Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine is a 1965 Pathécolor comedy film directed by Norman Taurog and distributed by American International Pictures. Starring Vincent Price, Frankie Avalon, Dwayne Hickman, Susan Hart and Jack Mullaney, and featuring Fred Clark, the film is a parody of the then-popular spy trend (the title is a spoof of two James Bond films: the 1962 film Dr. No and the 1964 hit Goldfinger), made using actors from AIP's beach party and Edgar Allan Poe films. The film was retitled Dr G. and the Bikini Machine in England due to a threatened lawsuit from Eon, holder of the rights to the James Bond series. Hickman called it "AIP's attempt to combine horror, bikini babe and secret agents and take advantage of the popularity of the James Bond pictures." Despite its low production values, the film has achieved a certain cult status for the appearance of horror legend Price and AIP's beach party film alumni, its in-jokes and over-the-top sexuality, the claymation title sequence designed by Art Clokey, and a title song performed by The Supremes. Its success led to a sequel, produced in 1966, entitled Dr. Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs.

Plot

Price plays the titular mad scientist who, with the questionable assistance of his resurrected flunky Igor, builds a gang of female robots who are then dispatched to seduce and rob wealthy men. Avalon and Hickman play the bumbling heroes who attempt to thwart Goldfoot's scheme. The film's climax is an extended chase through the streets of San Francisco.

Cast

Robots Cameos Cast notes

Production

The original idea for this motion picture came from James H. Nicholson, the President of American International Pictures, who wanted to showcase the versatile talents of AIP contract player Susan Hart. Nicholson provided the story, and is credited as "James Hartford". He hired Robert Kaufman, author of Ski Party, to write the first draft. In March 1965 it was announced Dr Goldfoot and the Sex Machine would star Vincent Price and Frankie Avalon, and would be directed by William Asher, who had made several Beach Party movies for AIP (he was about to start How to Stuff a Wild Bikini in April and then make Jet Set Party (the latter would never be made). However in June, Norman Taurog - who had just made Sergeant Deadhead for AIP - was announced as director. Director Taurog hired Elwood Ullman to do a rewrite, and Taurog remained intimately involved with the content. Deke Heyward later claimed, without substantiation, that he completely rewrote Robert Kaufman's script. It was the last of three films Hickman made in succession for AIP, the others being Ski Party and How to Stuff a Wild Bikini. Patti Chandler, Mary Hughes and Salli Sachse were graduates of AIP's "Turn to Youth" program which had begun two years previously.

Shooting

Filming started 4 August 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, but AIP "cut out all of the music! They got scared of it. It could have been terribly funny. I think it would have been almost like Little Shop of Horrors. It was a wonderful, witty script, with wonderful witty music and they cut it all out." According to Susan Hart: "One of the best scenes I've seen on film was Vincent Price singing about the bikini machine – it was excellent. And I was told it was taken out because Sam Arkoff thought that Vincent Price looked too fey. But his character was fey! By taking that particular scene out, I believe they took the explanation and the meat out of that picture... It was a really unique explanatory scene and Vincent Price was beautiful in it, right on the money." According to Norman Taurog's biographer: "The original plan had been to follow the AIP formula and have songs integrated throughout the film, but Norman brought in Elwood Ullman to do a rewrite ... and the final script read like a good-natured spoof on the James Bond films with no songs. This apparently disappointed Vincent Price, who had been looking forward to singing." The film is notable for its scenic photography of San Francisco. The streetcar scene was filmed at the West Portal tunnel. Filming went for over 30 days, taking place on location in San Francisco and on the backlots at the Producers Studio and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios. The day after the company returned from San Francisco, rioting broke out in Watts in South Los Angeles. On August 30, the unit moved to MGM Studios Lot 2 to shoot on their "New York Street" set for a couple of days before returning to the Producers Studio. The climactic chase sequence was filmed in the Bay Area. The stuntmen included Carey Loftin, Paul Stader, Troy Melton, Jerry Summers, Ronnie Ron-dell, Bob Harris, Louis Elias, David Sharpe, Harvey Parry, and Bill Hickman. When designing Goldfoot's lair, Daniel Haller re-used some of his designs from 1961's The Pit and the Pendulum. Stock footage of battleships from another AIP release, Godzilla vs. The Thing appears during the climax. Susan Hart's hair was done by Jon Peters. She recalled filming "was great fun and I felt really good about what I did in that picture" calling Taurog "probably the sweetest man I've ever met in my entire life."

Accident

During filming in Los Angeles, the city was gripped by a heatwave. Sometimes temperatures on one of the sound stages reached over 100 F by mid-afternoon. On the afternoon of August 15, 1965, the company was returning from lunch when one of the electricians, Roy Hicks, passed out from the heat and fell to his death from a catwalk.

Theme song

The theme song was recorded by The Supremes as a single-sided unreleased promotional single.

Reception

The film had its premiere at the Golden Gate Theatre in San Francisco, where Nicholson had been a manager. The key cast members embarked on a 30-day tour of 18 cities in 13 countries to promote the film.

Box office

In December 1965 Sam Arkoff said "the bikini beach style has had it. We've had some real bombs lately." Nicholson felt Goldfoot "could be a winner. We could use one." According to Norman Taurog's biographer, the film "was a moderate success in the United States, but did quite well in Europe, particularly in Italy". Samuel Z. Arkoff called it "a medium success", sufficient to make a sequel. Hart says the film "made quite a bit of money." Dwayne Hickman claimed "hardly anyone saw this awful movie."

Critical response

The Los Angeles Times said the film "has enough fresh, amusing gags to make it entertaining... Price is splendid". Hickman complained the movie featured "the worst, overdone drunk scene I've ever played. Even now I shudden when I think how bad I was." He called Goldfoot "a truly terrible picture but Frankie, Vincent and I had such a great time that it somehow made it all worthwhile".

Sequel

AIP Television produced a musical TV special episode promoting Doctor Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine that appeared for one night in temporary place of the ABC scheduled show Shindig! This show, called The Wild Weird World of Dr. Goldfoot, starred Vincent Price, Tommy Kirk and Susan Hart, and featured many songs that may have been cut from the cinema release. Louis M. Heyward and Stanley Ross wrote the 30-minute short comedy musical TV special which aired November 18, 1965 on the ABC network. In July 1965, a sequel was announced to be made the following year called Dr. Goldfoot for President, to begin filming on May 14, 1966, for a September 14 release. Eventually, Vincent Price returned for the 1966 sequel, Dr. Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs, directed by Mario Bava, with Frankie Avalon replaced by Fabian.