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A waste of 90 minutes of my life

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Big rock star Conrad Birdie gets drafted. It's a teen crisis. Aspiring songwriter Albert Peterson (Dick Van Dyke) is desperate to have him sing his song on Ed Sullivan. In six years, he has not sold one song. He's a biochemist by schooling. His girlfriend Rosie DeLeon (Janet Leigh) convinces Ed Sullivan for a final Birdie performance where he gives a girl one final kiss. Of course, she wants Albert's song and picks Ohio fan Kim McAfee (Ann-Margret) to receive the kiss.Ann-Margret's opening song and dance is memorable. She's quite the sex kitten. This predates her work with Elvis Presley which is very prescient. It's very old Broadway musical and middle America nuclear family fare. It's almost a 50's America satire. Dick Van Dyke seems 40ish and too old for the role. While the real Ed Sullivan makes an appearance, I wonder how great would this be with Presley playing Birdie. Again it's more like a spoof which is perfectly fine. There is plenty of great songs. If there is a star in this movie, it's Ann-Margret. She outshines Janet Leigh who is structurally the female lead.

Being a a six year old boy who has a limited attention span, who also gets distracted easily with a dash of restlessness can result in natural recipe for disaster in a controlled space ,mainly a movie theater.. My older sister Donna was a huge fan of actress Ann-Margeret who was the up and coming talent of that time coupled with Bobby Rydell recording artist and heart throb of the top 40 circuit was the hook as Donna gave me the third degree by telling me to be quiet plus the list of DON'TS. Don't kick the person's chair in front of you. Don't pull your sisters braids. Don't interrupt us by going to the concession stands for candy or drinks. Don't yell out or make annoying sounds during the film and just don't touch anything! Off to the Franklin Square Cinema for an afternoon of watching an adult picture.The movie grabbed my attention right from the get go with the opening choreographed and brilliantly edited Telephone sketch entitled (Going steady) About the lovely red headed KIm MacAfee (Ann-Margaret) and Hugo Peabody (Bobby Rydell)high school boy friend. Kim won a contest to say goodbye to Conrad Birdie (Jesse Pearson)the hottest Rock and Roll star in the U.S.A.who is drafted in this man's army.Putting this contest together is Songwriter/ biochemist Albert Peterson played Dick Van Dyke and his patient girlfriend Rosie DeLeon (Janet Leigh).This contest was suggested to Ed Sullivan by Peterson. Not only will Kim represent all the young hopeful screaming teens but Conrad will perform the Song One Last Kiss written by Peterson on the ever popular Ed Sullivan Show seen by the whole country on Sunday night with that part of the show live from Sweet Apple,Ohio. At the conclusion Conrad will give a big wet kiss to the vivacious Kim under heavy objections from her father the wise cracking Harry MacAfee (Paul Lynde) and his Wife Doris (Mary LaRoche)who end up housing Peterson, Rosie and Conrad Birdie complete with jumpsuits and his motorcycle which is a great addition to the Macafee's living room. Also crashing the MacAfee Houshold if that wasn't enough,is the Mink stole clad, dour, meddling and extremely overbearing Mother Peterson played to perfection by Maureen Stapleton who throws constant guilt at her Son and Rosie plus attempted suicides for good measure like putting her head in the kitchen stove.The musical numbers just superb. The MacAfee's tolerate the mayhem because Harry is awestruck with the thought of appearing on the Ed Sullivan Show which manifests into the heavenly dream sketch as Harry and Family break into comical song.I loved all the musical numbers so much so my sister bought the soundtrack. The What's The Matter With Kids routine was another of my favorites as Paul Lynde puts his imprint all over this movie. The Camera seems to love Dick Van Dyke and Ann-Margeret as for the most part their stars shine throughout. Janet Leigh in that black wig din't seem to bother me but her agility and dance routine with the fez gang is something I'll never forget. The afternoon sped by and before I knew it Ann was singing Bye Bye Bird-hee and waved bye bye. All the "DON'TS" didn't come into play as this movie captured my imagination. Thank G-d we didn't go see Come Blow Your Horn. Great family entertainment. I only wished I'd seen the Original Broadway cast production but some things are kept unseen. I only wonder what the film would be like if Elvis Presley was in the role of Conrad?

Directed by George Sidney, with Michael Stewart's Tony Award winning play being adapted by Irving Brecher, this average Musical comedy received Oscar nominations for its Sound and Score, which includes "The Telephone Hour" and "Put on a Happy Face".It stars Janet Leigh and Dick Van Dyke (from the stage play, along with Paul Lynde) and features Ann-Margret. Maureen Stapleton, Bobby Rydell, Jesse Pearson, Lynde, Mary LaRoche, and Michael Evans (among others), and Sunday night TV variety show legend Ed Sullivan, as himself, round out the cast.Ann-Margret's breakout performance, Lynde's trademark fussiness, the aforementioned songs (the cleverly edited "telephone" sequence and Van Dyke's signature, which includes some special effects), some time capsuled innocence, and Leigh with blackened hair (trying in vane to match Chita Rivera's Broadway performance) are about the only things worth seeing, unless you love the genre.A famous rock n' roller, Pearson as Conrad Birdie, who makes teenage girls swoon like Elvis, is drafted, causing these High Schoolers to march on Washington, D.C. to make it not so, while seemingly ending Albert Peterson's (Van Dyke) career as a struggling songwriter. A friend of Conrad's, Albert had written the singer's next song which was to be produced along with the debut movie for the young sensation. But Rosie DeLeon (Leigh), Albert's secretary and almost fiancée, has a winning idea - before Birdie has to enter into military service (within the next 10 days), have him perform a song (to be written by Albert, and titled "One Last Kiss") and kiss a representative female fan goodbye before a national television audience on the Ed Sullivan show. Kim McAfee (Ann-Margret), daughter of Harry and Doris (Lynde & LaRoche, respectively), is selected ... right after she'd been pinned by (e.g. to go steady with) Hugo Peabody (Rydell). In addition to this conflict, Mamma's boy Albert has yet to tell his mother Mae (Stapleton) about his pending engagement to Rosie. In fact, Albert is a chemist by education, but has let his former vaudeville performing mother bully him into the music business, while she alludes that Rosie (indeed, no woman) is good enough for her son.Sweet Apple, Ohio is the chosen location for Birdie's farewell performance because the other planned guest on Sullivan's show the next Sunday is the Russian Ballet, who is on a goodwill tour of the United States and happens to be there that night (and remote feeds being difficult to coordinate on the fly in those days). Hence, the selection of Kim McAfee, who lives there (Kim Darby, uncredited, is recognizable as one of Kim's telephone friends). Evans plays Claude Paisley, a teacher at the High School who serves as a temporary pawn in the relationship between Albert and a fed-up (with his Mamma's influence over him) Rosie. Of course, Birdie is too much for the small town, its residents, the Mayor and his wife (Frank Albertson & Beverly Yates, uncredited). But Albert is able to smooth things over by befriending the McAfees - especially Harry, who owns a fertilizer business, when he shows him a speed pill he's invented. To demonstrate its potential, Albert gives one to their son Randolph's (Bryan Russell) turtle, which proceeds to race around their home & grounds.When the Russian ballet's performance threatens to consume the entire allotted time for remote broadcast portion of Sullivan's show, Rosie (posing as a photographer) gets its maestro (Gregory Morton) to consume some milk doped with Albert's speed formula. This leads to a wildly rapid ballet performance, which isn't as funny as the audience in the film makes it out to be, which leaves time for Conrad to sing Albert's song. But the planned kiss is interrupted by a suddenly emboldened Hugo, and the film ends with three happy couples: Kim & Hugo, Rosie & Albert, and even momma Mae with a three time widower (Milton Frome) she'd picked up in a bar!

Although George Sidney directed some classic MGM musicals, his adaptation of the Tony-winning Broadway hit, "Bye Bye Birdie" for Columbia is not often mentioned. The oversight is unfair, because "Birdie" is a lively, tuneful, and often inventive film musical. Where "Grease" strove to create nostalgia by invoking the 1950's and 60's, "Birdie" was filmed in 1963 and is the real thing. Although the music is generally more Broadway than late-50's rock, the film includes a genuine 1950's teen heartthrob in Bobby Rydell, and an authentic icon of the period in Ed Sullivan. Both Rydell and Sullivan were still popular when the film was made and, unlike the bygone stars in "Grease," were not dragged from the attic for walk-ons.Conrad Birdie, a thinly disguised Elvis, has been drafted. Aspiring songwriter, Dick Van Dyke, and his secretary, Janet Leigh in an awful black wig, concoct a plan to have Birdie bestow a goodbye kiss on one lucky girl and sing a song to be written by Van Dyke. All of this to take place on the "Ed Sullivan Show." Ann -Margret from Sweetwater, Ohio, is the lucky girl.Although Ann-Margret is a bit hot to be the steady of Bobby Rydell, she is dynamite on the dance floor and smolders during her numbers. Obviously, the director and producer fell in love with her, and she upstages everyone, including two members of the original Broadway cast, Van Dyke and Paul Lynde. However, Lynde does hold his own as Ann-Margret's father, and he has an amusing musical number in "Kids." Also funny is Maureen Stapleton, who stomps around in sensible shoes and a fur coat as Van Dyke's mother. To Leigh's frustration, Stapleton does everything to keep her "baby" from falling into marriage and out of her control."Bye Bye Birdie" has a number of good songs, some lively choreography, and clever effects that distinguish it from the more traditional musicals like "Show Boat" that Sidney directed for MGM. Although Van Dyke has the central role, he is not a standout. Perhaps the part of Albert Peterson was meant to be a bland foil for the two women in his life, who spar for control. Although Leigh is miscast as Rosie DeLeon, a Latina part that belongs to Chita Rivera, she does well despite the wig. However, Ann-Margret opens the film, closes the film, and, in between, sizzles and dazzles in a star-making role.