| Ski Party | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Alan Rafkin |
| Screenplay by | Robert Kaufman |
| Produced by | Gene Corman |
| Starring | Frankie Avalon Dwayne Hickman Deborah Walley Yvonne Craig Robert Q. Lewis James Brown The Famous Flames Lesley Gore Aron Kincaid Bobbi Shaw Patti Chandler Mary Hughes |
| Cinematography | Arthur E. Arling |
| Edited by | Morton Tubor |
| Music by | Guy Hemric Jerry Styner Gary Usher Ted Wright |
Production company | American International Pictures |
| Distributed by | American International Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 90 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Ski Party is a 1965 Americanteenmusicalcomedy film directed byAlan Rafkin and starringFrankie Avalon andDwayne Hickman. It was released byAmerican International Pictures (AIP).Ski Party is considered as abeach party film spin-off, with a change of setting from the beach to the ski slopes – although the final scene places everyone back at the beach.
Todd Armstrong (Avalon) and Craig Gamble (Hickman) are college undergraduates from California, whose romantic relationships with students Linda Hughes (Deborah Walley) and Barbara Norris (Yvonne Craig) are rocky. Arrogant, handsome, athletic classmate Freddie (Aron Kincaid) has no such problems and chooses not to resist all the women chasing after him. As president of the Ski Club, Freddie organizes a midterm vacation trip to ski country (inSawtooth National Forest) in Idaho. Although they know nothing about skiing, Todd and Craig follow Linda and Barbara on this bus trip to try to learn "the secret of Freddie's technique".
Once at the rustic ski resort, Todd and Craig pose as frumpy, non-threatening, young English women, Jane and Nora. When not interrupted by a mysterious ice-skating, yodeling polar bear or toying with psychologically imbalanced andlederhosen-clad lodge manager Mr. Pevney (Robert Q. Lewis), they observe the women in their group to learn how they have gone wrong.
To make Linda jealous, Todd attracts the attention of gorgeous, curvy Swedish ski instructor Nita (Bobbi Shaw) when he's dressed as himself. However, Freddie becomes obsessed with Craig when Craig is dressed as a woman, not accustomed to women who play "hard to get". Nita persuades Todd, over Freddie's goading, to compete in a ski jump against Freddie. Todd's jump forces Craig to shoot him down, resulting in a broken leg.
Todd crawls through miles of deep snow late at night with his broken leg covered in a plaster cast, to Nita's house. Toting a bottle, he learns that Nita is not the exotic minx she pretends to be, but aspires to be treated like an "American girl", that is, with much "talk" and little "action".
Back at the lodge, Freddie, still obsessed with Craig's "female" Nora tries to break down Nora's room door. Stuck inside, Todd and Craig contemplate their next move as they escape through a window. Somehow, they hail a taxi and rack up an enormous fare to Santa Monica, California. Freddie follows on a moped that is piloted by fur-coated lodge manager Pevney. The rest of the group abruptly ends its spring break and follows behind on the bus.
Todd, Linda, Craig, and Barbara arrive, with the rest of the group and Pevney, at Todd's parents' beachfront house. There, the two couples share their true feelings, and the boys surprise the women with their ruse.
Delusional Freddie runs into the Pacific Ocean, calling to his beloved Nora, after Craig tells him that when she heard Freddie was coming, she started swimming: By now, she is "somewhere between here and Japan." Craig encourages Freddie to hurry; maybe he can catch her "somewhere near Guam".
"Pretty mean thing to do," Craig says to the audience, reassuring us that they will tell Freddie everything tomorrow. "If he comes back..."
Cast notes
In December 1964, AIP announced the film would followBeach Blanket Bingo, then be followed byHow to Stuff a Wild Bikini.[1] James H. Nicholson and Sam Arkoff hiredGene Corman to produce after watchingThe Girls on the Beach. Corman hired the director, Alan Rafkin, and writer, Robert Kaufman, from television.[2] Publicity called it the sixth in the series.[3]
Dwayne Hickman made the film immediately afterCat Ballou and for the same salary. He later wrote "it may have seemed like a strange career decision to go from a classic comedy Western likeCat Ballou to an AIP date movie likeSki Party but at the timeCat was really just a B movie for Columbia."[4]
Hickman says he "hit it off immediately" with co star Avalon "and decided that we should play the characters likeHope andCrosby. Frankie would be the Crosby-like character, smart, in-charge and slick, while I would play the Hope role and be the bumbler. We added a lot of physical business which helped a not very imaginative script."[5]
AIP wantedJohn Ashley to play Freddy, but Corman felt he looked too much like Avalon. The producer instead cast Aron Kincaid, who had been in Corman's previous two beach films.[6]
Los Angeles City College (a two-year institution in East Hollywood) was the location used for the unnamed university in the film. The outdoor snow scenes were filmed in and around Sun Valley, Idaho over three weeks, and the film gives screen credit to Idaho'sSawtooth National Forest. Ski instructor Siegfried Engl has a cameo.[7] There were also some scenes shot at the beach.[8]
In March 1965, one week into filming, AIP were so happy with the rushes that they announced Kaufman, Corman and Rafkin would makeCruise Party immediately.[9]Cruise Party was announced at the end of the credits forSki Party but it was never was produced.
James Brown said he "felt like [he] was in a straitjacket" during his appearance.[10]
Hickman said making the film "was a totally enjoyable experience",[11] and AIP offered him a lead role inHow to Stuff a Wild Bikini. The studio reunited him and Avalon inDr Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine with Hickman's playing Armstrong and Avalon's playing Gamble.[12]
Ski Party is punctuated with musical numbers byLesley Gore, who singsMarvin Hamlisch's "Sunshine, Lollipops, and Rainbows" on the bus, andJames Brown &The Famous Flames (Bobby Byrd,Lloyd Stallworth, andBobby Bennett) who sing and shimmy through "I Got You (I Feel Good)" in the lodge, having been humorously cast as the "white bread" resort's all-blackski patrol. (In the bio-picGet On Up, the scene fromSki Party is re-created, with Brown's bemoaning that he is splitting his pants "in front of all these white folks".)
The Hondells sing two songs written byGary Usher andRoger Christian – the title track, off-camera, then appearing in beach attire for the closing track, "The Gasser", on Sorrento Beach in Santa Monica].
Avalon sings the surf-rock "Lots, Lots More" (byRichie Adams andLarry Kusik), and is joined by Hickman, Walley and Craig for the Holiday-styled "Paintin' the Town" (written byBob Gaudio ofThe Four Seasons).
Walley and Craig sing "We'll Never Change Them", a song by Guy Hemric andJerry Styner, originally written as "I'll Never Change Him" and sung by Annette Funicello in a scene cut fromBeach Blanket Bingo.
This is the only AIPbeach party film not scored byLes Baxter. Edwin Norton is credited as the film's music editor and Al Simms as music supervisor.
TheLos Angeles Times wrote the dialogue "seems awfully childish even for teenagers", but liked the musical acts.[13]
Variety called it "an entertaining teenage comedy romance in snowcountry settings, with excellent direction of good satirical script ad fine performances by young thesps. Gene Corman production values are standout and seven tunes enliven pace."[14]
Filmink wrote "There’s lots of fun inSki Party, as well as the inevitable dodginess from a 1965 Hollywood movie about the differences between men and women."[15]
Samuel Arkoff of AIP stated the film was a commercial disappointment. A follow-up film announced in the credits,Cruise Party, never was made.[16] In December 1965 Sam Arkoff said "the bikini beach style has had it. We've had some real bombs lately."[17]
BothColumbia Pictures andUniversal Studios produced their versions of snowboundbeach party films: Columbia'sWinter a Go-Go was released four months later in October 1965, and Universal'sWild Wild Winter was released in January 1966.
Dell Comics published a 12-cent comic book version ofSki Party in conjunction with the movie's release.[18][19]
Ski Party was released to DVD by MGM Home Video on April 15, 2003 as part of a double-sided disc, withSki Party on side two of the disc and on July 10, 2007 as part of the box setThe Frankie and Annette Collection, withSki Party on the fourth disc.
