Bye Bye Birdie is a 1963 American musical romantic comedy film directed by George Sidney from a screenplay by Irving Brecher, based on Michael Stewart's book of the 1960 musical of the same name. It also features songs by composer Charles Strouse and lyricist Lee Adams, and a score by Johnny Green. Produced by Fred Kohlmar, the film stars Janet Leigh, Dick Van Dyke, Ann-Margret, Maureen Stapleton, Bobby Rydell, Jesse Pearson, and Ed Sullivan. Van Dyke and featured player Paul Lynde reprised their roles from the original Broadway production.
The story was inspired by Elvis Presley being drafted into the United States Army in 1957. Jesse Pearson plays the role of teen idol Conrad Birdie, whose character name is a word play on country singer Conway Twitty, who was himself a teen idol pop artist at that time.
The film was Van Dyke's feature film debut and helped make Ann-Margret a superstar during the mid-1960s. Her performance earned a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress and her next role was with Presley in Viva Las Vegas.
In 2006, the film was ranked number 38 on Entertainment Weekly's list of the 50 Best High School Movies.
Plot[]
In 1962, popular rock and roll superstar Conrad Birdie receives an Army draft notice, devastating his teenage fans nationwide. Despite his doctorate in biochemistry, unsuccessful songwriter Albert Peterson schemes with his secretary and long-suffering girlfriend Rosie DeLeon to have Conrad sing a song Albert will write. Rosie convinces Ed Sullivan to have Conrad perform Albert's song "One Last Kiss" on The Ed Sullivan Show and then kiss a randomly chosen high school girl goodbye before joining the Army. After this succeeds, Albert will feel free to marry Rosie, despite his widowed, meddlesome mother Mae's long history of interfering with her son's life.
Columbus, Ohio, is chosen as the location for Conrad's farewell performance. The random lucky girl chosen, Kim MacAfee, is thrilled, unlike her high school sweetheart, Hugo Peabody. The teenagers of nearby Sweet Apple, blissfully unaware of their town's impending fame, are spending the "Telephone Hour" discussing the latest gossip: Kim and Hugo have just gotten pinned (a tradition where a boy gives a girl his fraternity pin, indicating a serious commitment to each other) and Kim feels grown up ("How Lovely to Be a Woman").
Upon Conrad's arrival, the teenage girls sing their anthem, "We Love You Conrad", while the boys express their dislike of him ("We Hate You Conrad!"). Sweet Apple becomes very popular, but some local adults are unhappy with the sudden celebrity, especially after Conrad's song "Honestly Sincere" and his hip-thrusting moves cause every woman, including the mayor's wife, to faint.
Pressured by the town's leading citizens, Kim's father Harry declines to allow her to kiss Conrad on television, until Albert placates him by promising that his "whole family" will be on Sullivan's TV show ("Hymn for a Sunday Evening"). Albert reveals to Harry that he is actually a biochemist who has developed a miracle supplement for domestic animals that will make a hen lay three eggs a day; they test it on the family's pet tortoise, which speeds out the door. Harry, a fertilizer salesman, sees a great future for himself marketing this pill with Albert.
Hugo feels threatened by Conrad, but Kim reassures him that he is the "One Boy" for her. Rosie, meanwhile, feels unappreciated by Albert, who persuades her to "Put on a Happy Face". Albert's mother Mae shows up, distressed to find the pair together; Harry is also agitated about Conrad's monopoly of his house and Kim's behavioral changes. Both lament the problems with "Kids" today.
During rehearsal for the broadcast, an impatient Conrad kisses Kim (who swoons). Hugo is hurt and Kim breaks up with him. Later that night, at the local malt shop, Conrad, Kim, Hugo, and many of their friends assert that they have "A Lot of Livin' to Do". Meanwhile, after being informed the Russian Ballet has switched to a different dance requiring extra time, therefore eliminating Conrad's song and farewell kiss to Kim, Albert unsuccessfully attempts to convince the Ballet's manager to shorten its performance. Afterwards, he dejectedly decides to drown his sorrows at Maude's Madcap Café, a local bar.
Surprisingly, he finds Mae there, playing canasta with the owner Mr. Maude, also a widower. Rosie, fed up with Albert and his mother, also goes to the café for "a night to remember". After ordering three drinks (but only gulping down one), Rosie goes into another room where the Shriners convention is taking place. She starts dancing and flirting with the men ("Sultans' Ballet"), but when the scene becomes too wild, Albert rescues her from the crazed Shriners.
The next day, Rosie formulates how to get back Conrad's spot on The Ed Sullivan Show that evening. She slips one of Albert's pills into the orchestra conductor's milk, which speeds up the ballet, amusing the audience, offending the Russians and placing Conrad back on the show to sing "One Last Kiss". However, just as Conrad is about to kiss Kim, Hugo runs onstage and punches Conrad, knocking him out on the live telecast, which shocks Albert and Rosie.
Kim and Hugo reunite. Albert is free to marry now ("Rosie") and his mother agrees, revealing her own marriage to Mr. Maude. All three couples live happily ever after. Kim, now wiser, bids Conrad a fond goodbye in "Bye Bye Birdie (Reprise)".
Cast[]
- Janet Leigh as Rosie DeLeon
- Dick Van Dyke as Albert Peterson
- Ann-Margret as Kim MacAfee
- Maureen Stapleton as Mae Peterson
- Bobby Rydell as Hugo Peabody
- Jesse Pearson as Conrad Birdie
- Ed Sullivan as himself
- Paul Lynde as Harry MacAfee
- Mary LaRoche as Doris MacAfee
- Michael Evans as Claude Paisley
- Robert Paige as Bob Precht
- Gregory Morton as Maestro Borov
- Bryan Russell as Randolph MacAfee
- Milton Frome as Mr. Maude
- Trudi Ames as Ursula
In addition, in uncredited cameo appearances as themselves, are two CBS personalities: former ABC News anchor turned CBS game show host John Daly, doing a live news report from in front of the United States Capitol; and The Ed Sullivan Show orchestra leader Ray Bloch, reprising that role.