Why is this rated so low?
Stupid white men hate on anything that isn't a new superhero movie. This was always too trite to be considered one of the truly great musicals, but a 6.6 is too low.
shareI've always liked it, but even fans of the movie have to dock it several points
for various reasons, among them:
Eliminating much of the racial tension between Albert's mother and his fiancee that was in the original play. Casting Janet Leigh in the part of Rose
and eliminating the "Spanish Rose" song dulls his mother's animosity towards her
and just makes her a typical smothering mother stereotype, as well as lessening
Rose's importance in the movie version.
That silly, cartoonish "speed-up" pill and the rushin' ballet subplot.
The "what might had been" factor: Jesse Pearson was good as Conrad Birdie, but
at one point Elvis Presley himself was considered for the Birdie part. It would
have been a lot of fun to see him in his element and poking fun at the real-life
fuss of his own Army induction. Unfortunately, his overbearing manager prohibited
him from taking the part, on the grounds that he would make a fool of himself (instead
casting him in all those much more dignified '60s vehicles such as Clambake and Kissin' Cousins.)
I'm not crying, you fool, I'm laughing!
Hewwo.
Pearson was fine and Elvis just would've been distracting. Plus then we might not have gotten Viva Las Vegas, which works as an Elvis-Ann-Margret pairing. The eliminated racial tension, okay, but I'm not sure that many IMDb users would care. And it's not like this was West Side Story; it wasn't really integral to the plot.
share[deleted]
Keeping a subplot of white/Latina racial tensions would have just dated the movie. Besides, I don't think most IMDB readers are old enough to care about most of the shortcomings you listed.
I agree that the movie should be rated higher but a 6.6 rating isn't bad for a 50+ year old musical that wasn't especially acclaimed in its day.