Une fois de plus

The two very famous stars (at the time, in the notorious Frank Sinatra orbit), in their mid- to late-forties, were playing silly "hip" and "mod" types, in a typical late 60s Silly-British-James-Bond-Rip-Off.

Apparently this movie was a sequel to "Salt and Pepper" (which I have not seen), about two nightclub owners Salt (Sammy Davis Jr.) and Pepper (Peter Lawford). It's not as weird as it seems back then, stars were stars even if they were middle-aged. These days if you're over thirty you can't be a lead; but in the good old days of freewheeling movie-making you could be in your fifties and a heart throb. And this movie is pretty freewheeling, as it was directed by the totally unprofessional Jerry Lewis, Dean Martin's sidekick and most famous these days for telethons and running around yelling, "Lay-dee! Lay-dee!" Jerry Lewis was a megalomaniac of the worst kind, one with no discernible talent. He does a lousy job which was a shame, since Sammy Davis, Jr. had enormous talent. He could sing, dance, act and do voices. He was one of the most talented individuals in the public eye in the twentieth century and it shows through. But mostly, Lewis lets Davis run around with as little discipline as himself.

Everything looks like it might have been put together by amateurs for a college course. The plot is silly, but lots of them were back then. It was a kind of "deconstruction" of movies in the late 60s. Watch Tony Curtis movies like "Arrivederci, Baby!" or Dean Martin's "Matt Helm" flicks (which may have drawn Lewis to this project, as he always liked to play "catch up" with Martin). Silly was in, but this flick was hardly as well done as later with the Abrahams/Zucker or the Farrelly Bros.

Apart from keeping Lawford and and Davis in the public eye and keeping them "cool," I can't think of a reason for making this movie at all. The plot is silly, the acting is on par with people who know they're doing a picture of little value, and Lewis made a hash of the direction. It's one of the movies you watch through just so you'll never have to see it again.

Highlights: 1) Mix-up of the opening credits (you know you're in trouble if that's the best part); 2) a couple of good cameos in unexpected places (okay, if you're in imdb you can see Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing are in it; and though they're only there for a few seconds, they lift the movie momentarily.

Follow-up to Salt and Pepper where Peter Lawford and Sammy Davis Jr. played two very middle-aged swingers running a night spot called Salt and Pepper. This time around the two get into trouble for repeated problems and ask Lawford's lookalike brother(yes, he plays him as well) for money. Turns out he is a Lord and owns the family castle given up by Pepper so long ago. Also turns out he is involved in smuggling diamonds and is a double agent, etc... Lawford's brother is killed and Lawford as Pepper assumes his brother's role and hilarity is to ensue - NOT! While I believe this to be a more engaging and slightly more amusing vehicle than the original Salt and Pepper, it really doesn't have a lot going for it. Jerry Lewis directs his buddies Davis and Lawford and with his special brand of humour. We get Davis trying to be Jerry Lewis in several scenes: a scene with him seeing how everything is huge in his new bedroom at the castle where he looks and everything looks so huge. I have seen Lewis pull this same thing countless times. Davis; not sure if this is a compliment or not, is no Lewis; however. He just doesn't have the same lunatic spirit though he has some scenes which are slightly amusing. Most of the time he does come off as being very flat because the material is so tiresome and over-used. The brightest spots in the movie are Lawford's as he pulls off playing the two brothers really rather well. The plot is ridiculous. Are we really to believe that these two over-the-hill guys are hip swingers? Davis of course sings a few tunes including the somewhat catchy "One More Time" as the opening and end credits roll. For me the only fascinating aspect of the film is the addition of Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee in brief - and I mean BRIEF - cameos. In one scene Davis finds a wooden secret panel in the castle that has behind it , down some steps, a laboratory with Cushing standing, a woman on a gurney, and Lee bearing fangs. Cushing has a brief line or so as does Lee. Their screen time is embarrassingly slight. Why Lewis didn't given them a bit more time amazes me as THIS scene is the opening scene in this film's theatrical trailer! Unfortunately Cushing and Lee maybe have 30 seconds of screen time. But if you are a completist in either's filmography, you will have to endure One More Time at least once.

Salt & Pepper return, a bit more grizzled (especially in Lawford's case) and a lot more manic (particularly in Sammy's case, who also sheds his hepcat's pomade sheen for an au courant afro) in this manure-for-brains atrocity.

This time, the expatriate Rat Packers seem less concerned with hitting on dollybirds and more concerned with taking pratfalls and wearing goofy costumes. Indeed, under the direction of Jerry Lewis, the once swinging club owners are transformed into the second coming of Martin and Lewis.

Jerry changes the dynamics of the partnership here: instead of the Dino figure doing the singing, it's the Jerry clone who warbles the ditties (three to be exact). The Total Filmmaker also encourages Davis to make "funny" faces like there's no tomorrow, and Sammy gleefully obliges. Bugging his one good eye and contorting his rubber lips in all directions, D. Gives a master class in mug-a-minute, desperately unfunny overacting.

For the record, S & P still smoke a whole lot of cigarettes. They also have a brief run-in with Christopher "Dracula" Lee, Peter "Dr. Frankenstein" Cushing and Dudley Sutton as a leering hunchback. Which provokes Sammy to let out a scream loud enough to hear in Las Vegas.

Alas, the one thing he doesn't do is scream "Hey, la-a-a-a-d-dy!!!!!" Aww, what a gyp.

Not bad but one wonders if this wasn't a movie Jerry Lewis wanted to make with Dean Martin, the physical gags with Sammy Davis Jr. are straight out of Jerry Lewis's playbook.

In London, Chris Pepper (Peter Lawford) and Charlie Salt (Sammy Davis Jr.) get arrested and lose their nightclub. Chris' twin brother Lord Sydney Pepper is tired of the embarrassment. He's willing to pay their fines but insists that they leave the country. They refuse. They go live it up with Chris pretending to be Sydney. Then Chris finds Sydney's dead body. He decides to switch places but it turns out that Sydney had been murdered.

Chris should have told Charlie as soon as possible. This should be a buddy comedy. For that to happen, they need to be both in on the scam and then both get in trouble. This could have been a fun screwball comedy as the duo gets chased around by the killers. It's not funny with Chris hiding the truth in the first half. Sammy is sort of released in the second half. I can certainly see the comedic potential of this pairing. Apparently, this is a sequel and maybe the first one is better.