Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

Big rock star Conrad Birdie gets drafted. It's a teen crisis. Aspiring songwriter Albert Peterson (Dick Van Dyke) is desperate to have him sing his song on Ed Sullivan. In six years, he has not sold one song. He's a biochemist by schooling. His girlfriend Rosie DeLeon (Janet Leigh) convinces Ed Sullivan for a final Birdie performance where he gives a girl one final kiss. Of course, she wants Albert's song and picks Ohio fan Kim McAfee (Ann-Margret) to receive the kiss.Ann-Margret's opening song and dance is memorable. She's quite the sex kitten. This predates her work with Elvis Presley which is very prescient. It's very old Broadway musical and middle America nuclear family fare. It's almost a 50's America satire. Dick Van Dyke seems 40ish and too old for the role. While the real Ed Sullivan makes an appearance, I wonder how great would this be with Presley playing Birdie. Again it's more like a spoof which is perfectly fine. There is plenty of great songs. If there is a star in this movie, it's Ann-Margret. She outshines Janet Leigh who is structurally the female lead.

The only way to get much enjoyment out of this film, just grab a few vignettes. For instance the "Ed Sullivan" song. Or perhaps the scene where Ann-Margret changes under her sweater. I agree with one reviewer who talks about how the Elvis character became passé before this musical came out. His star was fading and he was going underground and making horrible movies. As a result, this is one of the dullest musicals I have ever seen, but some of the songs are pretty good. The adulation of Conrad and the anticipation of his arrival just doesn't seem to work. I saw this in high school. Hooray for Paul Lynde, but beyond him I can't think of any other significant moments.

On the surface, this film is still moderately entertaining. But there's much to take away from it half a century later that was never intended. It depicts a world that suddenly disappeared soon after. Clinging to the last vestiges of Eisenhower-era innocence (when the Broadway production played) the film was dated by the time it opened. 1963 ushered in a slew of events that changed everything - the Kennedy assassination, the civil rights movement, The Beatles. The people of "Bye Bye Birdie" didn't know what was about to hit them. Ann- Margret's chaste romance with Bobby Rydell is way too saccharine. Janet Leigh is an uncomfortable choice as a Latina spitfire (a role played onstage by Chita Rivera who apparently wasn't palatable for movie audiences). Paul Lynde steals the show with his hilarious signature shtick, which today would be openly gay. It's hard to take any of this without a grain of salt. Not to be overlooked are the embarrassing opening and closing sequences where Ann-Margret sings and mugs for the camera while inexplicably mispronouncing "Birdie."

Released in 1963 - Bye Bye Birdie's story was inspired by the sensation caused when Elvis Presley was drafted into the US Army in 1957.In this light-hearted Musical/Comedy/Romance it was actor Jack Pearson who played the role of the hip-shaking teen idol, Conrad Birdie. Birdie's name was a word-play on the name of another pop singer of that era, Conway Twitty.Elvis Presley, himself, was the first choice for the part of Birdie, but his manager, Colonel Tom Parker, rejected the idea as he didn't want Presley to appear in any roles that were parodies of himself.Ed Sullivan, the popular TV host of his long-running show on CBS, appeared as himself.Set in the small town of Sweet Apple, Ohio, Bye Bye Birdie's story has a lively, good-natured feel to it, but its situations do sometimes get a bit silly and overblown.Before the swaggering pop-star, Conrad Birdie is officially drafted into the service he is scheduled by his publicity agent to appear in a final, farewell performance on the ever-popular Ed Sullivan Show.At this gala event he will sing "One Last Kiss" and, then, bestow upon the one, lucky girl (chosen at random), a "symbolic" goodbye kiss at the finale.Needless to say, Birdie's much-anticipated arrival in Sweet Appple causes hysteria amongst the teenage girls, resentment amongst the teenage boys, and great concern amongst the parents who believe that Birdie is a bad influence on the morals of their impressionable children.Bye Bye Birdie's 2 most notable musical numbers were "Got A Lot Of Livin' To Do" and "Put On a Happy Face". This film also featured a good cast which included Janet Leigh, Dick Van Dyke, Ann-Margret, and Bobby Rydell.