The Movie I Watched Last Night XLVI
Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine
What a strange little movie. Trying to combine elements of James Bond and the beach movies of Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello, Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine may very well have provided some of the inspiration for more recent movies such as the Austin Powers series and Mars Attacks!. Vincent Price plays a slightly fey mad scientist who's created an army of female robots to swindle rich men out of their fortunes. Frankie Avalon himself plays a bumbling not-so-secret agent who witlessly stumbles onto the plot. Jack Mullaney shines as the dimwitted back-from-the-dead assistant Igor. And hilarity ensues. This movie is a throwaway except for its San Francisco setting and blue-screen chase scene down the crookedest street in the world -- and for the brief appearance of Funcicello in an uncredited cameo. But in the end, this B movie puts the "b" in "bad." The Supremes must have been awfully hard up to contribute the theme song.