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Bye Bye Birdie | Year: 1963 Classification: Musical Directed: - George Sidney Actors/Actresses: - Dick Van Dyke - Janet Leigh Satire, Sex, The Cold War...And Rock & Roll! This movie is an excellent time-capsule for the end of the late '50's/early'60's rock n' roll era. (It came out in 1963, just a few months before the Beatles hit our shores & changed everything forever.) It's got everything: An Elvis-like rock n' roll sex-machine on a motorcycle, check! Cold War political satire, check! A spoof of middle-class American values, check! Young, gorgeous Ann-Marget, check & check again! I was born too late to experience this time period & I haven't actually seen the Broadway original from 1960 with Chita Rivera in the Janet Leigh role. But this movie is a fast-paced, witty musical-comedy. I know the 1995 version sticks closer to the original story, but I think that version plays too much into the whole "nostalgia"-thing....an element that was NOT a part of any show actually made back then. That version was also slow & not very funny. This version is great! A lot has been said about the music, but the comedy hasn't got much attention. The humor manages to be suggestive without being vulgar. It's kind of like reading an old issue of MAD Magazine, but this is acted out! If you want laughs every second, great songs & great dancing, as well as a humorous glimpse as to what American attitudes were like back then, then this 1963 version is for you! It's "Honestly Sincere!" Birdie Num Num I am a "Bye Bye Birdie" convert. I never thought I'd watch this movie. I figured it was campy schlock, something I couldn't possibly enjoy. My boyfriend loves "Bye Bye Birdie," though, so I bought this DVD for him and *gasp* agreed to watch it with him one afternoon. I was bracing myself for a cheesy, white, Christian, Republican, Lawrence Welk house of horrors, but 10 minutes into it, I discovered that I was completely wrong. It's a hilarious time capsule of 1960's middle-class America. The story is adorable, as is Ann-Margret. The songs are fun and extremely catchy. The entire cast is excellent, the score is great, and the dance numbers rock. I only wish the DVD had more extras, hence the subtraction of a star. Despite the lack of extra goodies, I'll be watching this one a lot with my boyfriend and anyone else I can convince to watch it. Frothy Musical Fun from a Simpler America Bye Bye Birdie is a delicious slice of musical Americana from a seemingly far less complicated era - the early 1960's. Based on a hit Broadway musical, the story concerns the national upheaval occasioned by the drafting into the army of an Elvis-Presley type rock and roll star, Conrad Birdie. The film is a good-natured parody of rock and roll, publicity gimmicks, live television, the generation gap, and the teenage culture of the 1950's. This is the movie that made Ann Margret a star, and it does so quite brilliantly. The stage show was completely rewritten to showcase her in the comely role of Kim McAfee, the lucky Ohio teenager who gets to bestow a symbolic farewell kiss on Conrad Birdie as he departs for the service. Paul Lynde, (later familiar to TV audiences from his long, humorous reign in the Center Square on The Hollywood Squares) repeats his Broadway role as Kim's exasperated father and gets to immortalize his lament in the hilarious song "Kids"! Dick Van Dyke also reprises his Broadway role, charmingly paired with the versatile, often underrated, Janet Leigh. The film is colorful and cinematically innovative, the tuneful score well delivered by an able cast including teenie bopper idol Bobby Rydell. All in all, fun for the whole family, and viewed today, an enjoyable "period piece". (Incidentally, Conrad Birdie, for all his resemblance to Elvis Presley, seems to have been more closely modeled on the one-time rock and roller Conway Twitty, who later became a popular Country star). They don't make 'em like this anymore! No-strings cinematic fun! END Buy Bye Bye Birdie at Amazon.com Buy posters at Allposters.com Jamster - the latest ringtones for your phone!  Search with Walhello on the Internet on Bye Bye Birdie Search with the Priority Search Engine on Bye Bye Birdie This page in other languages: Suomeksi | Nederlands | Deutsch
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