Get to Know Your Rabbit

This is one of those notorious films in which Orson Welles agreed to play a part because he needed money badly, and here he submits himself to maybe the silliest plot in his life. He is the manager of a queer school for stepping magicians, and could you possibly imagine anything more silly than a stepping magician? Nevertheless, this is a comedy and it constantly grows more hilarious. John Astin is the personal manager of Tommy Smothers, and his character is very similar to that of Gomez in the Addams family of the 60s - you recognize him immediately. What saves the film though is Katherine Ross, always a joy to behold on the screen, and here she enters just in time for the comical climax of the film. It's very unusual to encounter a comedy by Brian de Palma, but you recognize his special cinematographic style immediately. The comedy is absurd, but it definitely succeeds in making you laugh and heartily, for the silliness of the intrigue and its complications transcends all limits of reason while at the same time it consistently remains realistic, as Tommy Smothers actually succeeds in remaining dead serious all through in his absurd mission. It's a kind of Buster Keaton sort of comedy, all dreadfully laughable without the main character ever losing his face.

Get to Know Your Rabbit (1972)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

Donald Beeman (Tom Smothers) is a successful businessman who decides to give up his great career and try to become a tap-dancing magician. His girlfriend (Katharine Ross) thinks he's crazy but Beeman has high hopes after meeting Mr. Delasandro (Orson Welles).

Brian De Palma made some pretty weird comedies early in his career before going for the darker thrillers. Stuff like THE WEDDING PARTY, GREETINGS and HI MOM! aren't your typical comedies but all of them seem like the most normal movies ever made when compared to GET TO KNOW YOUR RABBIT. Comedy is certainly a very subjective thing and I must say that I only laughed a couple times with this film.

I can honestly say that the film made very little sense to me. Or, should I say, I'm really not sure what the point of the movie was as it really didn't seem like a comedy at all. I'm going to guess some are going to support it due to it featuring Smothers and while he actually gives a good performance here there's still very little that he can do when the material itself is just so poor. There are a couple times that I laughed in the movie but the majority of the running time just doesn't have any humor.

Not only did the film not make me laugh but it honestly had this weird vibe about it and it really came across as a film that they didn't even try to make funny. The supporting cast helps keep the film moving and this includes John Astin and Ross. The scene stealer is of course Welles who turns in a good and fun performance in his small bit.

One of Brian De Palma's least-known films - also one of his least-successful. The premise is actually relateable and plausible in its absurdity (corporate executive quits his job to pursue his dream of becoming a tap-dancing magician!), but the film does very little with it. It's also hopelessly unfunny. Occasional use of split-screen is just about the only indication of De Palma's later virtuosity. Orson Welles is at least enjoying himself performing magic tricks, while Katharine Ross is indeed "a terrific-looking girl". *1/2 out of 4.

In this review I am going to mention recreational drugs, Please don't construe my mention as an endorsement. It's actually an historical reference.

I first heard of "Get to Know Your Rabbit" when it was released in 1972 (the year that I turned 20). The buzz on it was strong at the time. It played in some select theaters and college campuses for a limited time and POOF! Vanished. It was always the one that got away.

I waited for 50 years to see it when it finally aired on TCM. Were I to rate it from the vantage point of the 21st century I'd probably give it two stars. Had I rated it in 1972 it probably would have gotten (at least) 8 stars.

Once upon a time it was fun to get high with a group of friends and stumble into a movie theater. We'd sit there with saucer-like eyes as we marveled at "2001," "Fantasia" (which Disney re-released in that era), "Yellow Submarine" or other mind-blowing films. I remember a couple of guys that I knew sitting all day through repeated showings of "Patton" while high.

Under such circumstances the surreal non-sequiturs of "Get to Know Your Rabbit" would have been hailed as riveting. Now? Meh.

This movie is firmly rooted in the time and culture of its release. I would only suggest checking it out when you've mastered time travel.

A guilty -- but perhaps not all that guilty -- pleasure. A small comedic indie made by Brian De Palma way back in his Greetings and Hi, Mom! days, it still retains a charming, if somewhat adolescent, absurdism. Tommy Smothers plays a corporate dropout in a loveless relationship who yearns to become a tap-dancing magician, taught by none other than Orson Welles's Mr. Delasandro in full pretentious mentoring mode. Add Katherine Ross as the adoring new girlfriend, Allan Garfield as a brassiere maker in search of his perfect woman, and especially the wonderful John Astin as a laid off executive-turned-derelict-turned-executive and you have the sort of bizarre, off-kilter type of fun movie you would have seen as a college student at some midnight showing in theaters during the late 60's/early 70's. Innocently subversive.

And can any movie that bills (correctly) an early Katherine Ross as "Terrific-Looking Girl" be all that bad?