Before diving too deep into this review, I will say yes, Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine is in no way, shape or form a horror movie. It is, however, a scifi movie of sorts. Plus it stars Vincent Price in the titular role and has a sequel (which I’ll also be reviewing) that was directed by Mario Bava. That’s my justification for reviewing the film here, just in case you were wondering.
The film is this weird mashup of various genres and sub-genres. It’s part mad scientist film, part spy spoof, part slapstick comedy and part dancey-60’s-beach-comedy. It’s a silly, light hearted, fun little flick.
Price stars as Dr. Goldfoot, a mad scientist with his heart set on world domination. Realizing that the first step in acquiring power is to get as much money as possible, Dr. Goldfoot creates an army of bikini-clad robots that he plans to use to seduce the wealthiest men in the world and trick them in to signing over their fortunes. The gorgeous army has no problems using their gifts to get what they want. I assume the fembots of the Austin Powers films were heavily inspired by Dr. Goldfoot’s creation.
A robot named Diane (Susan Hart) is programmed to seduce Todd Armstrong (Dwayne Hickman). Unfortunately for Goldfoot she encounters a few problems along the way that put his old plan in jeopardy. The worst of which is that she mistakenly targets a man named Craig Gamble (Frankie Avalon) at first. Gamble happens to be a member of Secret Intelligence Command, which basically means he’s a spy of sorts. Eventually Diane realizes her mistake and tracks down Todd and marries him. Soon after Gamble advises Todd that his wife is really a robot and the two set out to stop the evil Goldfoot.
As I said earlier the movie is silly and that’s really the best way to describe it. To be most this will be a really different role to see Price in. It’s not at all what we’re accustomed to seeing from him and certainly not what he’s known for. I must say he does a terrific job though. He has such a larger than life personality that he has not probably pulling off an over-the-top comedic performance like this one. The man was simply an entertainer.
The film opens up with a really catchy theme song over some nice looking claymation credits. You get the impression that it’s going to be a musical. It doesn’t end up going that route and I think that’s a bit of a missed opportunity. The setup for a nice musical is there and you’ve already got Avalon as one of the leads so why not?
Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine is now out on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber and I think it’s an excellent addition to their library. You’ve got a few special features included in the form of an audio commentary, a few trailers and a photo gallery. It’s nothing extraordinary in the way of bonus content, but they’re nice little additions. The film is very bright and colorful and I think the transfer does a good job expressing that.
This isn’t an overly complicated movie. You just put it on and have a good time. Sometimes that’s all you need a movie to be.
Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine is now out on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber.