Rent Bye Bye Birdie (1963)

Musical Satire. - Bye Bye Birdie review by Steve

Punishingly energetic High School musical from the Broadway stage which made a star of Ann-Margret. She's a girl from Sweet Apple, Ohio who wins a competition to  kiss rock and roll bad boy Conrad Birdie (Jesse Pearson) before he goes in the army. And, that's pretty much it. Dick Van Dyke and Janet Leigh were nominal stars as backroomers for Ed Sullivan, but it's a showcase for Ann-Margret.

Not only for her astonishingly dynamic dancing and faux-naif vocals but her alluring freshness. And abundant sex appeal. The film is kinetically directed in primary colours and widescreen by musical veteran George Sydney. Including split screen effects. The huge peak is the extended A Lot of Livin' to Do, which belongs among the great ensemble dance routines in cinema.

The song everyone remembers is Van Dyke and Leigh's Put On a Happy Face. Dick complained there was too much Ann-Margaret, but actually the screen misses her when she is absent. Of the rest of the cast, Maureen Stapleton is funny as his incredibly passive-aggressive mother. It's a surprisingly sophisticated topical comedy.

And it's a satire of small town America and rock and roll hysteria. Birdie is unambiguously Elvis Presley. Some of the routines are filler, especially a dance number for Janet Leigh which feels like it was included to pump up her screen time. There is some ironic depth, but it's the bright, shiny surface of this joyful film that attracts. And Ann-Margret's magnetic, vibrant portrayal.