The Complete Gidget Collection (Gidget / Gidget Goes Hawaiian / Gidget Goes to Rome)
by Paul Wendkos
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Arthur O'Connell, Cliff Robertson, James Darren, Sandra Dee, The Four PrepsDirector: Paul Wendkos
Brand: Sony
Producer: Jerry Bresler
Producer: Lewis J. Rachmil
Writer: Dale Eunson
Writer: Frederick Kohner
Writer: Gabrielle Upton
Writer: Katherine Albert
Writer: Ruth Brooks Flippen
DVD: Region Code 99
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 300 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2004-08-03
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Movie Reviews of The Complete Gidget Collection (Gidget / Gidget Goes Hawaiian / Gidget Goes to Rome)
Movie Review: WHO WOULDN'T LOVE GIDGET
Summary: 5 Stars
I FIRST SAW PARTS OF "GIDGET GOES HAWAIIAN" WHEN I WAS ABOUT 14 YEARS OLD. MY BROTHER WOULDN'T LET ME SEE IT BECAUSE OF SOMETHING ELSE HE WANTED TO SEE. THEN IN "1997" I SAW IT AVAILABLE ON VHS. I WAS DELIRIOUSLY HAPPY. I BOUGHT IT RIGHT AWAY AND PLAYED IT ABOUT 15,000 TIMES. IN THE EARLIER "90'S" I HAD SEEN "GIDGET", BUT MY HEART WAS STILL WITH "GIDGET GOES HAWAIIAN". THEN I CAME ACROSS THE ENTIRE "GIDGET" SERIES ON DVD, BEING OFFERED AT THE TIME BY COLUMBIA HOUSE. NEEDLESS TO SAY, I IMMEDIATELY BOUGHT THE SERIES. AT THAT TIME I HAD NOT SEEN "GIDGET GOES TO ROME". I FOUND IT TO BE A DELIGHT TOO. "GIDGET" WAS BASICALLY ABOUT A TEEN-AGE GIRL WHO STARTS HANGING OUT AT THE BEACH BECAUSE SHE IS ATTRACTED TO A BOY KNOWN AS "MOON-DOGGIE". SHE DECIDES SHE WANTS TO LEARN HOW TO SURF, SO SHE BEGS HER PARENTS FOR THE MONEY TO BUY A SURFBOARD, PROMISING THAT SHE WOULDN'T ASK FOR "ANOTHER SINGLE SOLITARY THING." SHE THEN GETS INTO THE SURF SCENE AND EVENTUALLY INTO MOON-DOGGIE HEART WHICH LANDS HER HIS RING BEFORE HE IS TO RETURN TO COLLLEGE.
"GIDGET GOES HAWAIIAN" LANDS GIDGET AND HER FAMILY INTO HAWAIIAN AFTER GIDGET'S FATHER SPRINGS HAWAII ON THEM AS A SURPRISE VACATION. GIDGET DID NOT WANT TO GO BECAUSE SHE AND "JEFF/MOON-DOGGIE" WERE HANGING OUT ON THE BEACH DURING HIS SUMMER VACATION FROM COLLEGE. WHEN SHE FINDS OUT ABOUT THE TRIP SHE GETS UPSET AND RUNS TO THE BEACH TO TELL "MOON-DOGGIE" ABOUT IT BUT HE DIDN'T SEEM TO MIND. SHE GETS UPSET, GIVES HIM BACK HIS RING, AND LEAVES HIM LOOKING DUMB-FOUNDED. WHILE SHE IS ON THE PLANE, HEADING TO HAWAII, SHE MEETS "ABBEY STEWART", WHOSE FAMILY IS ALSO ON THE PLANE, HEADING TO HAWAII. "GIDGET" AND "ABBEY" THEN MEET 3 OTHER FELLOWS WHO ARE ON THEIR WAY TO HAWAII TO HAVE FUN, BUT "ABBEY'S" GOT HER EYES ON A DIFFERENT FELLA, BY THE NAME OF "EDDIE HORNER" (MICHAEL CALLEN), THE DANCER. AFTER EVERYONE ARRIVES AND GETS SETTLED, "GIDGET'S" DAD NOTICES THAT "GIDGET" IS STILL MOPING ABOUT SO HE SENDS FOR "JEFF". WHEN "JEFF" ARRIVES IN HAWAII, HE FINDS "GIDGET" ON THE BEACH WITH "EDDIE HORNER", WHO HAD THE HOTS FOR GIDGET, THOUGH "ABBEY" HAD THE HOTS FOR HIM. AFTER HE CAUGHT "EDDIE" KISSING "GIDGET", HE GOES OFF IN A FURY AND WINDS UP WITH "ABBEY" WHOM HE DIDN'T KNOW HAD ALREADY MET "GIDGET". THEN PROCEEDS A COMEDY OF ERRORS. EVERYTIME THEY ARE ALL TOGETHER "ABBEY" GETS UPSTAGED BY GIDGET. "ABBEY" GETS JEALOUS AND DECIDES TO PUT AN END TO "GIDGET'S" CUTTING IN ONCE AND FOR ALL. SO SHE STARTS A RUMOR, MAKING IT SEEM AS IF "GIDGET" HAD BEEN MAKING OUT WITH BOYS. SHE TELLS THIS STORY TO HER MOTHER WHO THEN TELL IT "GIDGET'S" MOTHER. EVENTUALLY THE STORY GETS BACK AROUND TO "JEFF/MOON-DOGGIE" AND HE AND "GIDGET" PATCHES THINGS UP, LEAVING "ABBEY" WITH EGG ON HER FACE.
"GIDGET GOES TO ROME" HAS GIDGET AND THE REST OF THE BEACH GANG HEADING TO ROME ITALY AFTER "GIDGET" CONVINCES HER PARENTS THAT SHE IS MATURE ENOUGH TO GO. ONCE AGAIN "JEFF/MOONDOGGIE" GETS HIMSELF INVOLVED WITH SOMEONE ELSE AND A SERIES OF COMEDY HAPPENS AFTERWARDS. GIDGET TOO GET HERSELF INVOLVED, WITH AN OLDER MAN, ACCEPT IT IS ONLY WISHFUL THINKING BECAUSE HE WAS ASKED BY HER FATHER TO KEEP AN EYE ON HER. GIDGET THEN KEEPS GETTING HERSELF INTO TROUBLE UNTIL EVENTUALLY SHE AND "JEFF/MOONDOGGIE" SOLVES THE PROBLEMS AND THEY RETURN HOME HAPPY.
More The Complete Gidget Collection (Gidget / Gidget Goes Hawaiian / Gidget Goes to Rome) reviews:
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Summary of The Complete Gidget Collection (Gidget / Gidget Goes Hawaiian / Gidget Goes to Rome)
GidgetSandra Dee became a model for countless teenagers in the late 1950's when she played Gidget, a sad-faced youngster who doesn't quite measure up to the chesty, bikinied girls on the beach. Her mom's reassurances come true when two surfers start paying Gidget some attention.
Gidget Goes Hawaiian
Gidget (Deborah Walley, Beach Blanket Bingo) is desperate: her parents want her to come with them on vacation to Hawaii during the two weeks when her beloved Jeff, aka ?Moondoggie? (James Darren, The Brothers Rico), will be home from college. When he suggests she go, Gidget panics? doesn't he care to be with her? So she sets out for Hawaii in the worst mood. On the plane, she meets the sociable Abby, who advises her to forget about Moondoggie?advice which Abby regrets when Gidget steals her boyfriend Eddie (Michael Callan, Cat Ballou), a famous dancer. But when Jeff discovers he misses Gidget and makes the trip to Hawaii? the surfing ?girl midget? better watch her step! Newly remastered.
"Just remember, she might be pint-sized, but she's quite a woman." The original surfer girl gets her own three-film DVD collection, dippy fun from a more innocent time. 1959's Gidget made real surfers nauseated, but it's a kicky movie with some great lounge-era lingo. Sandra Dee, perkiness personified, plays the curious teen who breaks the gender line in surfing. She's also got the attention of surf-happy Moondoggie (James Darren) and the big Kahuna (Cliff Robertson), the latter the prototype of the surf bum who roams the globe in search of the endless summer. The film actually kicked off the great boom in surfing popularity (the Beach Boys and the Beach Party movies followed), much to the chagrin of purists. It was based on a novel by Frederick Kohner, who was inspired by his daughter's experiences.
Gidget Goes Hawaiian (1961) puts Deborah Walley in the title role. She's no Sandra Dee, but at least there are shots of Walley doing her own surfing stunts. The action's in Waikiki, and Gidge is pursued by a confused Moondoggie and a famous dancer. They are played by James Darren and Michael Callan, and having the two 1960s male ingenues in the same movie suggests a weird collision of matter and anti-matter. The spark goes flat in Gidget Goes to Rome (1963), with yet another new actress (Cindy Carol) paired with a loyal James Darren. It's closer to Three Coins in the Fountain than the sandy beaches of Malibu.
DVD caveat: none of the films is in widescreen. The sequels don't suffer much, but the original Gidget was shot in CinemaScope, and the pan-and-scan approach hurts the summery look of the picture--even if it's just Sandra Dee balancing in front of blue-screen waves. --Robert Horton
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