Torero malgré lui

In Barcelona, Olimpia Segura (Britt Ekland) is a materialistic girl obsessed with a new Maserati. Struggling bullfighter Juan Bautista (Peter Sellers) arrives in town looking to be the greatest singing matador.

Comedians often construct new characters. That's what Peter Sellers is doing. It's a new construction and it's not funny. Ok! The torn cheque is a little funny. Quite frankly, Olimpia is more compelling. It doesn't mean that I want a whole movie about her manipulating all those men for her car. When the two actually meet, it has some intriguing potential but I don't see Olimpia not asking for cash instead. She wouldn't be fooled like that. She would at least demand some sort of down payment. I do like the dancer. She probably does the most compelling performance in the whole movie. It's really cool. Obviously, the Retreat is meant to be wacky fun but I just couldn't believe that Olimpia wouldn't see through Juan. The premise falls apart. I like the blue although I would want her to do it without the gun. All in all, I don't buy the premise but I do like a few moments.

Peter Sellers stars with his then-wife, Britt Ekland, and Rosanno Brazzi in "The Bobo" from 1967.

The always funny Sellers plays a singing matador named Juan, who comes to Barcelona to make his fortune. He sings for an unimpressed local impresario (Adolfo Celi), who agrees to book him on one condition. Juan has to spend an evening with Olimpia (Ekland), a flirt who gets whatever she wants from men, including apartments and sports cars, and then she drops them.

Juan pretends he is the messenger of a wealthy count and works at seducing her.

Anything with Sellers is good, I think, but in this period of time he was going through some kind of identity crisis. He was married to beautiful Britt Ekland and trying to change his image somewhat. The movie isn't very good, but there is some fabulous dancing, music, and atmosphere, and chemistry between Sellers and Ekland. Sellers has funny moments as well.

The film has an unexpected ending which a lot of people did not like. I thought it fit. There's not much here, but if you want to see flamenco dancing like you'll never see it again, see this film for the nightclub scene.

THE BOBO will undoubtedly disappoint those expecting Peter Sellers to be doing Clouseau-style slapstick, and those that expect the satirical humor he was also famous for.

Instead, this is a character comedy and Juan Bautista (not Batista)is one of Sellers' more interesting characters, albeit from among his lesser efforts. But even lesser Sellers is better than the overall product from today's so-called comedy geniuses.

BOBO was well-made, with a great opening sequence aerial shot of Barcelona, Spain (although I believe the picture was made in Italy). The plot involves Sellers as Bautista, an ex-matador who wants to break into show business in Barcelona, but can't seem to get a theater booking. He finally is promised one if - and only if - he can conquer a rather cold-hearted gold digger named Olimpia Segura (played by Britt Ekland, Mrs. Sellers at the time).

There are some good comedy bits and sequences throughout the film. Bautista's attempts to audition for the theater owner are amusing (and unless I'm mistaken, Sellers does his own singing). He does some matador maneuvers while pretending a sportscar is a bull. The scenes at the hideaway-retreat are very good. Later, he gets dunked in a tub of blue dye and becomes "The Blue Singing Matador".

Sellers (Bautista) and Ekland (Olimpia) work well together in the only time they were paired romantically on screen. Added to which, the picture does not end the way that most people think it will. On my own Sellers scale of five stars, THE BOBO ranks three stars.

There isn't much about the movie other than it was pretty much sub-par for Mr. Sellers. However what I did find interesting was the Spanish dance sequence in the middle of the movie. I don't know who the dancer was, but obviously one of great talent. As far as I'm concerned it was the only thing worth watching in the whole movie but it was bad for the movie itself. This exceptional dancer filmed in such artistic form was absolutely thick with raw sensual energy and when they cut away from her to the two Bobo's the movie's lack of substance was painfully obvious. From that point on Sellers and Ekland seem shallow and amateurish.

Although many film critics are very quick to pan this film citing that is not 'classic Sellers', this film is indeed very charming. The story is to do with a young woman called Olympia, played by Peter Seller's wife at the time, Britt Ekland. Set in Barcelona, Olympia is the object of every man's desire and she has been responsible for the ruining of many a man. Enter Peter Sellers as Juan Bautista, the singing matador. His dream is to be the most famous stage performer in Barcelona. But to achieve this, his prospective employer sets him a challenge. If he spends one night in bed with Olympia, the first man to do so, he will make him a stage star. Juan takes the challenge but has only 3 days to do it. The film is reasonably funny in the methods that Juan uses to seduce Olympia. Sellers gives a very confident performance which makes it fun to watch. There is also an excellent scene with non-cliched flamenco dancing, which is actually so exceptional it seems so out of place in the film. This is not a classic film, however it will keep you entertained on a boring day.