thatcameraguy

Thirteen years after the dog that was "Gidget Gets Married" (with Monie Ellis as Gidget), Caryn Richman manages to find some of the warmth and depth that Sally Field breathed into the character some twenty years earlier. She doesn't get much help from the script, mind you.

Once again the clock is reset; Sandra Dee's Gidget turned sixteen in the summer of 1959, Sally Field's was "fifteen and a half" in 1965, and now Richman's is twenty-seven in 1985. And boy can she fill out a swimsuit.

Dean Butler is okay as Jeff, but not spectacular. Allison Barron does a really nice job as Kim, Gidget's fifteen-and-a-half year old niece (ring a bell?) In some ways she is the "Gidget" of this film, and her performance is imbued with echoes of Sandra Dee's treatment of the character. BTW she looks awfully nice in a swimsuit too. David Knell is sweet and funny as Albert Winslow, her wimpy, geeky love interest, and Vincent Van Patten is suave, slick and despicable as Mickey, Albert's rival, a bronzed-Adonis badboy.

Don Stroud is of course a natural as the Kahuna, and William Schallert is quite good as Russ Lawrence, though there is something fundamentally disturbing about the same actor playing both Patty Laine's and Gidget Lawrence's dads. Anne Lockhart is good enough as Larue (it doesn't hurt that she resembles Lynette Winter), but she doesn't have much to do in the story.

The film doesn't contain anything you could really call a plot, but the characters are well defined, and as far back as the 1957 novel, Gidget stories were stronger when they were more about characters and relationships than story line.

The original music is downright awful (well it was the 1980's), and oddly enough old fifties tunes are employed here and there as underscoring--I say "odd" because Richman's Gidget should have been a teen in the seventies.

Overall, a fun film for all its flaws.

Loosely adapted from Frederick Kohner's novel "Gidget Goes New York", This 1969 ABC MOW is remarkable principally for two standout performances: Karen Valentine is excellent as Gidget (of the seven women who have portrayed her in cinema and TV, I rank her second only to Sally Field), and Paul Lynde is hilarious as Louis B. Latimer, Gidget's eccentric and narcissistic landlord. Paul Peterson is alright as Jeff (though sometimes boring), and Robert Cummings is a bit flat as Russ Lawrence. Edward Mulhare seems to think he's in a 1960's soap opera. There are some truly beautiful performances in the smaller parts: Nina Fochs, for example, is magnificent as Mrs.Crosby, Gidget's job trainer (shades of Miss Jean Brodie), and the two girls who play Gidget's roommates are delightful and lovable. The plot is lame, and moves slowly, but Valentine and Lynde do a good job of buoying it.

No mention is made of Gidget's mother or sister, perhaps in an attempt to fudge continuity with both the Hollywood movies (no sister Anne) and the 60's sitcom (mother deceased).

Gidget fans will enjoy "Gidget Grows Up", but for anyone else it is a slightly above average MOW.

"Gidget Gets Married" is probably the worst of the Gidget films (an argument could be made for "Gidget Goes to Rome"). There are some good performances in it: Paul Lynde returns as Louis B. Latimer, and Don Amiche is actually pretty funny as Jeff's stuffed shirt boss. Monie Ellis is good enough as Gidget--and awfully pretty, sporting the sweetest buck tooth smile. Michael Burns is fairly lame as Jeff (whose last name is Stevens in this incarnation; what's up with that?). At the end of the day though, the best actors in the world would be hard pressed to save this poor excuse for a screenplay; this dog has fleas.

"Gidget Gets Married" is a 1972 ABC MOW, and it smells like one.