DR. GOLDFOOT AND THE BIKINI MACHINE [1965] [101 Films] [Blu-ray] [1965 / 2016] [UK Release] Manufactured by the evil Dr. Goldfoot with KISS-BUTTON … KILL-BUTTON and of course MYSTERY-BUTTON with All New Parts Tested, Approved and ready to GO-GO-GO!
The dastardly Dr. Goldfoot [Vincent Price] and his sidekick, Igor [Jack Mullaney], build a machine that mass-produces an army of bikini-clad beauties. Dr. Goldfoot programs the vixens to seduce the wealthiest men alive and convince them to sign their fortunes over to him so that he may take over the world!
Before long, the manufactured women begin to succeed and one robot Diane [Susan Hart] is sent to coax multimillionaire Todd Armstrong [Dwayne Hickman] into handing over his wealth. Hot on her tail is government spy Craig Gamble [Frankie Avalon], as he attempts to take down her and the other femme fatales and bring Dr. Goldfoot’s plan to a screeching halt. But is the spy immune to her charms?
“Pretty darn stupid, which is not at all an impediment to it being a terrific lot of fun!” – Antagony
FILM FACT: Frankie Avalon and Dwayne Hickman play the same characters they did in the previous year’s ‘Ski Party’ film, except that the characters’ names were swapped. Annette Funicello makes a brief cameo appearance as a girl locked in medieval stocks in Dr. Goldfoot's lair. Frankie Avalon lifts her head, then looks at the camera and says, “It can't be!” Pregnant with her first child at the time, Annette Funicello was placed in the stocks in order to hide her stomach. Harvey Lembeck also makes a cameo appearance as his Eric Von Zipper character, enchained along with his motorcycle in Dr. Goldfoot's lair. Harvey Lembeck also appeared as Dr. Goldfoot's assistant Hugo, in the TV special The Wild Weird World of Dr. Goldfoot. Among the girls who play Dr. Goldfoot's robots are Deanna Lund, three years before joining the cast of Irwin Allen's science fiction series Land of the Giants; China Lee, a former Playboy Playmate married to Mort Sahl; Luree Holmes and Laura Nicholson, the daughters of James H. Nicholson and Alberta Nelson, who was also in all seven of AIP's Beach Party films as a member of Eric Von Zipper's motorcycle gang, The Rat Pack. The original title was announced as Dr. Goldfoot and the Sex Machine, and the film was to be directed by William Asher. Norman Taurog shortly thereafter assumed the helm as director, and Dwayne Hickman joined the cast. Filming began in late summer 1965, with one of AIP's largest-ever budgets. It was the first AIP movie to cost over a million dollars. Vincent Price stated in a 1987 interview with David Del Valle that the original script was a camp musical, comparing it to Little Shop of Horrors. Vincent Price said, “It could have been fun, but they cut all the music out” and though it is not clear whether the footage was actually shot or the idea was abandoned during production, so sadly we will never know.
Cast: Vincent Price, Frankie Avalon, Dwayne Hickman, Susan Hart, Jack Mullaney, Fred Clark, Patti Chandler, Mary Hughes [Robot], Salli Sachse [Robot], Luree Holmes [Robot], Sue Hamilton [Robot], Laura Nicholson [Robot], Marianne Gaba [Robot], China Lee [Robot], Issa Arnal [Robot], Deanna Lund [Robot], Pamela Rodgers [Robot #12], Leslie Summers [Robot], Sally Frei [Robot], Kay Michaels [Robot], Jan Watson [Robot], Arlene Charles [Robot], Alberta Nelson [Robot Reject #12], Milton Frome, Hal Riddle, William Baskin, Vincent L. Barnett, Joe Ploski, Kaye Elhardt, David Sharpe, Ronnie Rondell Jr., Carey Loftin, Louie Elias, Troy Milton, Marie Ann Leslie, Ronnie Dayton, Paul Stader, Harvey Parry, Jerry Summers, Fred Stromsoe, Sam and the Apemen [Band at The Condor Club], Diane De Marco [Singer at The Condor Club], Annette Funicello, Deborah Walley, Harvey Lembeck, Aron Kincaid, Philip Bent (uncredited), Charlene Glazer (uncredited), Christopher Riordan (uncredited) and Peter Sachse (uncredited)
Director: Norman Taurog + Ishirô Honda (earlier film clips) (uncredited)
Producers: Anthony Carras, James H. Nicholson and Samuel Z. Arkoff
Screenplay: Elwood Ullman (screenplay), James H. Nicholson (story), Louis M. Heyward (screenplay) (uncredited) and Robert Kaufman (screenplay)
Composer: Les Baxter
Costume Design: Richard Bruno
Make-up and Hair Style Department: Ted Coodley (Make-up artist), Jon Peters (Hair stylist: Miss Hart) and Ray Forman (Hair stylist)
Cinematography: Samuel Leavitt, A.S.C. (Director of Photography)
Special Effects: Art Griggs (Special effects technician) (uncredited) and Roger George (Special effects)
Image Resolution: 1080p (Pathécolor)
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 (Panavision)
Audio: English: 2.0 L{CM Stereo Audio
Subtitles: None
Running Time: 88 minutes
Region: Region B/2
Number of discs: 1
Studio: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer / American International Pictures / 101 Films
Andrew’s Blu-ray Review: ‘DR. GOLDFOOT AND THE BIKINI MACHINE’ [1965] No, it’s not a new Rob Zombie song, instead it is actually 101 Films ultimate brilliant Blu-ray release of this very obscure screwball sci-fi/comedy released in 1965. One of the other great things about the film ‘DR. GOLDFOOT AND THE BIKINI MACHINE’ is the wonderful camp animation at the start of the film with the titles and other outrageous stuff.
‘DR. GOLDFOOT AND THE BIKINI MACHINE’ which of course starred the wonderful over the top Vincent Price as the title character Dr. Goldfoot and the film is set in San Francisco and one of its plus points is its good use of locations with the Coit Tower, Golden Gate Bridge, the Ferry Building and Nob Hill prominent throughout.
Dr. Goldfoot is a super villain of the Lex Luther variety who will be hell bent on world domination by the second film. Here he is dispatching his girl robots, the best programmed of which is Diane, robot #7 who moves through the streets of San Francisco with purpose, stopping traffic and eventually running into her target, the wealthy and lusty young Craig Gamble [Frankie Avalon].
Diane, robot #7 brief is to seduce him to sign over his wealth to her and ultimately Dr. Goldfoot once they marry. A secret SIC agent named Todd Armstrong [Dwayne Hickman] tries to uncover Dr. Goldfoot. Together the dumb pair of Craig Gamble and Todd Armstrong n try to stop Dr. Goldfoot and his army of bikini clad robots. The film ends with a spectacular chase sequence through the streets of San Francisco.
All I can say about the film is that again it is a totally brilliant screwball sci-fi/comedy film and is the only accurate word I can summon to describe what was offered up here. As far as the 1960’s sci-fi/comedy genre goes, this is right up there with… ummmm … Dr. Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs which was interestingly directed a year later in ‘66 by horror icon Mario Bava no less, which I will also be doing this Blu-ray review.
Vincent Price is Dr. Goldfoot is totally amazing. I could stop there as Vincent Price is the real reason enough to watch any movie the actor appears in. Dr. Goldfoot is the mad Doctor who is hell bent on creating an army of bikini clad robot women to do his bidding. Dr. Goldfoot aims to take over the world by using the bikini assassins to marry the most powerful men in the world and inherit their fortunes. All in all, this is quite brilliant really.
Again actor Vincent Price is on really top form in this film, and of course is camp as Christmas and devours every scene with some effortlessly sinister/silly gestures and typical hand rubbing malice. Hot on his tail is government agent Craig Gamble, played by the surprisingly entertaining Frankie Avalon, who provides the hero role. Unfortunately, Frankie Avalon is so animated in his scenes; I personally thought he was a cartoon character for most part of the film.
‘DR. GOLDFOOT AND THE BIKINI MACHINE’ is one of those campy'60s movies that are, basically, an excuse to show bikini-clad girls in a movie. Vincent Price stars as the mad scientist Dr. Goldfoot, with an insane plan to rob all the world's richest men. Frankie Avalon plays a bumbling secret agent trying to foil Dr. Goldfoot's evil scheme, and even pokes fun at his Beach Blanket history. This movie has a ridiculous story, but it has some good qualities. For one thing, the animated opening credit sequence is fun and eye-catching. For another, the chase scene is a good laugh. And, if nothing else, it has better production values than its sequel, Dr. Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs. Despite some not very negative comments about the film ‘DR. GOLDFOOT AND THE BIKINI MACHINE,’ for me personally it is a totally joyous rollicking camp film and it is helped all the way to the end of the film with the one and only wonderful over the top brilliant actor Vincent Price.
DR. GOLDFOOT AND THE BIKINI MACHINE MUSIC TRACK LIST
DR. GOLDFOOT AND THE BIKINI MACHINE (Words and Music by Guy Hemric and Jerry Styner) [Performed by The Supremes] Through the courtesy of Motown Record Corporation
* * * * *
Blu-ray Image Quality – Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, American International Pictures and 101 Films presents us the film ‘DR. GOLDFOOT AND THE BIKINI MACHINE’ with a wonderful over the top camp Pathécolor 1080p image and shown in the equally wonderful 2.35:1 aspect ratio. On top of all that, and the detail and colour on Dr. Goldfoot looks really great, perfectly capturing the swingin’ look of the modern films of the 1960's and most of all, the transfer is quite clean with minimal dirt and no damage to report.
Blu-ray Audio Quality – Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, American International Pictures and 101 Films brings us the wonderful film ‘DR. GOLDFOOT AND THE BIKINI MACHINE’ with an even more wonderful 2.0 LPCM Stereo Audio experience. The dialogue is very clear and the music has satisfying fidelity, and also well-balanced for the most part, there are a few wrinkles in the track here and there, but nothing to distract from the film. Curiously, some effects seem to pop out in the forefront, but again, it's not too much of a distraction. So all in all, I think the audio experience really helped me enjoy all of the film.
* * * * *
Blu-ray Special Features and Extras: Sadly, there are not any special features featured on this Blu-ray release.
Finally, ‘DR. GOLDFOOT AND THE BIKINI MACHINE’ [1965] is so 1960’s and it is almost like watching a parody. Directed by Oscar winning Norman Taurog; the man behind nine of Elvis’ movies. Norman Taurog fills every scene with hot robot women, innuendos and lots of madcap behaviour. For a film that is over 50 years old and from a time when kooky sci-fi and impromptu dancing was a staple diet in film in that period, I found ‘DR. GOLDFOOT AND THE BIKINI MACHINE’ extremely entertaining and extremely very camp, which helped with the wonderful Oscar actor Vincent Price. What can one say about this movie, it is totally ridiculous, but totally irresistible at the same time. Vincent Price is always great camp fun, the film has great vibrant colour and location photography. ‘DR. GOLDFOOT AND THE BIKINI MACHINE’ is a perfect time capsule of how much fun the 1960’s was. The Les Baxter composed score and song is great and the opening number with The Supremes, no less, is a Les Baxter rockin’ classic composed score! The HD transfer is flawless with rich colours and little grain. The sound is also excellent but no special features to speak of unfortunately. ‘DR. GOLDFOOT AND THE BIKINI MACHINE’ Blu-ray release is a totally perfect purchase for Vincent Price ultimate fans and I am one of them and of course for the ultimate fans of this era of film making. Hell, just watch for Frankie Avalon’s facial expressions, it is totally priceless! Highly Recommended!
Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film Aficionado
Le Cinema Paradiso
United Kingdom
