Gidget

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Paul Wendkos directs. Burnett Guffey behind the camera. Arthur Morton scores. William A. Lyon cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 167 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
• 2Part of the "The Gidget Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
• 3Lean credit list — fewer than 30 people officially credited.
• 4Directed by Paul Wendkos, shot by Burnett Guffey. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
• 5Original score by Arthur Morton. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
• 6Editor William A. Lyon shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 7Sandra Dee and James Darren and Cliff Robertson carry the top of the cast.
• 8Marketing tagline: "Watch out Brigitte...here comes Gidget!".
• 9IMDB entry: tt0052847 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
• 10Only 44 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

The technical file

Cinematography

Burnett Guffey

Original score

Arthur Morton

Editing

William A. Lyon

Makeup / hair

Clay Campbell

Runtime

95 min · 1h 35m

Aspect ratio (typical)

1.37:1 (Academy)

Status

Released

Box office

$1,500,000

Original language

EN

Certification (US)

NR

IMDB

Gidget (1959) ↗

Rotten Tomatoes

55% 🥫 Rotten

IMDB rating

6.6/10 · 3,940 votes

MPAA

Approved

Part of

The Gidget Collection

The Complete Gidget Collection

• 
  Gidget

  1959 · this one
• 
  Gidget Goes Hawaiian

  1961
• 
  Gidget Goes to Rome

  1963
• 
  Gidget Grows Up

  1969
• 
  Gidget Gets Married

  1972
• 
  Gidget's Summer Reunion

  1985

Also by

Paul Wendkos

• 
  Different

  1999 · ★ 10.0
• 
  The Family Rico

  1972 · ★ 9.5
• 
  The Five of Me

  1981 · ★ 9.3
• 
  The Delphi Bureau: The Merchant of Death Assignment

  1972 · ★ 9.0
• 
  Sister Margaret and the Saturday Night Ladies

  1987 · ★ 9.0
• 
  Golden Gate

  1981 · ★ 9.0

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

• 

  ▶
  Gidget (1959) ORIGINAL TRAILER [HD 1080p]

  Trailer

Community reviews

What people are saying

• Wuchak2018-05-27
  ★ 8/10

  The first beach flick with surprising mindfood minus the goofiness RELEASED IN 1959 and directed by Paul Wendkos, "Gidget” is a beach drama about a 16 year-old tomboyish girl (Sandra Dee) who gravitates toward a group of surfing males in Southern Cal, specifically Malibu. Kahuna (Cliff Robertson), a surf “bum” and leader of the group, becomes her figurative big brother as she tries to attract the attentions of Kahuna’s mentee, Moondoggie (James Darren). The film is iconic and influential, leading to two sequels and a TV series, not to mention scores of 60’s beach flicks, most inferior because they lack the depth and went the zany route. Dee was only 16 during shooting, but seemed more mature than her years and is remarkably strong as the petite protagonist. She’s a combo of youthful energy, honesty and unexpected insight & understanding. The film scores high marks in the female department in general with curvy Yvonne Craig (aka Batgirl) notable in the first act, but there are several others in the periphery. The movie’s iconic because it’s about way more than girl-meets-boy frolics, although there’s some of that. For instance, Kahuna says "Who says so?" in response to how we 'have' to live our lives. Later, he recognizes "everything has a price" or, put differently, everything has a tradeoff. He desperately seeks total freedom, but realizes it doesn’t really exist in our present world, but he instinctively seeks it. His epiphany leads to an important decision. Then there's Moondoggie who admires Kahuna and intends on following in his footsteps as an alternative to his staunch father's more conventional path to status. Yet it's still about status for Moondoggie and not a lifestyle choice for its own sake, as it supposedly is with Kahuna. What happens to Flyboy (the pet bird) sets up a weighty conversation between Kahuna and Gidget, which offers insights about Kahuna's past, including his time in the Korean War and how it affected him. Perhaps he was working out a case of PTSD. Five years of dropping out of mainstream life and living on the beach was what he needed to get it out of his system and, by the end of the movie, he seems back for the attack. Steve Jobs, founder of Apple computers, had a chapter in his life of living on the street and doing drugs, asking the big questions, etc. He now says it was an instrumental part of his life. Even the whole Kahuna almost having sex with the under-aged Gidget was ballsy for 1959. Kahuna genuinely didn’t intend to, and actually wanted to teach Gidge a lesson, but he wasn’t above doing it since he was a little drunk and she was sorta insisting. Shortly later, Moondoggie reprimands Kahuna for it. THE MOVIE RUNS 1 hour, 35 minutes and was shot in Leo Carrillo State Beach, Malibu, California. WRITERS: Frederick Kohner (novel) and Gabrielle Upton (screenplay). GRADE: A-

  Read full review ↓

Production companies

Who made it

• 

  Columbia Pictures

  US

Key crew

• NovelFrederick Kohner
• Art DirectionRoss Bellah
• EditorWilliam A. Lyon
• ProducerLewis J. Rachmil
• Set DecorationWilliam Kiernan
• Sound SupervisorJohn P. Livadary
• Makeup ArtistClay Campbell
• HairstylistHelen Hunt
• Assistant DirectorMilton Feldman

Release history · US

When it landed

• Theatrical1959-04-09NR

Also known as

International titles

• Maldosamente IngênuaBR