Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine (1965)

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

1. Unforgettably hummable title song. 2. Clever clay-mation opening credits. 3. Babes in gold bikinis shaking their money-makers. 4. Susan Hart's over-bite. 5. Susan Hart's legs. 6. Price chewing the scenery. Dwayne Hickman equally up to the task. 7. ''They won't even let you carry a gun until you get a digit instead of a fraction.'' I mean, c'mon, that's comedy gold right there. 8. Frankie Avalon doing some decent physical comedy instead of just standing there grinning at Annette for the entire movie. That's worth 8 right there. This movie is a blast.

Even though this is a funny spoof of the dreadful James Bond franchise and has good performances, the film is visually boring and ugly. I wanted location shots beyond the view opening travelogue images. I wanted interesting camera work. Even music by the Supremes does nothing to overcome the pervasive ugliness in what might have been wonderfully stupid fun. Even Susan Hart cannot redeem it.I confess that I finally turned over to a "Simpson" parody of Christmas movies. I screamed for mercy when I realised what this movie had in store for me. The Simpson's parody of Sesame Street was terrific. Patti Chandler, Mary Hughes, Salli Sachse, and even China Lee appear here. Her brother Mike Lee knew one of my friends. That gives this work a personal touch. I do very much like the outside images from San Francisco when they do appear. This movie had a lot going for it; I wish it had been enough. It just is not good enough to rate a 9. It is not a nihilist masterpiece. That was "Ski Party" with the same cast and themes.

Vincent Price is an out and out legend, and unsurprisingly, this film is often neglected in discussions about the great actors output and that's a good thing, as it's not among his best work. The film is clearly not meant to be taken seriously and reminded me of Austin Powers, though not in a good way as it fails for all the reasons Austin Powers works. The film appears to be spoofing the likes of James Bond, but the jokes aren't funny and the spoofing is way off-cue. The plot revolves around a mad doctor using robots that look like beautiful girls to enslave powerful men (kind of like the Fembots in Austin Powers). The best thing about the film is, of course, Vincent Price and his hammy acting style is revved up the max for this one and it does actually work quite well. Or at least it would if the jokes were funny. Somehow American International Pictures managed to get The Supremes to sing the title song, and while it fits the camp style of the film; it's a highly irritating piece that is liable to get stuck in your head. It's even worse for me, not being a Supremes fan. As you can probably guess from the title, this is a highly camp film and that may appeal to some people, but as far as I'm concerned; it's is a dire comedy with little to recommend it for. Interestingly, the film received a sequel a year later that bizarrely was directed by the great Mario Bava. I've heard it's even worse than this one...but I know I'll still end up seeing it for the people involved.

MASTER PLAN: marry off rich bachelors to female robots and get rich. Of all the films attempting to capture the absurdity and success of the James Bond craze of the sixties, this one is the most ridiculous. This one combines the weird plots of the Bonders with some elements of the stupid beach movies and campy horror of the decade, complete with dungeons and threat of torture (genuinely if mildly amusing). It's an odd mix, to be sure. Then-popular teen idol Avalon, most famous for his beach blanket bingo pics, is an agent (number 00 & 1/2) of S.I.C. (Secret Intelligence Command), based out of my old hometown of San Francisco - nice location long shots and a focus on the winding Lombard street. He's a hapless dope who becomes involved with a femme fatale robot (Hart) accidentally. She's one of several creations originating from the warped brain of Goldfoot (Price), the mad doctor of the title. He's somewhat typical of a Bondian villain wannabe, but Price is best known for his mad scientist roles in typical horror films of that time, so he's kind of a combination of both. Though a mad genius in the comical sense, his goal is nothing more than making some bucks off his robots, so he's actually a futuristic pimp, running a wild & crazy con artist/prostitution ring.The plot is pretty amusing and Price hams it up shamelessly, mugging for the camera and even indulging in that cliché - the sinister mad chuckle. His assistant, Igor, is a complete idiot, a further parody of the mad scientist's aid from the "Frankenstein" movies, existing solely as an ego-boost for the mad scientist, to make him look even smarter - presumably why Goldfoot 'returned' him to life (see also the Luthor/Otis relationship from the "Superman" movies). How much a viewer likes any of this depends on how much patience one has for all the slapstick stunts and silly overplaying by the actors. Igor is the most extreme example, but everyone else also behaves like an idiot. The one surprise is actress Hart, who, besides being easy on the eye, proves to be quite talented, required to act with several different accents, besides other things. She virtually disappeared from the movie business soon after this, unfortunately. The entire premise of robotic babes, a commentary on male attitudes of that period, was repeated in later similar fare - "Some Girls Do" for example, not to mention the obvious "The Stepford Wives" in the seventies. Also note the use of musical sound FX in one scene from a couple of famous sci-fi pics of the fifties, "War of the Worlds" and "Forbidden Planet." Goldfoot and S.I.C. would return in the Italian "Dr.Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs" the following year. Hero:4 Villain:5 Femme Fatales:7 Henchmen:3 Fights:3 Stunts/Chases:4 Gadgets:5 Auto:4 Locations:6 Pace:5 overall:5