Shawn Cullen

Ah, 'Bye, Bye Birdie"! One of my all-time favorites. This movie set box office records at NYC's Radio City Music Hall when it opened there (yes, they used to show movies there!). It's a very clever film adaptation of a popular Broadway show, made at a time when movie musicals were no longer a guaranteed hit at the box office (tastes were changing). This film is very colorful and clever and the choreography and orchestrations are remarkable. Very much of its time, as one film critic wrote "If you took a 1962 issue of Mad Magazine and made it into a film, this would be it." It hits all the pop culture notes of the time: Cold War anxiety, Rock and Roll, the generation gap, the pervasive power of TV. And it's fun.