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.

Of the three Gidget movies, this one was my favorite--maybe because I was four and six when the other two movies came out. Cindy Carol's Gidget comes closer to the Sally Field Gidget than Sandra Dee's or Deborah Walley's did. The actress who portrayed the aunt (Jessie Royce Landis) reminded me a lot of Agnes Moorehead.

You can't watch this movie and expect grand performances--these are kids and the subject matter isn't Shakespeare. (Lighten up, people!!) You have to take this movie for what it is--circa 1963. Most comedies 42+ years ago were fluff..

If you don't take this type of comedy too seriously, watch it just for the fun of it..

Gidget, played by Cindy Carol was at our local drive in theater in the suburbs of Pittsburgh, Pa, during the fall/summer of 1963. I was 13-years old. And during intermission, there, sitting at a round, rod-iron outdoor table, sat Gidget, in the same pink dress you see her in, on the "Gidget Goes To Rome", IMDb page! She wrote on the autographed picture, "To Rick with love, Cindy Carol" How cool was that! Frankly, I don't remember much about the movie except that it was curious for a "movie star" to find herself, 'here and now' at the Ardmore Drive in theater, which was in itself, a very special drive in. It was a modern, state of the art facility. Big wide screen, great concession stand and on both sides of which, there were mini, "theater rooms" where drive in movie goers, could venture out from their car and sit inside, with theater seats and sound, and watch the movie. During those early/mid teenaged years in the 60's, us kids would "sleep out" and at night go sneak over the hill through the thick trees in the back, to get into the drive in. Since they had the indoor seats, we would naturally go to "lover's cars" in the back of the drive in, knock on their windows, and ask for their stubs, so that when Chucky Pollack would make his rounds in the theater, he would ask to see our tickets. There may be 4 or 5 of us in there and we'd all pull our tickets out of our pockets. Chucky would say, "Why are all the ticket numbers out of sequence?" We would respond, "Because we all came in different cars!" Those were truly, the good old days! The drive in's been gone for many, many years as most have gone that way, which now is a strip mall with one of the most used, "Giant Eagle" super markets in Pittsburgh. I hope Cindy reads this one day she might look for her acting accomplishments on IMDb, and just maybe, she will remember that one particular night in Pittsburgh (Braddock Hills) when she sat outside at the drive in and signed autographs at the Ardmore Drive In -- making lasting memories in the heart and mind of a young, movie going enthusiast and still "Cindy Carol-fan"! Cindy turns 65-years old this year (2009). At last check, she was teaching in California. Dare you leave me a message Cindy. I'd love to catch up! Perhaps leave me a message at ladymoon here on IMDb!

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.

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!