Gidget Goes to Rome

Gidget Goes to Rome
1963 theatrical poster
Directed by	Paul Wendkos
Written by	Screen Story and Screenplay: Ruth Brooks Flippen Screenplay: Katherine Eunson Dale Eunson
Starring	Cindy Carol James Darren
Music by	John Williams
Cinematography	Enzo Barboni Robert J. Browner
Editing by	William A. Lyon
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date(s)	August 7, 1963 (1963-08-07)
Running time	104 min.
Country	United States
Language	English

Home video VHS cover

Gidget Goes to Rome is a 1963 Columbia Pictures feature film starring Cindy Carol as the archetypal high school teen surfer girl originally created by Sandra Dee in the 1959 film Gidget. The film is the third of three Gidget films directed by Paul Wendkos and expands upon Gidget's romance with boyfriend Moondoggie. The screenplay was written by Ruth Brooks Flippen based on characters created by Frederick Kohner. Veterans of previous Gidget films making appearances include James Darren as "Moondoggie", Michael Callan, Joby Baker, and Jean "Jeff" Donnell as Gidget's mom, Mrs. Lawrence. The film has been released to VHS and DVD.

Cast

• Cindy Carol as Gidget (Frances Lawrence)
• Don Porter as Russell Lawrence, her father
• Jean "Jeff" Donnell as Mrs. Lawrence, her mother
• James Darren as Moondoggie (Jeffrey Matthews)
• Jessie Royce Landis as Albertina Blythe
• Cesare Danova as Paolo Cellini
• Danielle De Metz as Daniela
• Joby Baker as Judge
• Trudi Ames as Libby Bennet
• Noreen Corcoran as Lucy McDougall
• Peter Brooks as Clay Anderson
• Lisa Gastoni as Senora Cellini
• Claudio Gora as Alberto

Production notes

From left: Trudi Ames as Libby Bennet, Cindy Carol as Frances Lawrence aka Gidget, Peter Brooks as Clay Anderson, James Darren as Jeffrey Mathews aka Moondoggie, and Noreen Corcoran as Lucy McDougall; in a promo clip from a tv broadasting of the film

The film was shot on location in Rome, Italy, with some scenes filmed on Italian beaches.

Reception

Bosley Crowther noted in the New York Times of 12 September 1963, "When Gidget, played with the proper pout and correct ingenuousness by Cindy Caroll[sic], arrives in Rome with her group of happy friends, she is bound to fall in love with a married and handsome Italian magazine writer, enjoy such exotic delicacies as fettucini and chicken cacciatore, and experience the thrill of attending a 'Dolce Vita' cocktail party. As one of Gidget's friends explains, it's part of her 'growing up.' Gidget falls out of love in time...and all ends happily. Jeff sums up the entire experience in two immortal sentences: 'I guess everybody falls in love in Rome in the summer time. It's that old devil Italian moon.'"

External links

• Gidget Goes to Rome at the Internet Movie Database
• Gidget Goes to Rome at AllRovi