Going Bananas

A good friend of mine one said: "A monkey is funny, anytime, anywhere." There is one exception to this: GOING BANANAS. It is quite simply the WORST MOVIE I have ever seen. It's worse than PLAN 9, worse than THE BEAST OF YUCCA FLATS. It is TERRIBLE. The talking monkey gag gets old after about three minutes, and believe me that's all there is. Make sure you have a bunch of people around to revive you after you go into TOXIC SHOCK from GOING BANANAS, the worst movie ever.

Seeing as the other user comments don't really tell people what this movie actually is about, but only write about specific scenes and/or sequences, and/or their feelings about the movie, let me break down this movie for you with a quick summary, so you'll get the big picture:

David Mendenhall (yes, the annoying little kid from Stallone's "Over The Top") is actually the star of this film, playing a rich man's son, Ben, who has gone to Africa with his caretaker "Big Bad Joe" (played by the late great Dom DeLuise from "Blazing Saddles" and "The Cannonball Run"). Joe is the guy who's in charge of taking good care of Ben, so he doesn't get into trouble, and his father doesn't get upset, but actually gets himself into even more trouble than Ben does. They arrive somewhere in Africa (in a made up country called Tongola), where they meet up with their local tour-guide Mozambo (played by Jimmie C. Walker from the TV-series "Good Times"). He takes them on a safari, where they happen to meet the talking monkey Bonzo (played by little man Deep Roy, who some might know from "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" as the oompa-loompas). Now, of course the two bad guys, Palermo the circus-owner (Warren Berlinger who also played Shaky Finch the motorcyclist in "The Cannonball Run" with DeLuise) and MacIntosh the military captain (played by Herbert Lom - Tigranes Levantus from "Spartacus") finds out, and wants to capture the monkey and use it for the circus, so they'll make a great profit on that world-sensation. Ben & co. then tries to escape and hide Bonzo, so he won't be trapped against his will...of course this is no easy task, and hilarity ensues.

This is mainly a children's movie, as most grown-up's will find the humor too exaggerated and silly, but most children will probably love the silliness - and of course the talking monkey, befriending a young boy! Most kids will relate to this, and will soak up their friendship as being far-fetched, but really cool and awesome. I mean, what kid wouldn't want to be friends with a talking monkey!

The only thing in this movie probably not suited for children, would be a somewhat frightening graphic scene where Ben falls into a gorge and gets attacked by hordes of scorpions after taking a fall.. with REAL scorpions crawling all over the small boy.. and then Bonzo rescues him by SMASHING the REAL scorpions to death with a huge club! I wonder what PETA would say to this.. hmm..

Now, even though this movie is shot in Zimbabwe, it's not exactly "King Solomon's Mines", if you know what I mean.. directed by none other than Golan-Globus entertainment's finest producer Boaz Davidson, who has also brought us the following masterpieces: "American Cyborg: Steel Warrior", "Lunarcop", "Hospital Massacre", and writing the scripts for "Derailed", "Alien Hunter", "Mansquito" and "Delta Force 3: The Killing Game". You should know what to expect when watching this movie.

Anyway, some of the highlights: A nun curses a lot. A silly french waiter gets a pie in the face. Two vintage cars crash the street-market and crash into the harbor. Dom DeLuise (or his double, rather) does a trapeze-act in the circus. The circus-owner spanks the monkey... with a whip...in front of a huge child-audience... who applaud and laugh.

All in all, I found the first bit of the movie too silly for my taste, and thought about switching it off, but I bit the apple and saw it all the way through, which was a good decision, as the last part actually had some decent dramatic elements and some quite impressive stunt-work.

6/10 - perhaps a bit much, but I had to consider the fact that this movie was probably aimed at kids, who will probably love Bonzo & co.

I was watching TV one day with a friend and we caught the last twenty minutes of "Going Bananas." Believe me when I say it was enough to get a good judgment of the film. The first scene that I saw was the monkey, the kid, the fat guy, and the black guy who looked like Dave Chappelle, flying around in a crop duster thousands of feet in the air. While everyone else was solemn about the journey, the monkey seemed to be on some kind of drug binge where he kept shouting something that resembled the English word faster. They then landed on a twenty yard long dock in Africa. After a heart felt goodbye where the monkey cried (Hahahaha), the "villains" of the film appeared. They were tearing complete ass in their vintage Cadillac when the evil monkey took an Air Jordan leap form the dock onto the boat that was sailing away a clean 40 yards away and made them sink their beautiful car into the Pacific Ocean. After seeing this film, I have a new purpose in life; to find the midget who played the monkey and stab him in the eye with a fountain pen.

No laughs? What about the part where Bonzo (the monkey) is under the table and keeps snatching the pieces of cake from the patrons at the restaurant? Before the waiter can set down another plate, Bonzo has devoured it! Cut to a facial shot of Bonzo under the table cloth covered in cake!! Tell me, who could resist wetting their pants at such a thing? And the ensuing restaurant fight, where we have the joy of seeing Ben and Bonzo smash people at random with bottles!

Whoever thought this movie was not funny must have been watching with their eyes closed and cotton in their ears. Just the scenes of intimacy between Ben and Bonzo that bordered on homosexual (bestial?) were enough to make the film hilarious, especially when Bonzo is trying to sing Ben back to health in the hospital.

Not to mention the cruel and sadistic humor of the monkey, who is seen repeatedly hitting his "friends" Ben, the boy, and the others, and breaking out into insane laughter.

One must see the strange and twisted side of Going Bananas to see the humor. So I suggest, watch the movie again. It is a classic. If you think of the sheer cruelty of Dom Deluise taunting a monkey with a banana, only to let him have it if he says "banana!" It is hysterical! Of course poor Dom had no idea the monkey would do it, so imagine what kind of pathetic mindstate he was in! Locked in a jail in Africa, and rather than prayer, diplomacy, critical thinking, whatever...instead of trying to get himself out of this dillema...he resolves to sit back on his haunches and amuse himself by taunting a monkey with a banana. Excellent!

I give Bonzo and Going Bananas 14 MILLION stars and 763,000 THUMBS WAY UP!!! BONZO FOR PRESIDENT!!! BONZO LOVES BEN!!!

"Going Bananas" is one of the worst comedies ever made. It has not one laugh in it. Not one. At all! It just meanders on endlessly for 95 minutes and goes nowhere. I've seen "ER" episodes with more laughs than this.

What a waste of comic talent. This has Dom DeLuise ("The 12 Chairs", "Blazing Saddles" "Silent Movie"), Jimmy Walker ("Good Times) and Herbert Lom (Dreyfus from "The Pink Panther" series). You might ask me, "Bill, how can a film with those three be bad?" Watch this movie and find out.

They don't even take advantage of the premise: a safari. I'm sure there are many comic possiblities in this. But a safari film can also be a thrilling adventure like Cornel Wilde's great "The Naked Prey". "Going Bananas" fails on that level also. The most threatening thing that happens in this: a chase in the circus. OOOOHHHH! I'M SCARED!

"Going Bananas" was apparently so bad that it wasn't even released theatrically. Instead, it was released straight to tape. I'm not sure which is worse: charging people $5 or $20 to view this travesty. Even worse than that were the ads: quotes (supposedly) from children who have viewed the film. Brother, they must have been on Ritalin because any normal child would hate this, just like my family did. Roger Ebert often says that a bad movie should be cut up into something the poor can use. My suggestion for "Going Bananas": could be useful to even out short legs on a table or stool.

no stars out of 4 stars