Gidget Goes to Rome

This film essentially begins with a teenager named "Frances 'Gidget' Lawrence" (Cindy Carol) begging her father, "Russell Lawrence" (Don Porter) to allow her to fly to Rome with her friends. After some consideration, her father finally relents but only after ensuring that a suitable chaperone is provided. Yet even after learning that one of the other teenager's aunts named "Albertina Blythe" (Jessie Royce Landis) has agreed to chaperone them, Russell remains somewhat concerned and subsequently calls an old friend living in Rome named "Paola Cellini" (Cesare Danova) to secretly check up on them from time to time. For her part, Gidget is only too happy to spend more time with her boyfriend "Jeff 'Moondoggie' Matthews" (James Darren) who is also going on the trip. Problems develop, however, when the group's tour guide turns out to be a beautiful Italian woman named "Daniela" (Danielle De Metz) who all of the teenage boys immediately become enamored with--especially Moondoggie. Needless to say, this takes a serious toll on Gidget's emotions. Her sadness quickly vanishes, however, when she meets an older gentleman who suddenly takes a great interest in her--Paola Cellini. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this was an okay comedy for the most part, which started off slow, but picked up rather nicely toward the end. And while I thought James Darren seemed a bit too old for his character, I thought that Cindy Carol performed extremely well in the lead role. I also liked the performances of Cesare Danova and Danielle De Metz--who was absolutely gorgeous. In any case, while this wasn't a great comedy by any means, it seemed to pass the time well enough, and I have rated it accordingly. Average.

"Gidget Goes to Rome" in 1963 was the third installment in the Gidget series of films. The first had Sandra Dee and the second Deborah Whalley as the Gidget leads. Including a couple of TV series and some TV movies, there were nine in all, and many of them pretty lame.

This Gidget film, in 1963, is one of the better ones. Cindy Carol as Gidget Lawrence plays her as a bright, perky, mature teenager, and the slight over-acting style she uses fits the character just right. Remember, the Gidget films are not to be taken very seriously. They depict 1960s teenager life and in particular, the mythical beach life. Here Gidget and some of her friends are in Rome, she meets a mysterious and handsome older Italian man who seems to be intent on helping her have a good stay. In the end he has been retained by Gidget's father to make sure she has both a good time, and remains safe.

I was a teenager in 1963, specifically it was the year I graduated from high school. A "Gidget" represents more than anything else that cute girl we admired from afar but never could get close to. Watching any of these Gidget films, especially the first three (1959, 1961, and 1963) brings back fond memories that doesn't quite seem to be 40+ years ago.

The movie itself was ok, good scenery and all, but the acting wasn't exactly the best. Cindy Carol wasa terrible choice for gidget because of a lack of acting skills. If you look past the fact that her acting was lousy the movie is pretty good, the plot is slighlty more mature than the other gidget's. The scenery was great and so was the fashion show sequence. All in all, it wasn't that bad...

The one thing I enjoyed was the scenery and fashion show sequence.Carol Carol is a lousy actress, and the "gang" are as equally uninteresting.James Darren is a gorgeous italian and I love his songs!

This is the third film in the Gidget movie series and again Gidget and her parents have been recast. This might be my second favorite actress who played Gidget, Cindy Carol (second to Sandra Dee of course). This film is the first Gidget that spent little to no time on the beach. Gidget has a plan to go to Rome with Moondoggie and four other friends. First she has to talk their parents into it, second they have to find a chaperone and finally she has to convince her parents to let her go!

"Except from a purely aesthetic viewpoint of course."-Gidget

This was a little sadder than the other Gidget films. Moondoggie spends their entire trip fawning over the Italian beauty who is their guide. I'm afraid Gidget has a bigger heart than me to so easily take him back after that. Gidget spends the film getting into trouble with the Italian police and developing a crush and subsequent broken heart.

Roman sites were fun to see and it was fun to hear the beautiful Italian language, but the overall sad storyline and easy acceptance at the end make this one a miss for me even though I loved the music in this third film...and Gidget's new Italian nickname "gidgetta"!

Jesse Royce Landis and Cesare Danova were real standouts in this film.