Beach Party (1963) was the first of the Beach Party films, aimed at a teen audience. It was directed by William Asher and written by Lou Rusoff. The main actors included Robert Cummings, Dorothy Malone, Frankie Avalon, and Annette Funicello.

There are arguably two surf movie genres. The first type would be the sporting documentary pioneered by Bud Browne (e.g. Hawaiian Holiday) in the 1940s and early 1950s, later popularized by Bruce Brown (e.g. The Endless Summer) in the late 1950s and early 1960s, then later perfected by Greg MacGillivray and Jim Freeman (e.g. Five Summer Stories) in the 1970s and beyond.

The second type would be the campy entertainment feature, also termed "beach party films" or "surfploitation flicks" by true surfers, having little to do with the authentic sport and culture of surfing and representing movies that attempted to cash in on the growing popularity of surfing among youth in the early 1960s, pioneered by the Gidget series.

A fun day at the beach. While Mickey, Horace, and Clarabelle go swimming, or try to, Minnie lays out a picnic. Pluto discovers why you shouldn't chase a crab. Everyone digs in to lunch. Mickey throws Pluto a string of sausages; he dives after them, and comes up with an angry octopus instead, who crashes into the picnic. Everyone fights the octopus, and Mickey finally manages to send it out to sea by throwing an anchor like a lasso. Written by Jon Reeves

The first of the five official American-International "Beach Party" movies, all directed by William Asher and all very popular. Anthropology Professor Robert Orwell Sutwell (Bob Cummings) and his secretary Marianne (Dorothy Malone) are studying the sex habits of teenagers. The surfing teens led by Frankie and Dee Dee (Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello) don't have much sex but they sing, battle the motorcycle rats and mice led by Eric Von Zipper (Harvey Lembeck) and dance to Dick Dale and the Del Tones. Look for Vincent Price in a surprise cameo. Written by alfiehitchie