Bye Bye Birdie (1963)

One of the great injustices foisted upon the entertainment world was perpetrated when gay men claimed for themselves sole right of enjoyment for musical romantic-comedy motion pictures. Straight males, turn on your TVs, fire up your DVDs, and unite! Take back the joy of melodic movie-going, starting with a delightful viewing of Bye Bye Birdie (1963). Based largely and loosely upon the public fascination with the induction of massively popular rock singer Elvis Presley into the United States Armed Services, Bye Bye employs boisterous bouts of singing and dancing to tell the tale of an ambitious young lass whose plans for her songwriting boyfriend’s success impel her to hijack the nation’s obsession with an entertainer modeled upon Elvis the Pelvis. Counter-intuitively, Birdie’s most sensational swiveling and crooning come from the lips and hips of a young Ann-Margret.