Trailer—Don't Worry, We'll Think of a Title

source: Don't Worry, We'll Think of a Title

This one's a real dog, a comedy that crawls slower than the turtle planted with a bug in the bookshop that Morey Amsterdam and Rose Marie worked for after being fired from Richard Deacon's greasy spoon. She' the waitress and he's the cook, and he's also the look-alike for a spy whom another spy ring follows all around. You'll recognize a lot of the cast members in smaller roles, and they include such familiar faces as Moe Howard, Percy Helton, Irene Ryan and fellow "Dick Van Dyke Show" cast member Carl Reiner. With supporting characters named Olga and Magda, I'm surprised that June Foray didn't show up to voice her character of Natasha from the "Bullwinkle" series. This definitely is made with a cartoon age audience in mind as the farce is very juvenile, although there are a few moments that did make me giggle. As for that title, it is obvious that someone just threw a mishmash of characters together, came up with a plot that was popular in culture at the time (although far from a Bond film), and created a script that made an episode of "Gilligan's Island" look like something written by Woody Allen. The laughs here are never accompanied without an eye roll, and that includes Deacon's appearance in dual roles which includes him breaking the fourth wall as he mentions that they are in a movie. The wrapping machine at the bookstore makes both Amsterdam and a heavy set woman think that their clothes are ripping, a scene in a basement with the turtle makes you ask how the turtle (hidden inside a box) would manage to get down a flight of stairs. Deacon in a bad wig, Deacon sitting on a cake, Amsterdam and Rose Marie not getting laughs with any of their antics indicates that the script is hideous, and the perfect part of that book called "Don't let this happen to you". There were many bad comedies in the 1960s that thought they were being funny by the overuse of TV sitcom like farce, and when this makes "Sergeant Deadhead and "Birds Do It" seem funny, you know it's going to be bad. Even the worst of the Jerry Lewis films will make you laugh more than this does. I missed several of the promised cameos but I wasn't about to fast forward from the start do you have to endure this again. One time was painful enough. I gave this an extra star for the scene where Deacon places an order in the restaurant that is intertwined with a couple having a romantic dinner which actually did give me a genuine chuckle. But I was starving for more by the time this was over, one of the worst comedies I've ever seen.

It's 84 minutes long. I lasted 7 minutes. I enjoyed Morey Amsterdam on the old Dick Van Dyke Show. Carl Reiner has a writing credit on all 158 episodes, Morey has none. One of Morey's few writing credits is this dog. So, I guess Morey was a funny performer, but not a good writer. Avoid.

I wish people would watch this with an open mind. It may be a low budget movie but you need to look at the actors that are in it. Just sit back and enjoy the movie, not necessarily the plot. It was delightful especially to see all of the cameo appearances of great actors from days gone by. A good clean movie escape, without so many murders, car chases, explosions, drugs and over paid actors. I was just laughing at the old vaudeville comic stints and jokes. I truly enjoyed it. Maybe not one of the best movies ever made, definitely not the Worst! A little hidden gem! That I hope is played more often so others can enjoy it also. More people need to watch movies like movie goers would and not just like critics do.... JUST ENJOY!

I read about this one years ago, and it has FINALLY come to DVD! Fans of the Dick Van Dyke show will be happy to see (part of) the cast from that show united here. That series ended mid 1966, and Dick V. and Mary T. were on to film careers, so you won't see them in the film. Written and produced by Morey Amsterdam, which makes sense. According to wikipedia, he had started in vaudeville in the 1920s, and worked with his brother in Al Capone's saloon. At the open, the gang works in a diner. A HILARIOUS scene where Mel Cooley, I mean actor Richard Deacon, reads his supply order, and it is intertwined with a couple saying romantic things to each other. Tons of one liners and set-up punchline, set-up punchline. Charlie (Amsterdam) is mistaken for someone else, a missing cosmonaut. After getting fired, he and Annie (Rose Marie) leave the diner and go find their friend Magda (January Jones). She runs a bookstore, but strange things are going on, and Charlie tries to figure it all out. Some great cameos ... Uncle Milty, Steve Allen, Moe Howard, Carl Reiner (Still doing the hairpiece gag), Danny Thomas. And of course, Irene Ryan, still playing Granny. One of the customers in the diner is Percy Helton... played in SO many things back in the day. Did he do the voice of winnie the pooh? sounds like like it to me! Deacon plays two roles, Peter Sellers style. This one is so under-rated. Granted the plot is a bit thin, and the opening diner scene is only added on to get those vaudeville bits in. If you liked the Dick Van Dyke show, you'll probably get a kick out of this, as long as you see it for the low-brow fun that it is. and I think the title is Genius. Directed by Harmon Jones, who was nominated for EDITING Gentleman's Agreement. Directed mostly television for the last ten years.

Perhaps the creators behind this nonsense should have spent a little time thinking of a movie as opposed to simply coming up with a clever title. Depending almost entirely on the dubious talents of wise cracking Morey Amsterdam, this film is virtually laugh-less. Amsterdam, along with his one-time DICK VAN DYKE SHOW costar Rose Marie, gets mixed up with spies and a bunch of comic actors in cameos. There's nothing here to recommend. Appearances by Milton Berle, Moe Howard, Steve Allen and others offer nothing to this debacle. Amsterdam had a hand in the script, which accounts for his nearly non-stop chattering. Richard Deacon plays TWO roles. Also featuring Danny Thomas, Carl Reiner, and Forrest Tucker. January Jones (NOT the MAD MEN star) plays Magda. She has exactly zero charisma.

Dinosaurs roamed when these jokes were hatched. The whole movie is a setup for one liners, sight gags and telegraphed physical jokes. The best actor was a turtle who managed a realistic portrayal. The plot such as it seems to be forgotten often in the vain attempt at laughs. I put on the spoiler warning, because the only thing I laughed at was Milton Berle's hoary old chestnut about trying to push a rope. He still had the timing that the rest lacked. The sad thing is that I'm watching this on the "This" network because everything else was infomercials. The wasteland has arrived. I'm even enduring 20 minutes of commercials per hour. You know you're in trouble when "Charley Weaver" complete with pork pie hat appears as a Russian. Not cool enough to be camp. Trashing modern art in 1966 is ludicrous, although I don't know what year they are playing (but must be after 1960 since they included a cosmonaut.) The real problem is telegraphing the jokes and the gags. The cake on the seat is the most obvious. I enjoyed the cameos in a Where's Waldo kind of way, but watching the cast of the Dick Van Dyke show less the leads do bad jokes is painful. The college disco party (called beatnik party) is particularly bad. Did the writers go to school in the 1920s? Richard Deacon as the "undercover" cop is unintentionally hilarious. The fat lady spy looks like the housewife on "The Guild" and has a couple of moments. Look to Get Smart for a way to do a spy spoof or more seriously "In Like Flint" that are funny because they aren't so earnest at being bad. I can't give it one star, because I'm still watching even after Ma Clampett shows up giving the hitchhiking "stars" a ride even after Rose Marie steals a bit from a 30s movie. Even Moe Howard wasn't funny, playing a lawyer ?!? straight!

I am watching this film on TV right now. If you are in the mood, it is hilarious. "How did you sleep?" "Terrible. I was up all night, trying to get the window open." "The room doesn't have a window." "No wonder I couldn't get it open." The movie is a terrific period piece (early 60s), with sight gags (man cutting steak with a newly invented electric knife cuts the table in half), period references (hitching a ride from the Beverly Hillbillies). Every B actor from the 1950s has a walk on, and even some greats like Milton Berle and Danny Thomas can be seen. If you want some kind of incredible plot with tricky double crosses and new sports cars driven off bridges, pass on this. If you feel like fun, lean back and laugh.

Even by the dismal standards of mid-1960s spy spoofs (others have titles like "The Last of the Secret Agents?" and "The Maltese Bippy"), this is a forlorn little comedy, shot on Desilu sets and looking like a quickie TV show. Every Desilu TV star on the lot that day puts in a witless cameo (Irene Ryan, Danny Thomas, Carl Reiner); the rest is Rose Marie and Morey Amsterdam, Buddy Sorrell and Sally Rogers in all but name, exchanging lame repartee as a bumbling pair of friends to a nubile bookstore owner (the conspicuously untalented January Jones), all of them caught up in labored international intrigue. Amsterdam co-wrote the screenplay and thus has only himself to blame, but he and Rose Marie look distinctly unhappy amid the low-budget surroundings, and the movie's reputation as a legendary stinker is well deserved. Harmon Jones, who actually has a good movie or two to his credit, directs in a grab-the-paycheck-and-run style that's winceworthy.