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In the opening of Bye Bye Birdie, Kim McAfee (Ann-Margaret) is singing the title song (which happens to be reprised at the end). It turns out that the star of the song, an Elvis-like Conrad Birdie (Jesse Pearson), is going to be drafted into the army. Not being alive in the Elvis days, I thought that everyone was overreacting whenever Birdie came on. But I supposed it's one of those "you had to be there" things.
Meanwhile, Albert Peterson (Dick van Dyke) and Rosie DeLeon (Janet Leigh) are planning to get married. If only Albert could tell his mama (Maureen Stapleton). Albert wrote a song for Birdie to sing on the Ed Sullivan show when Birdie gives a good-bye kiss to someone from the fan club. That's right, it's Kim McAfee.
In Kim's small town, everyone is excited, except for her steady boyfriend Hugo Peabody (Bobby Rydell) and her father Harry (Paul Lynde). So mishaps occur, including chemical mixes that make people go at quick speeds.
There are great songs, such as Lynde's "Kids" song, which has become classic. The songs, however, didn't occupy a lot of the film (which runs under two hours!), unlike other musicals, such as The Music Man. They had great stretches without song, and then three of them clustered together. It could have been more evenly distribuited throughout the movie and even had made the movie longer.
There really wasn't much of a plot to Bye Bye Birdie. It went from "No, you can't go on the Ed Sullivan show" to "Let's speed up the ballet dancers". It was connected, but if someone asked you to plot it in one sentence, you wouldn't be able to. I had to write three paragraphs to sum it up, which is two over what I usually do.
Lynde is basically hilarious as Mr. McAfee. He actually has a good voice (I knew him previously from The Hollywood Squares), and can put in perfect comic timing. Ann-Margaret was really good, also, as is the rest of the cast. On the down side of things, I didn't think Pearson was that great as Birdie (who was only in a couple of scenes). He didn't have a good voice and seemed too smug.
Bye Bye Birdie was pretty funny, but not steady. As previously mentioned, Lynde was really funny with his odd voice and sardonic tone. He says once, "Next time I have a daughter, I hope it's a boy." The movie also tries to take it too seriously at some points, and then at other points it is totally irreverant. And the ballet dancing scene was a little too long. If they needed to cut it from its four minute length, didn't they show it for at least four minutes?
Bye Bye Birdie is a musical with great songs but an uneven plot that will probably delight you.
Rated G for nothing objectionable.
Review Date: November 22, 2002