CommentsXp Best movie ever!

ChicRawIdol A brilliant film that helped define a genre

Gutsycurene Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

Usamah Harvey The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Python Hyena Gidget (1959): Dir: Paul Wendkos / Cast: Sandra Dee, James Darren, Cliff Robertson, Yvonne Craig, Arthur O'Connell: High spirited surfer comedy about innocence in that Gidget is all about fun and enjoying life. She and her parents are vacationing and she hits the beaches only to be singled out for her sexuality. She slowly learns to surf but becomes caught between two males. One is much older than she is and other she uses to make the former jealous. Simple plot but develops nicely with fine direction by Paul Wendkos who started a new genre of surfer films and teenage beach films aimed at younger viewers. Sandra Dee holds the film together with her innocence. She is the apple in the eye of her parents but candy to the eye of hormonal males. James Darren plays Moondoggie, the male whom she is trying to obtain but who plays hard to get. To say that they eventually connect is an understatement but the film isn't dumb fluff. Cliff Robertson plays the leader of a surfer gang whom becomes Gidget's opportunity for attention. She attempts unsuccessfully to use this for greater gain against Moondoggie. Yvonne Craig also graces with her appearance although stealing attention away from Gidget is a task of its own. Finally there is Gidget's parents who are bewildered constantly with their daughter. Somewhat daring film about adolescence and that urge to be someone with somebody. Score: 8 / 10

Armand sun, beach, surfing, love, wise advices, easy naive story. the spirit of pop culture from '' 60 and nothing more. the charming James Darren, the profound Cliff Robertson, the innocence of Sandra Dee 's character and few footage are pillars of a comedy not different by many other from period, mixture of romanticism, nice music and children - parents relation. a film who say almost nothing to the viewer of present but remains interesting for the spirit and sensitivity of a public. because it has all ingredients and spices for real success at the beginning of ''60's. a summer story who could be good example for a kind of America. nothing complicated, nothing serious. only a teenager story. and the classical end.

CitizenCaine Gidget was noteworthy for being one of the first beach/surf movies. Sandra Dee is perfect as the original Gidget, a teenager trying to sort out her feelings about boys and being popular during the summer between her junior and senior years in high school. Dee exudes beauty, charm, determination, energy, and innocence as the peppy Gidget. James Darren is Moondoggie, the spoiled college beach bum who idolizes the carefree surfer's lifestyle illustrated by the big kahuna played by Cliff Robertson. Robertson hardly stretches his range as the big kahuna, a mentor to Gidget and the rest of the surfers.Mary Laroche and Arthur O'Connell play Gidget's parents as strictly from squares-ville. O'Connell especially fits the mold of a typically overreacting parent, circa 1959, chasing after Gidget one night when he discovers that Gidget might be alone with a man, gasp! Laroche is more reserved and proper as Gidget's mother who dispenses no shortage of homespun advice about being a teenage girl to Gidget. Gidget's girlfriends play a much smaller role in this film than in the sequels that followed. There is also less music and dancing in this original version than in the films that follow it.As the summer draws to a close, Moondoggie and the big kahuna face some tough decisions regarding their futures, and Gidget inadvertently plays a role in influencing both of them. The film balances the fun and innocence of being 1950's teenagers with the larger message of being responsible and patient about one's future. Although Moondoggie initially rescues Gidget from getting caught in some kelp, the film does a good job of making Gidget a well-rounded person instead of just another helpless female waiting to be rescued by her male co-star throughout the picture. Doug McClure and Tom Laughlin have bit roles as fellow surfer bums. The film was followed by two theatrical sequels, a television series, a few more made for television movies, and still another brief series in the mid 1980's. **1/2 of 4 stars.

natalierosen I LOVE watching these films of the 1950's which say so much. Well, they say so much about the 1950's. What a ridiculous bunch of substantively nothing some of these films were. The plots are so thin as are the women. I think when one looks at these films ... really looks at them ... one can see why there had to be a feminist movement. All the clichés apply. The women surely do not seem to have a brain in their head.In this film Gidget's friends simply do not know what on earth will happen to poor Gidget if she doesn't have a successful summer which means getting a steady boyfriend. She cannot even return to school if that doesn't happen. Gidget, well, she just ruminates and hand wrings wondering why oh why she just does not have the right stuff. Maybe there is something "wrong" with her that she simply does not care about men. She's such a cutsey tomboy. Uh oh..Nope, not to worry, gay an not an issue. Gay is an impossibility in that era and not even eluded to even though one of her friends seems ever so lesbian to me. Worry not though, her friend who helps her dress for the loowow and listens while Gidget worries about men but says nothing, is pinned, to a guy of course. Gidget's mother reassuringly stands by and tells her everything is AOK and she will know that man when she meets him. Whew, I was SO worried.We know, all's well that ends well and Gidget does finally get a man and of course remains virginal to boot. She realizes there is nothing "wrong" with her at all. She simply did not meet the "right" one. Thank God. She's saved. How could this ever-so bleached blond not meet anyone with those platinum looks and pancake makeup whiter than white skin? One could never take her for a black woman that's for sure. Of course in the 50's there were no blacks right? Did anyone of that era really have hair and skin that color? If one cared to notice her eyebrows were brown! No one notices as blond and white especially women are what America in the 50's wants everyone to be.What was that character all about? If one expects a discussion of War and Peace, Dickens, Steinbeck or even Louisa May Alcott forget it. How about a discussion of James Baldwin, Alan Ginsberg or Lenny Bruce? No way. Will she talk about Jim Crow laws in the south, the Plessy v. Fergusson decision or American foreign policy post WWII? I don't think so. Gidget is about worrying though. It is worrying about learning how to surf, attending loowows in the right clothes, hunky guys and Gidget's lack of attraction to men err lack of attraction to the RIGHT man. Serious stuff.Perhaps, the film is about innocence. Innocence though without some reality is simply trash. That is what the Gidget films are. They are pure and simply ridiculous trash. Sandra Dee had talent however as movies such as "Imitation of Life" and "A Summer Place" attest. It's too bad her talent was wasted on that genre of film. Obviously those films made money and THAT was what Gidget was all about.Oh well, I will admit watching those films is like taking a drink. It's utter escape into a life of pure fantasy and into the innocent life of a 1950's that really never was all that innocent if one was black, female, disabled or, certainly, heaven forbid homosexual. Nope Gidget was surely not reality. For a moment, though, when I watch it, I step away from the sadness and vicissitudes of life as it is.