Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine is a 1965 American International Pictures (AIP) comedy film directed by Norman Taurog and starring Vincent Price, Frankie Avalon, Dwayne Hickman, Susan Hart (The Slime People) and Jack Mullaney and featuring Fred Clark (Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb). It is a parody of the then-popular spy film trend, particularly the 1964 James Bond hit Goldfinger, utilizing actors from AIP’s beach party and Edgar Allan Poe films.
There is a dungeon scene, complete with The Pit and Pendulum from Roger Corman’s 1961 movie, allowing Price to ham up his previous horror roles and the mad doctor’s assistant is named Igor.
Despite its low production values, the film has achieved a certain cult status for the appearance of Price and other AIP Beach Party film alumni, its in-jokes and unabashed sexism, the claymation title sequence designed by Art Clokey, and a title song performed by The Supremes (which name drops Frankenstein’s Monster and Mr. Hyde). Vincent Price returned for the 1966 sequel, Dr. Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs, directed by iconic Italian horror maestro Mario Bava.
Plot:
Price plays the titular mad scientist who, with the questionable assistance of his resurrected flunky Mullaney, builds a gang of attractive female robots clad in shiny gold bikinis. The sexbots are then dispatched to seduce and rob wealthy men. (Goldfoot’s name reflects his and his robots’ choice in footwear.) Avalon and Hickman play the bumbling heroes who attempt to thwart Goldfoot’s scheme. The film’s climax is an extended chase through the streets of San Francisco.
