Vincent Price is a mad scientist named Dr. Goldfoot (his Ali Baba shoes are gold and his fembots wear gold bikinis!) who uses beautiful female robots to seduce rich bachelors to swindle them! Frankie Avalon is one of the worst secret agents imaginable, only hired at his agency because his long-suffering uncle is over the operations (the government hates them, though!). But Avalon's Craig Gamble (he is so dire at his job, that his code number is a fraction!) stumbles (literally) onto Goldfoot's criminal enterprise when he becomes fixated with one of the fembots, Diane (Susan Hart, stunning, bubbly, and full of energy), ordered by her master to deplete wealthy executive Todd Armstrong (Dobey Gillis himself, Dwayne Hickman). When Gamble and Goldfoot have a tug of war for Diane, her hand comes off (this was the final jolt needed for Craig; earlier in the movie she was "spouting milk" and this failed to convince him that she wasn't quite human!). Will Goldfoot, who has created many fembots in his laboratory, be successful in bilking riches from dopey, lust-struck bachelors or can Gamble clumsily stop him? This is perhaps best viewing for those who love seeing Price poke fun at his villain parts, while slapstick (Avalon tries to mimic Buster Keaton) and sexist humor (
so prevalent during the 60s) are primarily the objects of comedy throughout this entire film. This movie tries damn hard, I'll give it that, and the cast seem to be really enjoying themselves. I guess what you find funny will determine if this succeeds or not. The cast play for as many laughs they can, but seeing Avalon go cross-eyed, fainting at the sight of a robotic hand ripped from his beloved Diane or being trapped in a folding bed in a closet (or being bopped by a filing cabinet drawer that opens with a thrust) is what constitutes as comedy in this film
trying to prepare you, just in case this kind of humor doesn't suit your fancy. One scene has Hickman's convertible backed up a phone poll as he smooches with Diane while a police officer writes him a ticket. Hickman later signs his signatures to stocks merely at the proposal of Diane even after she refused to give him a little somethin'-somethin' on their honeymoon night. Price constantly ridicules his assistant, Igor, a corpse he brought back to life to help him continue his work on fembots—Igor's mistreatment is also played for laughs throughout, such as when he tries to remove an ice cube from a club patron's blouse, instead removing her bra, or when a fembot (with a deep, manly voice) performs martial arts on him due to a disagreement. My favorite part of the film is when Price takes his uninvited guests (now prisoners in his mansion), Hickman and Avalon, on a tour of his medieval dungeon, full of torture contraptions (some amusing cameos appear from those bubble-headed Beach Blanket Bingo movies). There is also a protracted chase through San Francisco, where landmarks like those long, winding roads and hilly streets, as well as the historic trolley cars, are all put to use (a lot is obvious green screen and sets, but locations are still used effectively). Price applies devious eyes and a demented cackle to his mad scientist, even having a Pit and the Pendulum Torturer moment that is inspired with poor Hickman laying under the swinging blade. I think this might be a bit too irresistible to some, in the mood for dumb fun, while I'm certain others will find "Dr. Goldfoot" silly in the extreme to the point of obnoxious. With John Mullaney and Fred Clark co-starring as Igor and Avalon's Uncle respectively.
