After last week’s voyage into self-importance courtesy of U2, Pop Screen tackles a film that couldn’t possibly be more lightweight – the 1965 teen comedy Beach Ball. Strange, as it features one of the most tortured souls in ’60s pop – Scott Walker – and one of its defining divas, Diana Ross. But this is an entry in the brief but prolific fad for beach party movies, in which mysteriously parent-free teenagers meet on the shore to date and do nothing that threatens a U certificate while listening to the drumming stylings of… exploitation film stalwart Sid Haig?!
Yes, there’s some stuff that needs unpacking in here alright, and Mick from our sister podcast Behold! is on hand to help Graham unpack it. Join them as they run through the now-forgotten history of the beach party movie, discuss which of this year’s summer blockbusters is most inspired by it (a clue: it’s not Oppenheimer) and work out how this stacks up against the genre’s avant-garde masterpiece Gonks Go Beats. It’s like an endless summer, except this podcast does actually end, so it isn’t.
If you’d like to help us buy our own musical instruments without having to beg the crusty old dean for money, you can donate to our where you get three exclusive monthly podcasts – a bonus episode of Pop Screen, our latest show From the Video Aisle, and the movie and TV miscellany Last Night…, plus written reviews of Asian films that need UK distribution, classic series Doctor Who and Graham’s new series going through The X-Files’s conspiracy episodes. Follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook for more news.
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Episode 99: Diana Ross & Scott Walker in Beach Ball
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