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Gidget

  • 1959
  • Not Rated
  • 1h 35m
IMDb RATING
6.6/10
3.7K
YOUR RATING
Sandra Dee, James Darren, and Cliff Robertson in Gidget (1959)
Watch Trailer
Play trailer2:10
2 Videos
99+ Photos
ComedyDramaRomance

A young girl discovers surfing and love (in that order) during one transitive summer.A young girl discovers surfing and love (in that order) during one transitive summer.A young girl discovers surfing and love (in that order) during one transitive summer.

  • Director
    • Paul Wendkos
  • Writers
    • Gabrielle Upton
    • Frederick Kohner
  • Stars
    • Sandra Dee
    • James Darren
    • Cliff Robertson
  • See production, box office & company info
  • IMDb RATING
    6.6/10
    3.7K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Paul Wendkos
    • Writers
      • Gabrielle Upton
      • Frederick Kohner
    • Stars
      • Sandra Dee
      • James Darren
      • Cliff Robertson
    • 49User reviews
    • 23Critic reviews
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 1 nomination

    Videos2

    Trailer
    Trailer 2:10
    Watch Trailer
    Gidget: Something's Screwy
    Clip 1:17
    Watch Gidget: Something's Screwy

    Photos134

    Sandra Dee in Gidget (1959)
    Sandra Dee, Joby Baker, James Darren, Robert Ellis, Tom Laughlin, Doug McClure, Burt Metcalfe, Jo Morrow, and Cliff Robertson in Gidget (1959)
    Gidget (1959)
    Gidget (1959)
    James Darren, Shary Marshall, Burt Metcalfe, and Cliff Robertson in Gidget (1959)
    James Darren, Shary Marshall, Burt Metcalfe, and Cliff Robertson in Gidget (1959)
    Sandra Dee in Gidget (1959)
    Yvonne Craig, Patti Kane, and Jo Morrow in Gidget (1959)
    Yvonne Craig in Gidget (1959)
    Sandra Dee, Mary LaRoche, and Arthur O'Connell in Gidget (1959)
    Sandra Dee, Mary LaRoche, and Arthur O'Connell in Gidget (1959)
    Mary LaRoche and Arthur O'Connell in Gidget (1959)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Sandra Dee
    Sandra Dee
    • Francie Lawrence aka Gidget
    James Darren
    James Darren
    • Jeffrey Matthews aka Moondoggie
    Cliff Robertson
    Cliff Robertson
    • Burt Vail aka The Big Kahuna
    Arthur O'Connell
    Arthur O'Connell
    • Russell Lawrence
    The Four Preps
    The Four Preps
    • Band at Beach
    Mary LaRoche
    Mary LaRoche
    • Mrs. Dorothy Lawrence
    Joby Baker
    Joby Baker
    • Stinky
    Tom Laughlin
    Tom Laughlin
    • Lover Boy
    Sue George
    Sue George
    • Betty Louise aka B.L.
    Robert Ellis
    Robert Ellis
    • Hot Shot
    Jo Morrow
    Jo Morrow
    • Mary Lou
    Yvonne Craig
    Yvonne Craig
    • Nan
    Patti Kane
    Patti Kane
    • Patti
    Doug McClure
    Doug McClure
    • Waikiki
    Burt Metcalfe
    Burt Metcalfe
    • Lord Byron
    Leon Alton
    Leon Alton
    • Beachgoer
    • (uncredited)
    Bruce Belland
    • Lead Singer
    • (uncredited)
    Brad Brown
    • Surfer
    • (uncredited)
    • Director
      • Paul Wendkos
    • Writers
      • Gabrielle Upton
      • Frederick Kohner
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      The title character was based on the author's daughter, Kathy Kohner-Zuckerman, and her adventures growing up in the surf culture at the beach in Malibu during the 1950's. She is still petite, healthy and attractive and lives in Pacific Palisades with her husband. And yes, there was a "Moondoggie", who lives in California and is an artist.
    • Goofs
      When Gidget gets her lesson on her new surfboard, the fin is broken in half when it rolls over in the water, but is "repaired" when she and Moondoggie reach the beach.
    • Quotes

      Mr. Russell Lawrence: That's a man-hunter?

      Mrs. Dorothy Lawrence: Who did you expect? Kim Novak?

    • Connections
      Featured in Liquid Stage: The Lure of Surfing (1996)
    • Soundtracks
      Gidget
      Lyrics by Patti Washington

      Music by Fred Karger

      Sung by The Four Preps over the opening credits

      Exclusive Capitol Recording Artists

      Performed by James Darren (uncredited) on screen

    User reviews49

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    What It Meant to Her at 15 in the Theater in 1959
    My grandmother, Mary, was 15 years old when she first saw the first Gidget (1959) movie with Sandra Dee and James Darren, in The New Bell Theatre in Bellflower California. She and her best friend Eunice saw a movie about growing up, discovering boys, and learning lessons. Francie is a 16 year old girl, blonde and pretty, but very young in appearance. She is recruited by her female Francie to begin a "man-hunt" on the beach where they live in sunny California, and Francie reluctantly follows. As they sit on the beach, Francie's friends try to lure the muscular tanned college men over, while the guys are referring to them as jailbait, and Francie urges the girls to join her swimming. It is not that she has no interest in boys, but as Francie told her mother, "when they start smoothing and pawing, UH doesn't it make you sick too mama?!" Mama assures her that she just needs to find the right man. So the search begins.

    As we watched the movie, my grandmother pointed out things she had thought as a young adolescent girl, and also things that she thought of now that had been difficult to put into words at a young age. "That blue of the ocean, oh, even as a young girl, from then on it meant sexuality to me," my grandma confides, as she looks to see that no one else heard her. As Francie breaks away from her friends, she begins to find her self more and more, in the middle of a group of about eight very attractive, muscular, and tanned men, all older than she is, teaching her how to ride those big blue waves. The guys call her Gidget, a cross between Girl and Midget, which is a barrier to Francie in the beginning, because it shows that the guys only see her as a little girl.

    My grandmother explained as we watched this film together, that this movie was what "made me look at those things in a different way. I had more interest in boys at the end of the movie!" It was the first teenage love story she had ever seen, and she seemed to almost regress to a teenager as we watched the movie together. "Oh, James Darren is such a hunk!" and "I had such a crush on him..."and "what cute clothes she wears!" She commented that after this movie she made it a point to make her wardrobe similar to Sandra Dee's. "Those shirts with the hood like you wear today, they were popular back then too." She went on to say that when girls wanted to get clothes like Gidget's, they shopped at Judy's, and that it was "the absolute place! And I got to shop there!" I could hear her begin to revert to the phrases she used as a teenager as she got excited about the fashions of her childhood.

    Before the movie began, my Grandma thought about what she remembered most clearly about the movie. "I remember the dress she wore, and what color it was. It sticks in my mind to this day." During the scene where Gidget gets dressed to go to the luau, my grandmother interrupts the movie to tell me something else. "There's the dress! I don't even like orange, in fact, I hate the color orange...but that's a very special dress to me."

    This movie was filmed in vibrant color and shot on the beach in Malibu. This alone drew many young people to the film. It was about discovering sex and growing up, and teenagers of the fifties were very interested. This movie was memorable to my grandma and to her friends of the fifties because of a combination longing to be on a beach surfing with hunky surf bums and the excitement for the beginning of love stories made especially for teens. Sandra Dee was the perfect teenage girl in the eyes of the youth in the fifties, because she was pretty, sweet, innocent, and smart, yet she still had the sense of adventure, rebellion, and need for sex in which the kids of the fifties were becoming more and more interested.
    helpful•67
    5
    • Plyncie
    • Nov 29, 2005

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    FAQ6

    • What is 'Gidget' about?
    • Is "Gidget" based on a book?
    • What is a "gidget"?

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • April 10, 1959 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • April entdeckt die Männer
    • Filming locations
      • Leo Carrillo State Beach - 35000 W. Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu, California, USA(beach scenes)
    • Production company
      • Columbia Pictures
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 35 minutes
    • Aspect ratio
      • 2.35 : 1

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