BYE BYE BIRDIE

(1963, George Sidney) Singing the title song pre-credits, An Margaret stalks Sidney’s ever-retreating camera, as Jesse Pearson’s “Conrad Birdie” (Elvis, maybe?) prepares for army induction – but there’s time for “One Last Kiss,” thanks to songwriter Dick Van Dyke and ever-loving secretary Janet Leigh – maybe even, on “Ed Sullivan!” Wonderfully garish Scope adaptation of the Broadway smash.

REVIEWS

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"It’s the Mad magazine aesthetic that is key to the movie’s pleasures. A particular highlight: After Army-drafted rocker Conrad Birdie performs his hip-thrusting, fainting-masses introductory number, director George Sidney orchestrates a deadpan brilliant re-creation of the wounded-soldiers crane shot from Gone with the Wind... Paul Lynde's extraordinary mincing-queen act as the McAfee patriarch all but shatters traditionalist notions of family, even if only in retrospect."
– Keith Uhlich, Time Out New York

"One of the more unsung '60s musicals. A big, splashy, Broadway-derived mix of boisterous rock'n'roll satire and breezy showbiz formulas... Notable for its peppy score, energetic dancing, and for having made a star of the extremely nubile Ann-Margaret, 22 passing for 16. Her fresh, wholesome eroticism fairly bursts off the screen."
– Time Out (London)