Bye Bye Birdie (1963)

[Kringas]

Posted: 1/15/06 at 3:25am

This is truly the most jacked up movie ever. I'd argue that it's more a cousin to the stage version of Hair than it is the show on which it was based. From the melting telephone singers, to the turtles on meth, the jaw-droppingly surreal treatment of "Put on a Happy Face," this movie is insanely brilliant.

Ann-Margret's over-sexed Kim McAfee is a delight. Her expressions during "A Lot of Living To Do" lead one to think she may be about orgasm right there in the soda shop. I'm surprised the heat from Kim's own sweet apple didn't cause the town to explode.

Oddly enough, Maureen Stapleton was the same age as Dick Van Dyke, who played her son.

Finally, there's Paul Lynde. I wonder, (and this would go for the stage version as well) when he was cast as the married father of two kids, if people really thought he was appropriate for the role of if they were just looking the other way.

I have a soft spot for the show (it was actually the first show I was in post-college) and I'm one of the few people who enjoyed the 1995 tv remake, but the original version is grotesquely beautiful.

Updated On: 1/15/06 at 03:25 AM

Posted: 1/15/06 at 7:39am

Yes, Kringas, you're so right. I still love this film.

I saw it in a movie palace on Canal Street while on vacation in New Orleans during the summer of 1963. Everyone else in our family went to see "The Great Escape" which was playing across the street. I took my nephew who was 14 years younger than me and we went to "Birdie." It was mad, and magical, and so Broadway that I couldn't stand it. I think I've seen it a gazillion times. Mother Peterson with her squeaky rubbers. heehee I knew every word of "Ed Sullivan" by heart, even the choral arrangements. Same thing with "The Telephone Song."

[YankeeGal#24]

Posted: 1/15/06 at 9:18am

I love the film as well. Its FUN, campy, and the music and casting is STILL great (though I never really "got" the appeal of Bobby Rydell)!

[sidneybruhl]

Posted: 1/15/06 at 9:47am

Though it does stray from the source material, I have to admit an affection for this movie as well. Well-put Kringas when you called the film "grotesquely beautiful." And Lynde is hilarious as Mr. McAfee. I'm glad the powers-that-be let him recreate his stage role.

[guitargeek0624]

Posted: 1/15/06 at 11:04am

I first saw this movie three years ago when my mom found the DVD in a $3 bin at some store (hehe), and I still watch it all the time. Yes, it's rather hokey and corny, but that makes it so great!

On a related note, if anyone has the Family Guy DVD for the fourth season, there was a deleted scene in one epside that is basically a reincarnation of the telephone scene. I was near tears I was laughing so hard! I'll try to find the episode. For those of you that have the DVD, it is actually in the episode itself, so you can just watch it and it'll be there.

[best12bars]

Posted: 1/15/06 at 11:36am

I truly love Janet Leigh... but I can't stand to watch her in this "Latin" part. And that black wig! Oy!

I prefer the 1995 TV movie myself. But I love the surreal moments in the film... and Ann-Margaret. But that's pretty much it. Even Dick Van Dyke is strangely lackluster, and I can't figure out why.

[ljay889]

Posted: 1/15/06 at 12:13pm

The movie is so much f*(king fun. So unfaithful to the wonderful stage version. BUT it is just such a fun movie in its own right.

My mother would show it to me when I was really really young, and I still love it to this day.

It's amazing (not in a good way) how much they messed with the score and book. This has to be one of the most unfaithful movie musicals.

[Kringas]

Posted: 1/15/06 at 1:54pm

Even Dick Van Dyke is strangely lackluster, and I can't figure out why

Perhaps he realized what was happening around him, as well as the fact that he was powerless to stop it. While he was really the main focus of the original stage production, the '63 movie is all about the hellcat known as Ann-Margret.

I prefer the 1995 TV movie myself.

I really like this version, too. I like its faithfulness, though I could do without most of the added songs. I loved Jason Alexander and Vanessa Williams, and Marc Kudisch knocks the role of Birdie out of the park. The weakest link (in my opinion) is Chynna Phillips. It actually pains me to say that, as I'm such a fan of her parents' legacy, but at 27, she was really miscast as Kim. There's a shot of her right before "How Lovely to Be a Woman," where she lays back on the bed. In that shot, she looks so freaking old. And pretty much does for most of the movie.

At any rate, I love all things "Bye Bye Birdie." I haven't seen a professional production in ages. I did see a high school production about five years ago, which was only notable for the fact that one of the chorus girls' skirt came down during a song. She seems pretty embarrassed, but she kept dancing in her bloomers.

Updated On: 1/15/06 at 01:54 PM

[best12bars]

Posted: 1/15/06 at 2:08pm

Love the pants-dropping story. Such a trooper! She knew the show must go on, droopy drawers and all.

Yes, Chynna was at the very end of her pop star popularity when this TV movie aired... and that pretty much killed it for her.

I attended a "premier" of it that they had at the Motion Picture Academy on Wilshire Blvd. It was just like a "regular movie" premier, complete with red carpet and after-party. All of the cast was there (except for Vanessa Williams, as I recall). I was with a friend of mine from the press, who had recently interviewed Billy Baldwin for a magazine. As we went into the party after the screening (also at the Academy), Billy asked us if he could "hang out" with us for the duration, since his wife Chynna was having to work the room a bit. Did he really need to ask, I mean COME ON!! Billy and Chynna are two of the nicest people I've ever met and "hung out" with. As down to earth and unassuming as you can imagine. So, while it's very hard for me to agree with you about her "age appearance" in the film, I admit I must agree. It wasn't probably the best casting choice, but I see why they chose her, based on her pop following at that time.

...And Kudisch was SO friggin' hot at that premier.

Posted: 1/15/06 at 2:13pm

Am I the only one that thinks Lindsay Lohan looks NOTHING like Ann Margret at all?

[Kringas]

Posted: 1/15/06 at 2:16pm

...And Kudisch was SO friggin' hot at that premier

He was hot in the movie!

And mind you, I'm not saying anything bad about Chynna. She did a fine job and has a lovely voice. She just clearly wasn't 17 and it didn't help her that most of the other teenage characters looked like teenagers. She'd have been better served if they'd gone the Grease route and skewed older with all the teenage casting.

Updated On: 1/15/06 at 02:16 PM

[Marquise]

Posted: 1/15/06 at 2:20pm

My thread contribution: ANN-MARGRET

and what does Lindsey Lohan have to do with anything?

Posted: 1/15/06 at 2:22pm

I was reading an article about how Lindsay Lohan supposedly looked just like Ann Margret, and was her "incarnation". It peeved me. I just felt like sharing that with the BWW board.

[Marquise]

Posted: 1/15/06 at 2:25pm

lohan is very well known for her admiration of A-M.
so much so they had the both of them posed together for the most recent 50 most beautiful people issue of People magazine.
while she doesn't bear a striking resemblance to A-M she does have a similar look, especially when she dyes her hair red.

[Marquise]

Posted: 1/15/06 at 2:27pm

Updated On: 1/15/06 at 02:27 PM

[best12bars]

Posted: 1/15/06 at 2:33pm

The sad truth is that Lohan already looks like Ann-Margaret's mother.

Boy, she's having a rough ride, for someone so young.

Even if she ever did look like her... it isn't going to last.

[Kringas]

Posted: 1/15/06 at 2:33pm

Posted: 1/15/06 at 2:38pm

HAHA. bars- that made me laugh. Yes, with her new "um, even though I said it on tape, um it's not true" and pole dancing with Kate Moss, she's starting to look more weary (hem hem, drugged).

[SimplyHarris]

Posted: 1/15/06 at 2:40pm

I love Ann-Margret and her in Bye Bye Birdie, when she is singing the title song, in the beginning and at the end, is my favorite.

[Jyn326]

Posted: 1/15/06 at 4:14pm

I have such a fondness for the '63 version. Being from a small Kentucky town (where those who appreciate theatre are in the minority), my introduction to musicals was from movie musicals such as Bye Bye Birdie and Grease. I would dance around my room singing "how lovely to be a woman"...

With such an attachment to the movie, I was dissapointed by the Vanessa Williams version. It was good in it's own right, but not my favorite.

[jv92]

Posted: 1/15/06 at 4:20pm

I have to disagree with most of you.
I think the film of Bye Bye Birdie was such a waste of talent (Paul Lynde, Dick Van Dyke) and material (the show). They butchered the original show, rewriting the entire story. It is rather sad to look at. It makes a great musical comedy look like crap.

[Kringas]

Posted: 1/15/06 at 4:21pm

I would dance around my room singing "how lovely to be a woman"...

So did I, actually.

Updated On: 1/15/06 at 04:21 PM

[Jyn326]

Posted: 1/15/06 at 4:25pm

Glad I'm not the only one, Kringas!

[Kringas]

Posted: 1/15/06 at 4:25pm

And, in my early 20s, I was in an all-male production of it. Alas, I was just a chorus "girl."