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As Good As It Gets

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

RELEASED IN 1959 and directed by Paul Wendkos, "Gidget" is a beach drama about a 16 year-old tomboyish girl (Sandra Dee) who gravitates toward a group of surfing males in Southern Cal, specifically Malibu. Kahuna (Cliff Robertson), a surf "bum" and leader of the group, becomes her figurative big brother as she tries to attract the attentions of Kahuna's mentee, Moondoggie (James Darren).The film is iconic and influential, leading to two sequels and a TV series, not to mention scores of 60's beach flicks, most inferior because they lack the depth and went the zany route. Dee was only 16 during shooting, but seemed more mature than her years and is remarkably strong as the petite protagonist. She's a combo of youthful energy, honesty and unexpected insight & understanding. The film scores high marks in the female department in general with curvy Yvonne Craig (aka Batgirl) notable in the first act, but there are several others in the periphery.The movie's iconic because it's about way more than girl-meets-boy frolics, although there's some of that. For instance, Kahuna says "Who says so?" in response to how we 'have' to live our lives. Later, he recognizes "everything has a price" or, put differently, everything has a tradeoff. He desperately seeks total freedom, but realizes it doesn't really exist in our present world, but he instinctively seeks it. His epiphany leads to an important decision.Then there's Moondoggie who admires Kahuna and intends on following in his footsteps as an alternative to his staunch father's more conventional path to status. Yet it's still about status for Moondoggie and not a lifestyle choice for its own sake, as it supposedly is with Kahuna.What happens to Flyboy (the pet bird) sets up a weighty conversation between Kahuna and Gidget, which offers insights about Kahuna's past, including his time in the Korean War and how it affected him. Perhaps he was working out a case of PTSD. Five years of dropping out of mainstream life and living on the beach was what he needed to get it out of his system and, by the end of the movie, he seems back for the attack. Steve Jobs, founder of Apple computers, had a chapter in his life of living on the street and doing drugs, asking the big questions, etc. He now says it was an instrumental part of his life.Even the whole Kahuna almost having sex with the under-aged Gidget was ballsy for 1959. Kahuna genuinely didn't intend to, and actually wanted to teach Gidge a lesson, but he wasn't above doing it since he was a little drunk and she was sorta insisting. Shortly later, Moondoggie reprimands Kahuna for it.THE MOVIE RUNS 1 hour, 35 minutes and was shot in Leo Carrillo State Beach, Malibu, California. WRITERS: Frederick Kohner (novel) and Gabrielle Upton (screenplay).GRADE: A-

This was definitely Sandra Dee's signature movie, and as a teen-age boy growing up in the sixties I was really taken with her. (Of course, I was not an aberration.) I saw this movie for the first time in the summer of 1959. I liked the beautiful California beach scenery, and the Four Preps music, and I was reasonably impressed with the acting. The cast was well-chosen. The cuddlesome-looking Sandra Dee was drawing, but she did not receive as much acclaim, as an actress. as she deserved; she was not only a cute bumess, but that little girl was strong-willed and outspoken in this movie. James Darren was a sharp-looking actor and singer, but his character was disgusting, since he was a bitter teen-ager with a big chip on his shoulder. If Arthur O'Connell was supposed to be serious in this movie, he did not do a good job of it as he played the role of Gidget's laughable high-strung father. Mary LaRoche was a beautiful, appealing lady who was wonderful as Gidget's mother. Jo Morrow, beautiful California beach scenery herself, was drawing in her minor role. Tom Laughlin, here about a dozen years before his "Billy Jack" days, seemed to click well with Dee in what was here his minor role. The story was more than what it appeared to be initially on the surface. It was about a teen-age girl who was at a crucial age, namely 16, and thus was in an identity crisis, and it was also about a girl who was, again, strong-willed as well. This movie was also a character study: she was infatuated with Mahuna, (Robertson)- an ex-Korean War vet in his middle thirties who lived only to surf and stay on the beach in a small hut there-, but she also was very up-front when she intonated to him that that was no way for him, nor anyone else, to live, and she thus had a pressing effect on him. (Only recently when I saw the movie on a DVD did I really notice the more serious aspect of the story.) Again, Sandra Dee was as cute as cute could be, but the movie did have a serious side. For more than one reason is it worth the time to see it.

Gidget, er, Frances Lawrence (Sandra Dee) is a teenage girl who is not yet into boy chasing. This leaves her closest friends miffed, because they want to charm the young men and Frances ends up spoiling the scene. So, the other gals run off and begin the hunt, leaving Frances to find her own fun. She does, at the beach, when a handsome surfer, Moondoggie, er, Jeff (James Darren), rescues her when she gets caught in some seaweed. From the moment she hitches a small ride on Moondoggie's surfboard, Frances wants to learn surfing. The "board" gang, several young males and their leader, Kahuna (Cliff Robertson) try to discourage her in every way. But, learn she does and quickly. Soon, she's almost one of the group, getting the nickname Gidget, for girl-and-midget. Also, Gidget soon finds herself falling for Moondoggie but he treats her like a little sister. How can she make him take her seriously? What if she goes after a more mature male, like Kahuna? This classic teenage film is welcome any and every day of the week, summer, winter, spring or fall. Dee and Darren are a great couple and the supporting cast, including Robertson, are great. So is the scenery, costumes, and everything else. Get Gidget. End of Discussion, haha.

I remember enjoying this movie when I saw it years ago on TV, so I decided to rent it on DVD, but it didn't register as well this time around. I believe this is the film that made Sandra Dee a big star, but her lack of acting skill really grated on me several times, especially when she was supposed to be bubbling over with enthusiasm, though several people here (not to mention contemporary fans) obviously thought she did a great job. On the other hand, she really was cute as a button, and the right age for her role (17), or perhaps even 2 years younger, if it's true about her birth date being falsified. I was surprised that Gidget's parents would be so concerned about her date not coming to her home to pick her up, but had no problem with their daughter spending all day, every day with an older, all-male crowd whom they never met! As for the movie itself, the obviously fake surfing shots annoyed me, and Gidget's first near-drowning made me think of the saying "When you're really drowning, you don't make much noise, because there's too much water coming in". I would have been more impressed with Moondoggie if he'd noticed something was wrong without a lot of fuss! Anyway, this film does have a bit more substance than some of the other "teen" movies of the time, and it's a pleasant way to spend 95 minutes.