My 150 Favorite Movies - #86

Gidget (1959)

It's true - I love Gidget!  Before all the "Beach Blanket Bingo" movies that this film spawned, and the television show of the same name, which made a star out of a very young Sally Field, and all the filmed sequels, there was a book by Frederick Kohner, a novelist, who wrote about the exploits of his daughter and the surf culture in southern California in the 1950's. Sandra Dee brings her vivaciously to life, with such deathless dialogue as "honest to goodness, it's the absolute ultimate." Along for the ride are such newly entrenched iconic figures as "Moondoggie," (James Darren) and "the Big Kahuna" (Cliff Robertson).