Imagine an "Evil Twin" Gidget or Annette Funicello

gortx

LORD LOVE A DUCK is such a shocking surprise for one who looked at most USA mid-60's cinema as bland and unchallenging. LORD LOVE A DUCK is truly one of the 'lost treasures' of the era. While not 100% successful, Writer-Director Axelrod attempts to show the underside to the sunny innocent beach party/surf culture of the Southern California. Imagine Tuesday Weld as the evil twin of Sandra Dee's GIDGET or Annette Funicello's BEACH PARTY characters - with a distinct 'White Trash' allure. What's so refreshing here is that LORD shows teenagers of the era as they really were - not the scrubbed clean goofballs of the above mentioned prototypes (and you could toss in the squeaky clean image of The Beach Boys to boot - and boy do we now know how deceptive THAT image was!). We don't get simple boy meets girl dating problems here. No, there are masher evangelicals, arsenic poisoning and whipped principals here. Worth seeking out, especially if black comedy is something that pleases you.

score /10

gortx 12 July 2002

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw0094002/