CrawlerChunky
In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.
Nayan Gough
A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.
Erica Derrick
By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.
michelerv1
I adored this movie when I first watched it as a young thirteen year old on TV when it premiered. I've always loved Karen Valentine ever since I first spotted her on Room 222. What a wonderful movie and step back in time. I have also been trying to find Gidget Goes Hawaiian on the Internet for years, but to no avail. They never show that one anymore. *Sigh* For anyone who Loved the Gidget movies, you are going to LOVE this one. Karen V, Paul L, and Paul P were the absolute BEST! It is great to see Gidget doing something other than surfing and hanging out at the beach. And as much as I have always loved Gidget and Moondoggie as a couple, it was also nice to see her not pining over him this time. I guess she really did "Grow Up!" I Loved It! Thank you for uploading this wonderful movie...
Kenneth Anderson
Fond nostalgia can do only so much for making this cheese-fest TV movie watchable beyond the odd giggle at the expense of the script, fashions and "performances" in this surprisingly laugh-free entry in the creaky Gidget franchise that began back in 1959.A blender mix of "That Girl" and "Love American Style," "Gidget Grows Up" finds the former beach-bunny, father-fixated Gidget Lawrence (Karen Valentine- all wide eyes and Cinemascope grin) moving to New York to make the world a better place and recover from her tiresome on-again-off-again romance with steady beau Moondoggie (Paul Petersen)…not necessarily in that order.Befitting the timbre of the times, the heretofore famously self-interested teen is now a bleeding-heart tree hugger type complete with roommates that are a virtual Benetton ad of diversity (unfortunately, all are stricken with a serious case of the cutes).The plot, such as it is swerves on its predictable path with hints thrown that little Gidget actually gets deflowered by an older gentlemen (there is much talk about "reaching out" and so many montages that one can do what one will with the inferences and fade outs. To my jaundiced eye, this was 60s TV's way of saying that Gidget REALLY grew up).Desperately in need of a laugh track, "Gidget Grows Up" only really comes alive for the brief moments that Paul Lynde (as the "eccentric" bachelor landlord) is on screen. To pad out time to the inevitable final clinch, we have to watch like a million scenes of Valentine walking thoughtfully through Manhattan while listening to endless variations on a really awful theme song ("Growing up and falling down a lot…" Oh, brother!).A must for Karen Valentine fans (who developed into quite an actress…later) and those who like to relive their pasts, but otherwise not much here beyond camp value.
thatcameraguy
Loosely adapted from Frederick Kohner's novel "Gidget Goes New York", This 1969 ABC MOW is remarkable principally for two standout performances: Karen Valentine is excellent as Gidget (of the seven women who have portrayed her in cinema and TV, I rank her second only to Sally Field), and Paul Lynde is hilarious as Louis B. Latimer, Gidget's eccentric and narcissistic landlord. Paul Peterson is alright as Jeff (though sometimes boring), and Robert Cummings is a bit flat as Russ Lawrence. Edward Mulhare seems to think he's in a 1960's soap opera. There are some truly beautiful performances in the smaller parts: Nina Fochs, for example, is magnificent as Mrs.Crosby, Gidget's job trainer (shades of Miss Jean Brodie), and the two girls who play Gidget's roommates are delightful and lovable. The plot is lame, and moves slowly, but Valentine and Lynde do a good job of buoying it. No mention is made of Gidget's mother or sister, perhaps in an attempt to fudge continuity with both the Hollywood movies (no sister Anne) and the 60's sitcom (mother deceased).Gidget fans will enjoy "Gidget Grows Up", but for anyone else it is a slightly above average MOW.
moonspinner55
Another incarnation of Frederick Kohner's enduring "Gidget" character, here a college drop-out tired of the beach (and sometime-boyfriend Jeff) who hears a speech on television from the Ambassador to the United Nations and decides she wants to lend her services. In the lead, Karen Valentine certainly had big, perky shoes to fill, and she does so amiably (though her round, perpetually-teary eyes and overly-sincere gaze makes her seem more like Mary Tyler Moore than Sally Field or Sandra Dee). Gidge gets her foot in the door after arriving in New York City and trains to become a guide at the U.N., dating an older chair member from Australia while rooming with a black girl from Uganda and an Asian girl from the States. It's very neat and tidy, with general asides to the upheaval in our political world circa 1969. There's good location work, including some window browsing at Tiffany and Co., but all of the indoor scenes were obviously filmed on sets (several of which look suspiciously like the "I Dream of Jeannie" and "Bewitched" interiors from TV). Harmless fluff, bolstered by a strong supporting cast of character actors (including Paul Lynde as a former child star still in love with Helen Twelvetrees!).
