Girl in Gold Boots (1968)

When judging a movie like Girl in Gold Boots there’s really only one question that needs to be answered - does it actually deliver on the promise of the cover art? Does it really feature go-go dancing girls in gold boots? Since the answer to this is a resounding yes, this is clearly a movie that you simply have to have in your DVD collection.

And this is not just a movie that features go-go dancing - this is a movie in which go-go dancing is absolutely central to the plot. Go-go dancing is the heart and soul of the film. There are girls in incredibly short mini-skirts go-go dancing. There are girls in silver and gold bikinis go-go dancing. This is almost the Holy Grail of go-go dancing movies.

There’s also a plot. Sort of. A rather shady and somewhat mysterious stranger whose name later turns out to be Buzz wanders into a sleazy diner in a one-horse desert town, to find the waitress Michele dancing to the music on the jukebox. He tells her she should give up waitressing and go with him to LA, where his sister will get her a job as a dancer. In no time at all she’ll be a star. She doesn’t really believe him, but she’s tired of her drunken father who runs the diner, so she decides to take a chance. He has a car, but no money, but she has $14 so they set off for the big city. On the way they pick up a musician just back from Nepal who rejoices in the name of Critter Jones. Buzz turns out to be a jumpy violent psychopath who is convinced that Michele is destined to be his true love, which is unfortunate since for Michele and Critter it was love at first sight.

Strangely enough it transpires that Buzz’s sister really is a star dancer in LA, in a club called The Haunted House, and she not only gets Michele a job dancing at the club, but within a few days Michele has taken her place as the lead dancer! Further plot complications involve the drug-dealing owner of the club, and the discovery by the resident band that Critter is actually a great song writer. Buzz proves to be one of the dumbest criminals in movie history. And Michele finds that show business is not all it’s cracked up to be, especially in the cut-throat world of go-go dancing.

Leslie McRae plays Michele. She’s exceptionally beautiful, she’s a great go-go dancer, and a spectacularly untalented actress. A terrible actress she might be, but luckily for her the other members of the cast are much much worse. None of which matters, because this is not exactly Shakespeare. In fact it’s such a bad movie that good acting would have completely ruined it. This movie demands bad acting, to complement the jaw-droppingly corny dialogue, the inept direction and the bizarrely nonsensical script. It all adds up to great entertainment. Ted V. Mikels, who directed this film (and the equally entertaining
and equally campy spy spoof The Doll Squad), is in the great tradition of Ed Wood, making outrageously bad movies that are nonetheless enormous fun.

The Alpha Video DVD isn’t fantastic when it comes to image quality, but it’s acceptable and it’s dirt cheap. And it includes a commentary track! If you don't buy this DVD how will you ever be able to forgive yourself? A true camp classic. And it includes lot and lots of go-go dancing!