Let's be realistic.

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Adapted from the stage musical, "Bye Bye Birdie" is based on the real-life story of Elvis Presley being drafted. In the film, Conrad Birdie (Jesse Pearson)--a teenage heartthrob--is to visit a small town in Ohio and kiss a local girl as a promotional appearance that would be part of The Ed Sullivan Show's live broadcast.The real star of the film is Ann-Margret (as "local girl: Kim McAfee). There is quite a contrast between the teenage boys, who are all feet and Adam's apples, and Ann-Margret, whose more mature sexuality makes her feel like a Las Vegas dancer. This film does, in fact, serve as a bridge in her film career between "State Fair", with the wholesome Pat Boone, and "Viva Las Vegas", with Elvis.On the adult side, Dick Van Dyke (Albert F. Peterson) and Paul Lyndev(Harry McAfee) reprise their stage roles and sing the songs they are best known for: "Put On a Happy Face" and "Kids", respectively. But for my money, it is Janet Leigh (as Rosie Deleon, Peterson's long-suffering girlfriend) who really shines.The camera work is sometimes amateurish and the choreography liberally borrows from "West Side Story" (1961). The film's story, perhaps more than the stage version, feels very choppy and uneven. Pearson's portrayal of Conrad is more like Lonesome Rhodes ("A Face in the Crowd) than Elvis. Worst of all, Maureen Stapleton is saddled with a caricature of the smothering Jewish mother; the role is so cartoonish it would fit better in "Li'l Abner".Decades after the film's original release, Ann-Margret's performance of the title song, which was added in post production, is the most memorable part of the film.

OK, in the spirit of full disclosure, I am an old guy. In fact this movie was being filmed during my senior year in high school, and released near the time I graduated. But somehow I had never seen it, until now. It has great memories for a number of reasons. First, as a teen I was infatuated with Janet Leigh. She was so pretty and with a nice figure, to me it couldn't get any better. I have seen her in a number of dramatic roles, including Psycho, but never in a comedic role, as here, and she does great.Second, as I went into young adulthood I discovered Ann-Margaret, and to me she was about as nice and beautiful as they get. She is only 4 years older than I am, she was 21 during filming of this movie and she lights up the screen in every scene she is in. Plus a darned good singer.And third, Bobby Rydell. His songs were very popular during the 1960s and seeing him play the role of Ann-Margaret's character was total fun and nostalgic. I can still hear him singing "Dream Lover."The title character of this movie is Jesse Pearson as singer Conrad Birdie, mostly a parody of Elvis Presley, drafted to go into the military, and young girls swoon when he sings. But he also sounded a lot like Bobby Darin in some songs.But the story is just an excuse to sing a few songs and to showcase the talents of the main cast, which also included the likes of Paul Lynde and Ed Sullivan playing himself. The story includes having Kim (Ann- Margaret) and Hugo (Bobby Rydell) realize their love for each other, as well as Albert (Van Dyke) and his secretary Rosie (Leigh).Just a fun, silly movie from the 1960s, with fun, silly songs.

Bye Bye Birdie (1963)A silly, colorful, overlong, upbeat, and, yes, silly musical. Some of it has worn well, like the one really famous song, "Put on a Happy Face," and some of it looks like plain old awkwardness, as with Dick Van Dyke, who was a paradigm of charm and humor in his day.It's certainly not a bad movie. Like many musicals this follows a general formula, including the songwriter on the skids. It adds a couple of fun twists, like the Flubber-like invention of a chemical that changes a person's behavior. (Flubber debuts in the original movie "The Absent Minded Professor in 1961 and if you haven't seen it, it takes silliness much farther.)The main event here is the parody of Elvis in the guise of Conrad Birdie, who drives high school girls wild (and in one scene sends the whole town into a kind of rock and roll love stupor). And of course there is one girl in particular who is drawn into his sway. Kind of. In fact, the problem with the movie throughout is a "kind of sort of" mediocrity. Even the love stupor scene, which might have expanded into something hilarious, is cut short and left to fizzle. The Ed Sullivan show segment (with the real Ed Sullivan) is fun but filmed with deadening rigidity. The one near-exception to all this is the sped up Moscow Ballet sequence, which is quite long, and which is hilarious. It includes a few references to Cold War tensions, even with one Russian onlooker banging on his head with his shoe. You don't get it? Exactly. If you don't remember (or haven't heard about) Khruschev and his shoe, it's a subtlety lost.Next to Van Dyke is a whipped up Janet Leigh--quite the opposite of the Leigh now legendary for being slashed in the show of a Hitchcock thriller, or for being tortured in an earlier Welles noir. Yes, a good pedigree, even just finishing the archetypal version of "The Manchurian Candidate" the year before. I like her more and more as I see her less pigeon-holed, and she holds up her part well as the hopeful bride-to-be. The music? The choreography? The dancing and singing? It's mostly fair to middling stuff. Enjoyable to a point (depending on your leanings) but it falls short compared to other musicals of the time. It apparently fell far short of the Broadway version it was modeled after, too, getting panned for its lame choreography by critics in 1963. So why see it? Well, for one thing, the sheer nutty, Technicolor artificiality of it all--it's like entering another world. It's not reality--not a minority in sight, no hints of the real 1960s starting to unravel. This is already a slightly nostalgic look at an Elvis kind of 1957 universe, six years after it was over. Weird.

Finally, after more than 45 years, I have watched Bye Bye Birdie all the way through. I have tried to view it many times through these years but could never get through it! In no way does Conrad Birdie remind me of Elvis Presley. He looks like a strange version of a country-western performer that cannot sing a note. It's an insult to Elvis' memory to try and tell us that this movie was based on his career.Well below par are the performances of Janet Leigh, Dick Van Dyke, Ann-Margret as well as others who starred in this film. I have never been an Ann-Margaret fan to begin with but I do love Ms. Leigh, Dick Van Dyke, Maureen Stapleton and Paul Lynde. None of these talented people could save this movie. The songs are completely unmemorable and the production numbers are not well done. The only performer I enjoyed was Bobby Rydell. At least he was a teenage heartthrob. Maybe they should have given the role of Conrad Birdie to him. Thumbs down on this over rated musical.