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Line 2: [[File:Back to the Beach film poster.jpg\|frame]] {{quote\|''Twenty-five years ago, my parents were the most popular teenagers in America. It's true. My dad was a teen idol. Girls threw themselves at him. Unfortunately, this was 1962 and he had to throw them back. When Dad wasn't singing he spent his ~~time~~life on a surfboard. They called him [[In-Series Nickname\|"The Big Kahuna"]]. When I was born, Dad wanted to call me "Little Kahuna". Luckily, he settled for Bobby. As for Mom, she joined that ~~stupid~~strange cult ~~club~~ called [[The Mickey Mouse Club\|the Mouseketeers]]. She became the first pin-up queen for boys under 12. Anyhow, they got married and moved to Ohio right after the accident. Don't get him started on the surf accident. WeAround our house we have this nightly ritual, it's called "dinner, and then the accident story". Let me spare you this. Twenty years ago while surfing this humongous wave knocked the Kahuna right out of Dad, and he's never been the same since.''\|'''Bobby''', opening lines of the film.}} ''[[Back to the Beach]]'' is a 1987 comedy film with musical numbers, starring [[Frankie Avalon]] and [[Annette Funicello]]. The film is an open parody of the beach party movies made popular in the 1960s, especially those in which Avalon and Funicello had appeared. The plot is merely the means of connecting the various [[Sight Gag]]s, [[Homage]]s and [[In-Joke]]s. And all the character names are taken from those earlier films. Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello are husband and wife living in Ohio --, far from the surf and sand of their earlier lives together. Frankie is a stressed-out car salesman and former "Big Kahuna" of the surf scene in California while Annette bottles her own sense of angst up in a bevy of shopping. They have two children --: a college-aged daughter named Sandi who is living in California, and Bobby, their early teen son, who is in the throes of rebellion against his seemingly square folks. The film's plot essentially launches when, on their way to a vacation in Hawaii, Frankie and Annette make a stopover in California to visit Sandi. They are appalled to learn that she has been seeing, and living with, [[Surfer Dude]] Michael throughout her time there. The family misses their flight to Hawaii, and ultimately end up staying in California, much to the chagrin of Frankie. Frankie and Annette get caught up with the lives of their old friends and their old beach, and thus their last beach adventure begins. Along the way, Frankie must work together with a new generation of younger surfers while nearly ruining his marriage by dallying with [[Connie Stevens]] --, an old acquaintance who turns out to be Michael's mother. Meanwhile, Bobby abandons his parents to side with the punks threatening the beach. Frankie and Annette encounter old friends and enemies and wend their way through a veritable labyrinth of [[Shout-Out]]s to and [[Cameo]]s from the 1960s. In the end "The Big Kahuna" overcomes his fears and proves that he is still the king of surfers, as he takes back his title, saves the beach from the punks, and even earns the respect of his son. Not to be confused with ''[[On the Beach]]''. {{tropelist}} * [[Actor Allusion]]: Dozens, maybe hundreds of then. This film is built on a firm foundation of actor allusions and [[Shout-Out]]s. * [[As Himself]]: [[Dick Dale]], [[Stevie Ray Vaughn]], [[Fishbone]] and [[Pee-wee Herman]]. ** Bobby's initial monologue (see page quote) flat out states that his parents are the celebrities who are playing them. * [[Big Lipped Alligator Moment]]: [[Pee-wee Herman]] sweeping onto the beach, singing "Surfing Bird", and then flying away on a surfboard afterward.▼ * [[Chroma Key]]: Knowingly used in imitation of the original beach films' "surfing" footage; lampshaded when someone comments on how Annette made it all the way back to shore without getting her bathing suit or her hair wet. * [[Crowd Song]]: Some of the musical numbers turn into this. Line 33 ⟶ 35: * [[No Fourth Wall]]: Bobby's narration is explicitly given to the camera/audience. * [[No Name Given]]/[[Only Known by Their Nickname]]: Frankie Avalon's character is never given a name. He is only ever called by his nickname, "The Big Kahuna", and [[Credits Gag\|the credits list him as "Annette's Husband"]]. ▲* [[~~Big~~Non ~~Lipped~~Sequitur ~~Alligator Moment~~Scene]]: [[Pee-wee Herman]] sweeping onto the beach, singing "Surfing Bird", and then flying away on a surfboard afterward. * [[Noodle Incident]]: Subverted and played with with "the surf accident". * [[Nostalgia Filter]]: Definitely in play with Frankie and Annette's attempts to recreate the good old days. Line 48 ⟶ 51: * [[Surf Rock]]: Absolutely unavoidable in this film, especially since the patron saint of surf rock, [[Dick Dale]], does an entire number with Frankie. * [[Surfer Dude]]: Frankie is Ye Originale Surfer Dude, and naturally the rest of the cast is lousy with them. * [[Tastes Like Diabetes]]: Frankie's unending stream of overly cute endearments for his daughter, which is bad enough to cause mass vomiting [[In-Universe]]. * [[Totally Radical]]: Some of the current surfer types come across this way. ** Deliberately invoked by [[Pee-wee Herman]] during his performance of "Surfing Bird". Line 59 ⟶ 63: [[Category:Films of the 1980s]] [[Category:Comedy]] [[Category:The Musical]] [[Category:Pee-wee Herman]] [[Category:Beach ~~party~~Party ~~films~~Films]] [[Category:Surfing films]] [[Category:Pages Original to All The Tropes]] [[Category:Pages with working Wikipedia tabs]]