Dick Van Dyke and Janet Leigh
I love, love, love the movie Bye Bye Birdie (1963). Dick Van Dyke, Janet Leigh, Paul Lynde, and Ann-Margret are four of my favorite stars and this is one of my favorite films of each. While it is often referred to as an “Ann-Margret movie,” I couldn’t disagree more.
She is, obviously, one of the main characters.. and, in being such, she is featured heavily (funny thing about main characters, that happens).
However, for me anyway (and this is coming from one of Ann-Margret’s biggest fans!), my favorite part of the movie is Dick Van Dyke and Janet Leigh’s storyline. They are wonderful in this movie – in fact, it’s my favorite Janet Leigh role. I wish the beautiful star had done more comedy – she was a natural.
I also wish she’d been brunette more… the dark hair draws more attention to that stunningly beautiful face.
I’d love to see more people watching and enjoying Bye Bye Birdie (link to the dvd on Amazon). We often associate the wonderful Dick Van Dyke and Paul Lynde with television (understandably, they were legends after all!) and Janet Leigh with Psycho (also a legend), but this fun movie shows just how gifted they were in comedy on the big screen. I’ve always thought that, like James Stewart, Dick Van Dyke could have had a career with comedies and dramas – there are moments in Bye Bye Birdie when he proves my point.
The Hilarious Dick Van Dyke
I just love the movie – everything about it. If you’ve never seen it, I hope you’ll check it out soon. And if you love it as much as I do, let the world know – I’d love to see word reach Dick Van Dyke, letting him know how wonderful he was in this film… as well as in everything he ever does!
Dick Van Dyke, Maureen Stapleton, and Janet Leigh