Gidget (film)

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Gidget

Sandra Dee in her role as Gidget
Directed by Paul Wendkos
Written by Frederick Kohner
Gabrielle Upton
Starring Sandra Dee
Distributed by Columbia Pictures
Release date(s) 1959
Country United States
Language English
Followed by Gidget Goes Hawaiian (1961)
IMDb profile

Gidget is an American film starring 1950s teen icon Sandra Dee, released in 1959 by Columbia Pictures. Adapted from the novel by Frederick Kohner, and with a screenplay by Gabrielle Upton, this popular film was directed by Paul Wendkos. It follows the life of teenager Gidget and friends, in a predictably sweet love story.

There were two sequels, Gidget Goes Hawaiian (1961), starring Deborah Walley, and Gidget Goes to Rome (1963), starring Cindy Carol.

The character Gidget has been revived several times, first in the film sequels and then in a 1965 television sitcom starring a teenage Sally Field, whose brown hair was a departure from the standard blonde (although Deborah Walley was a redhead). Very young guest stars included Paul Lynde, Bonnie Franklin, and Daniel J. Travanti (of Hill Street Blues fame). This Gidget character was brought back as an adult in a little-watched 1980s television sitcom The New Gidget.

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[edit] Plot

While other girls are filling out their bikinis and lying on the beach, Gidget, with her flat chest and bottom, feels left out. At the beach, she feels the worst, as no boys pay attention to her boyish figure. Bored and lonely, she goes swimming in the ocean. When a cute young surfer rescues her from a tangle of seaweed, she decides then and there to learn to surf. Eventually, she learns the basics of the sport, enough to return to the beach and make friends with the local surf gang. In the gang is her rescuer, Moondoggie, and the gang's leader, The Big Kahuna. In the movie, her surfing improves, she finds new popularity with the guys, and even attends a "beach party", where her ploys for Moondoggie's attention peak. Gidget tries to use The Big Kahuna to make Moondoggie jealous, even going to a beach house with him, but her plan backfires, leaving her feeling foolish and outcast. In the end, her father sets her up with one Jeffrey Mathews, who is none other than Moondoggie himself. Moondoggie takes Gidget to the beach where he professes his love and asks Gidget to "wear his class pin," a sign of their devotion to one another while he is away at college.

[edit] Cast of 1959 film

[edit] Film notes

  • The studio wanted Elvis Presley to play the role of Moondoggie, but his fees were too expensive.
  • In the anime Eureka Seven, the character Moondoggie's real name is James Darren Emerson, a reference to James Darren. The character Moondoggie is also dating the character Gidget in the anime.
  • The popularity of the film led to a "Miss Gidget" contest which was won by Barbara Bouchet in 1959.

[edit] External links


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