Gidget (film)

Plot

Francine Lawrence, a teenager going on 17, enjoys the summer break before her senior year. She detests man-hunting with her girlfriends, but how else can she socialize? During one such visit to the beach with her "well-developed" girlfriends, flat-chested tomboy Francine meets surfer Moondoggie. She quickly becomes infatuated, but he shows no interest. Thus early on, Francine becomes more attracted to surfing than man-hunting. At home, Francine's parents advance her $21.50 for a used surfboard. She returns to the beach to surf, and the all-male surfing crowd adopt her as a mascot. They dub her "Gidget", a combination of "girl" and "midget".

The surfer gang is led by the worldly beach bum, The Big Kahuna. He is a thirty-something veteran Korean War jet pilot who has dropped out of society. He travels the globe surfing, with a pet bird, Flyboy, as his only companion. Moondoggie, son of a successful businessman, idolizes Kahuna; he wishes to emulate his hero's surf-bum lifestyle, instead of obeying the wishes of his father that he attend university. Kahuna and Gidget enjoy each other's company, but she questions how he can survive an aimless, lonely existence. Kahuna later reflects on Gidget's doubts after the tragic death of Flyboy.

One evening, hoping to make Moondoggie jealous, Gidget hires another surfer to be her date at a big luau. But her plan backfires, and she winds up with Moondoggie anyway. The date goes better than expected, and Moondoggie begins to see her as more than a mascot. Yet still hoping to make him jealous, Gidget tells him she's really after Kahuna. Moondoggie reacts badly, and Gidget flees the luau. On the road, she spots Kahuna and agrees to drive him to a nearby beach house. Alone, Gidget asks Kahuna to take her virginity. At first amused, Kahuna goes along, but finds himself falling for her straightforward innocence. Angry with himself for what almost happened, Kahuna throws her out just as Moondoggie arrives. Gidget is mortified but escapes the house undetected. Moondoggie and Kahuna then fight over Gidget. The cops are summoned and the fight is broken up.

Afterwards, the two combatants leave the beach house together and find Gidget stranded with a flat tire and without her driver's license. Once again, police are summoned. Gidget's father, having heard of the incident, decides to take control and orders her out of the surfing scene. Furthermore, he sets her up on a blind date with Jeffrey Matthews, the son of a business associate. She grudgingly accepts. To her surprise, Matthews turns out to be Moondoggie. The two return to the beach to find Kahuna tearing down his shack. They further discover he has taken a job as an airline pilot. Moondoggie and Gidget realize their affection for each other and, as an act of romantic devotion, Moondoggie asks Gidget to wear his class pin. Before leaving, Kahuna cheerfully warns Moondoggie that Gidget might be small but she's quite a woman.

Cast

• Sandra Dee as Francine "Gidget" Lawrence
• Cliff Robertson as Burt "The Big Kahuna" Vail
• James Darren as Jeffrey "Moondoggie" Matthews
• Arthur O'Connell as Russell Lawrence
• The Four Preps as Band at Beach
• Mary LaRoche as Dorothy Lawrence
• Joby Baker as Stinky
• Tom Laughlin as Lover Boy
• Sue George as Betty "B. L." Louise
• Robert Ellis as Hot Shot
• Jo Morrow as Mary Lou
• Yvonne Craig as Nan
• Patti Kane as Patti
• Doug McClure as Waikiki
• Burt Metcalfe as Lord Byron

Cast notes:

• The studio wanted Elvis Presley to play the role of Moondoggie, but he was in the United States Army at the time.
• Malibu surfers Miki Dora and Mickey Munoz appear in the surfing scenes.

Production

The film was shot in just 26 days during June–July 1958 at Leo Carrillo State Park and Columbia Pictures Studios. Sandra Dee originally was going to film the sequel Gidget Goes Hawaiian but didn't. Rose Marie Reid designed all of the women's swimsuits in the film.

Reception

Contemporary domestic reviews

Howard Thompson wrote in the New York Times of April 23, 1959, "[The film] is enough to make anybody leave one of the neighborhood theatres, where it opened yesterday, and light out for Long Island Sound. Pictorially, this mild little Columbia frolic, about a teen-age girl with boy trouble, seems an ideal way to usher in the beach season." He praised performers Dee, Robertson, and La Roche. A self-proclaimed "Screen Scout" for the San Francisco Examiner wrote that "the studio should have released it for the birds. Even Sandra Dee, cute as she is, couldn't save this one."{{cite news | access-date = November 12, 2023 | access-date = November 12, 2023 | access-date = November 12, 2023 | access-date = November 12, 2023 | access-date = November 12, 2023 | access-date = November 12, 2023 | access-date = November 12, 2023 | access-date = November 12, 2023 | access-date = November 12, 2023 | access-date = November 12, 2023 | access-date = November 12, 2023 | access-date = November 12, 2023

Contemporary international reviews

The film received generally negative reviews in other continents. Campbell Dixon stated, in The Daily Telegraph that Swedish director Ingmar Bergman's Journey Into Autumn, "which will corrupt nobody's morals, has an 'X' certificate. Gidget, a moronic story for teenagers about a girl suffering from sex in the head, is 'U', presumably because she is only 16 and, if she does succeed in getting herself seduced after long and patient effort, it will be all in girlish fun. Am I alone in finding these values a little odd?"{{cite news | access-date = November 12, 2023 | access-date = November 12, 2023 | access-date = November 12, 2023 | access-date = November 12, 2023 | access-date = November 12, 2023

By the end of summer, the bells have pealed and Gidget is wearing her fraternity pin which should keep her happy until next year, when, no doubt, we will be subjected to The Return of Gidget.{{cite news | access-date = November 12, 2023

Retrospective reviews

Craig Butler in Allmovie notes, "Although the very title prompts snorts of derision from many, Gidget is actually not a bad little teenaged flick from the '50s. Great art it definitely isn't, but as frivolous, lighthearted entertainment, it more than fits the bill. Those who know it only by reputation will probably be surprised to find that it does attempt to deal with the problems of life as seen by a teenager—and that, while some of those attempts are silly, many of them come off quite well. It also paints a very convincing picture of the beach-bum lifestyle, much more so than the Frankie Avalon–Annette Funicello beach party movies."

Awards and nominations

The film received a 1960 Golden Laurel Award nomination for Top Female Comedy Performance for actress Sandra Dee.

References

References

1. Tom Lisanti, ''Hollywood Surf and Beach Movies: The First Wave, 1959-1969'', McFarland 2005, 29
2. "1959: Probable Domestic Take", ''Variety'', 6 January 1960 p 34
3. ''[[Variety Film Reviews. Variety]]'' film review; March 18, 1959, page 6.
4. ''[[Harrison's Reports and Film Reviews. Harrison's Reports]]'' film review; March 21, 1959, page 46.
5. [http://jeffspurrier.com/Writings/gidget.pdf "A Generation of Gidgets"] {{Webarchive. link. (2016-03-03 , by Jeff Spurrier, ''The Atlantic Monthly'', April 2002 Retrieved 4 August 2009.)
6. [https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-jun-17-et-gidget17-story.html "Surfer Girl, Forever"] by Hugo Martin, ''Los Angeles Times'', June 17, 2006. Retrieved 4 August 2009.
7. (19 March 2010). "Gidget: It's the summer of 69".
8. "Gidget (1959) - Notes - TCM.com".
9. "Sandra Dee Out West: Page 2".
10. (28 August 2015). "Iconic swimsuit designer the subject of new exhibition at BYU Library". Herald Media.
11. Thompson, Howard. (1959-04-23). "Screen: Sun and Surf; 'Gidget,' the Story of a Teen-Age Girl, Opens". The New York Times.
12. [https://www.allmovie.com/movie/gidget-v19727 ''Allmovie'' review] Retrieved 15 October 2022.