Gidget Goes Hawaiian (1961)

User Rating:

4.9/10   

Director:

Paul Wendkos

Writers:

Ruth Brooks Flippen (writer)
Frederick Kohner (writer)

Release Date:

2 June 1961 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Music | Romance

Tagline:

Get Happy! Get with it! Beach-Parties! Luau-Feasts! Surf-Boarding! Hula-Dancing! Have yourself a Hawaiian holiday when..."Gidget Goes Hawaiian"

Plot:

Francis is desperate: her parents want to force her to come with them on vacation to Hawaii - just during...

Plot Keywords:

Hawaii | Love Triangle | Surfing | Hula Dance | Youth

Cast

James Darren	...	Moondoggie (Jeffrey Matthews)
Michael Callan	...	Eddie Horner
Deborah Walley	...	Gidget (Frances Lawrence)
Carl Reiner	...	Russ Lawrence
Peggy Cass	...	Mitzi Stewart
Eddie Foy Jr.	...	Monty Stewart
Jeff Donnell	...	Dorothy Lawrence
Vicki Trickett	...	Abby Stewart
Joby Baker	...	Judge Hamilton
Don Edmonds	...	Larry Neal
Bart Patton	...	Wally Hodges
Jan Conaway	...	Barbara Jo Wells
Robin Lory	...	Dee Dee Waters
Arnold Merritt	...	Clay Anderson
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
David Nuuhiwa	...	Himself

Runtime:

101 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:G | Finland:S

Filming Locations:

Royal Hawaiian Hotel - 2259 Kalakava Avenue, Honolulu, O'ahu, Hawaii, USA

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Holiday (2006)

Soundtrack:

Wild About the Girl

A classic! One of the best beach movies ever.

Fun and involving beach comedy-melodrama. Walley and Darren try to get each other jealous before flinging up their arms to stay together. Walley is cute and conveys some subtlety in the "Girl Midget" role she inherited. One odd aspect of the film is its seemingly outdated jazz-style music. But maybe by the early 60s the rock thing really WAS out (I wasn't there, so I don't really know).

The production numbers are smart and fairly well-written, especially Gidget's dream of being a "fallen woman." You don't usually see things like this in a beach movie, and that's what makes this one of the better beach party movies. It's equally as good as AIP's beach movies (in which Walley appeared), though without quite as good a cast.

Walley was eventually married to and then divorced from actor/musician/filmmaker John Ashley. She more or less retired from acting in the 70s after making the original "Benji", and in the 80s and 90s she appeared at numerous conventions (where she was always a very friendly presence that I'm sure a lot of people appreciated as much as I did). She passed away a couple of years ago, and I guess this classic beach film is now a kind of monument to her. Because I think people will be watching and enjoying this movie many, many years into the future. I don't know if they will respect it, or like it, or hate it, but they will probably enjoy it