Alicia
I love this movie so much
AniInterview
Sorry, this movie sucks
Keeley Coleman
The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;
Edgar Soberon Torchia
I prefer films that are not good and do not pretend to be anything else, than many overblown pretentious productions financed by big companies that try to pass for more than what they really are: little bad motion pictures in disguise, behind big names, expensive sets, costumes and make-up. "Operation Bikini" does not pretend to be anything else than a routine, low- budget war programmer made by American International Pictures, with some actors who once were in better vehicles (Scott Brady, Tab Hunter, Gary Crosby), new talent used in AIP productions that would fare much better in later "beach party" movies (Frankie Avalon, Jody McCrea), reliable professionals as Michael Dante and even Jim Backus, plus an Hungarian "Miss Whatever" (Eva Six, playing a Japanese woman) and a bunch of California blondes to spice things up a bit, and a map of Mexico passing for some location on the Asian Pacific. Do not expect much from this, it is certainly not good, so just take it for what it is. Now, it sure did help to have a film editor as director, for Anthony Carras really did wonders combining the scenes he shot with stock footage of war action. Proceed at your own risk, but believe me: there are really worst things than this pretending to be "masterpieces".
ombligo
Where to start -- a singing war movie? well they do have FrankieAvelon, so why not.Thurston Howell III as a Navy Chief? That's Jim Backus playing the tough guy.The Wrong Sub... The target of the UDT is the Grayfish, SS-342. Except the SS342 was the Beleo class sub The Chopper. It never served in the Second World War (although commissioned during it) and was on active duty when the movie was made.The Grayfish was also the star of perhaps the best WW2 Submarine movie ever made - Torpedo Run (made only five years before this stinker). In reality there never was a USS GrayfishI could go on but what's the point.
nightwatch01
I agree pretty much with what everyone else wrote, so I won't reiterate the confusion, sadness and astonishment this movie subjected me to but I'm certainly relieved that other people seem to share my impression of the movie.But I am curious if anyone else agrees with me that the voice-over narration at the end (while the girls in bikinis are prancing around) sounds like a young William Shatner?Another thing that has me a little confused is why the Underwater Demolition Team ("UDT") that Tab Hunter's character was in charge of was a USMC unit, as opposed to a Navy UDT (precursor to SEALs, which didn't come around until the 1960s).
David Edward Martin
Out of mild curiosity and boredom, I just watched OPERATION BIKINI. I'm still trying to get my brain back to semi-rational thought after seeing this train wreck. All I can think is-- the producers had a bunch of stock WW2 footage and a few rooms of a borrowed submarine set. Then they threw in a bunch of folks they had under contract. What the heck is Jim Backus doing in this thing????? The man was already a well-known character actor, from tragic roles like the father in REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE to the voice of MISTER MAGOO. For no apparent reason he's a member of the UDT team that also has Tab Hunter and Franky Avalon; I'm guessing he's the naval equivalent of a sergeant, as Hunter's character is in charge but Backus seems to be the one who runs the squad. That is, when he actually has any lines. Mostly he just stands there. In fact, much of the cast just stands there. It's like the producers only had a budget for a very limited amount of dialogue and figured that if the actors simply stood there and filled the frame, that would count as acting. Scott Brady had never been a major player but, like Backus, he seems to have come in for a few days work and a paycheck. Gary Crosby was trying to make a go of it, playing off his derelict father's name and the family resemblance. Like Backus, he also mostly stands there.Oh, man.... this film is just so very wrong in so many ways..... It's like a bunch of students trying to perform a high school production of UP PERISCOPE and then they decide to rewrite the second act!And worst of all, the producers destroyed what little merit the film might have had. As it looked on paper, the film would have been a modest sub adventure, suitable for a double bill. But then they added Frankie Avalon and decided to give him musical numbers! AND THEY WERE IN COLOR!!!!!! The rest of the movie is in black and white and all of a sudden along comes this bizarre COLOR musical interlude?!?!?!?!?!? And 20 minutes later, HERE IT COMES AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!Frankie Avalon also had a gratuitous musical number in his other 1963 sub adventure, VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA, but at least there it made sense!Oh, and for a final totally unrelated finale, the film ends with COLOR footage of two 1963 starlets in bikinis playing on a beach while the credits roll. Looking at that made me realize how little the producers thought of the film. OPERATION BIKINI is not a good film-- hell, it's barely adequate!-- but the color sequences show a mindset of cynical desperation or Ed-Wood-level incompetence.
