would argue its legacy extends far beyond just a fad and its influence can still be seen in movies to this day.

The Beach Party movies, in my opinion, invented the modern teen movie by laying the foundation for all future entries in the genre. For one, they established the importance of music in the genre. Music defines the high school years more than any other type of art. The Beach Party movies were surf rock musicals at a time when rock n roll was still new to the film world, and the idea of a rock musical was a foreign concept. The music was meant to give the film a hip look and feel. Additionally, these movies would contain popular acts of the day, such as Little Stevie Wonder in Bikini Beach and Lesly Gore and James Brown in Ski Party. The Beach Party movies show how important hip trendy music is to the identity of the Teen movie. Movies like Kenny Ortega’s Descendants, Joel Silberg’s Breakin, and Ken Annakin’s The Pirate Movie all keep this tradition. Even in non-musicals such as 10 Things I Hate About You, John Hughes’ Pretty In Pink, and Will Gluck’s Easy A, the soundtracks are trendy songs meant to serve as a Greek chorus for the teens. Rarely do these movies have a traditional score, as the music is meant to reflect their life.

Another remnant of the beach party movie is the notion of the “ ideal couple.”  Frankie and Annette are the first idealized teen power couple and the plot of these movies is always about whether Frankie and Annette will stay together or not. Teen movies are usually focused on this sort of “will they won't they'' romantic relationship we somewhat see in Beach Party, as well an emphasis on an iconic power couple. The most obvious are Danny and Sandy from Grease, Troy and Gabriella in High School Musical, Emma and Alyssa in The Prom, and Max and Roxane in A Goofy Movie. Even in movies where the focus is not their romance and coupling up, the couple is still an integral part of the film, such as the relationship between Sloane and Ferris in Ferris Bueller's Day Off. 
However, I think Beach Party's most important contribution was the idea of removing moral authority and making the emphasis purely on the kids. The beach party movies were meant to look like they were movies made by teens and thus painted them in a sympathetic light compared to other films of the time. The villains of these movies often either wanted to study the teenagers to understand them or stop them from being teens. Adults are painted as out-of-touch fuddy-duddies, not understanding the youth, and the teens were painted as always the ones in charge. While not complex, these movies are one of the first movies to treat them not as kids like movies like Gidget, nor menaces to society like Rebel Without a Cause, but as people. This sympathetic look at adolescence and treating teenagers as people is what I think distinguishes the teen movie genre from any other coming-of-age film. Beach movies are a place for young people to find themselves. They are movies about teens for teens and are meant to be places of refuge from the adult world. That vindication can be through escapism such as the Disney Channel teen film or reflection such as the John Hughes fare. At the end of the movie, these are stories about reminding teens that they are people too, and the Beach Party movies are to thank for that.