Bye Bye Birdie (1963)

A great family movie, good music, great story, just great fun

From the opening scenes to the end, this is a fast moving farce that is really a fun movie, great musical with music you have heard throughout your life, but probably never knew where from.

Whats the Matter with Kids Today - what a rip with Paul Lynde with his high pitched voice singing with Dick Van Dyke and Maureen Stapleton. Also, 'Put on a Happy Face' I am sure most alive today have heard that song. One of my favorites is 'Got a Lot of Living to do'. Fast moving with a dance called the 'Birdie.'

Anne Margeret plays the main character, Kim, who is going to get the last kiss before Conrad Birdie (an Elvis type figure), leaves for the Army. Interesting that she plays across from Elvis in Viva Las Vegas later in her life. Kim is dating Hugo (Bobby Rydell). Rydell was a teen idol of sorts of his day and had hits in his life namely, 'Wild One.' Rydell is so very jealous, but yet a goofy teen who has to decide to stand by and let her get that one last kiss or to do something else, but what?

Janet Leigh, of Psycho fame plays a big part in the movie. (She is the mother of Jamie Lee Curtis.) Leigh was quite famous in her day and Birdie was a welcome up tick after her fame with Psycho.

The cool thing about this movie is there is not one relationship involved in the plot there are two. Kim and Hugo and Albert and Rosie (van Dyke and Leigh). Juxtaposed against each other, you see that age has nothing to do with romantic difficulty and confusion.

This is one of the fun movies of the '60s, relatively clean fun, a few areas that may have been touchy at the time, but it was just before the hippy era that changed our world. There are few things to watch for, this movie was done in the summer before JFK's assassination, he is mentioned in the movie or referred to 'the President says we should drink more milk...' and something interesting is shown. Toward the end we see the Russians, a rather large orchestra and you see the man in charge of orchestra hitting himself in the head with his shoe, ala Kruschev doing the same at the UN.

Also, the scene with Birdie being on 'Ed Sullivan' predates the appearance of the Beattles on that same show, and, the girls go wild with the Beattles as they did with Birdie in the movie, who would have thought the genius in predicting that behavior?

There is so much to this movie. Fun cast, great music, seriously funny interplay of characters and story. One last comment, the scene where Birdie is introduced in the town is classic, he goes around the square singing with gusto, if you look closely you will notice it is the same set where square used in 'Back to the Future.'

Bye Bye Birdie is a must for any family DVD/HiDef Library. December 9, 2008

It has no full screen!

This item plainly states that it has both formats of full screen
and wide screen but it is only in one format which is widescreen,
(letterbox). If you want full screen like I wanted,
do not order this item. December 1, 2008

Great old movie!

Totally enjoyed seeing this movie again. Product shipped in less time than expected. Movie played with no problems at all. October 28, 2008

A Great Classic...

My mother introduced me to this movie when I was thirteen and I have been a fan of classic movies eversince and today I am twenty three. This movie is fun and the music is great, also is very funny. I love the fashions on the women and the story is well put together...I definitely recommend this film.

~luv fashion and NYC lifestyle~
BONITACARAMELNYCITY.BLOGSPOT.COM October 12, 2008

musical dvd

I purchased this for my granddaughters who saw a production of this musical and loved it. they were delighted with the video. October 2, 2008

More reviews at Amazon.com ...