Sel, poivre et dynamite

Rat Packers Sammy Davis Jr. And Peter Lawford went to London to produce and star in this swinging, puke-a-delic spy spoof -- although their real aim, no doubt, was to make whoopee with all the mini-skirted dollybirds their middle-aged testes could stand.

Here's hoping the dear boys got their jollies; I know I did (metaphorically speaking, that is) watching them do the Frug, hit on chicks, and dodge bullets as they make like Matt Helm times two, commit fashion crimes unto God and Armani, hit on some more chicks, get cheeky with the coppers, and smoke, smoke, smoke themselves silly as if courting lung cancer was a badge of coolness.

Written by the great Michael Pertwee (LAUGHTER IN PARADISE, LADIES WHO DO) and directed by Richard Donner, who would later attempt to re-work the Salt and Pepper formula in LETHAL WEAPON, minus the groovilicious trappings. (Danny Glover in love beads? Perish the thought!)

This is just too goofy and corny to rate well. The editing and continuity are clunky, but that's not the worst of it. The goofy 50s sitcom musical cues are beyond cliche, the dialogue is fit only for 50s sitcoms, and the movie is so stupid that it can only be enjoyed by cultural deficients or hipsters who like their fare drenched in superficial ironies.

It has historical merit as an exaggerated view of fashions, looks and behaviors of London's famous swingin' 60s. This film was meant to be hip at the time, so it can be viewed by modern eyes as a window into what director Donner thought would sell as 'cool.'

Around the time that Peter Lawford was officially declared persona non grata by Frank Sinatra from the famous Rat Pack, Sammy Davis, Jr. defied the chairman of the board and teamed with Lawford to do this spy spoof Salt And Pepper. And Davis lived to tell the tale.

Salt And Pepper casts Davis and Lawford as a pair of club owners in the swinging Soho section of London in the Sixties. As cool a pair of hip dudes you'd ever want to meet. A working girl is killed in their club which brings the wrath of constipated police inspector Michael Bates down on them. Bates doesn't like them on general principles, I wouldn't with all the nasty cracks made about him being so uptight. But Bates is the least of their problems because the girl was an enemy agent and that gets Davis and Lawford involved in a plot to bring down the British government the details of which I won't reveal because they are truly to bizarre.

The Sixties made London the hip capital of the world and at the same time Ian Fleming and his James Bond novels brought to the screen by Sean Connery put a new twist on the spy novel. Salt And Pepper combines both trends with Davis and Lawford constantly rolling witty dialog off their tongues. The film is fast paced and breezy with nary a bow to any reality.

I did mention Michael Bates before who looks through the entire film like he needs a stiff shot of prune juice. His performance is a tribute to James Finlayson, the perpetually uptight foe of Laurel and Hardy in dozens of films. Bates gets quite a few laughs of his own.

Salt And Pepper holds up well and was popular enough for a sequel One More Time to be made. You'll probably want to check that one out as well.

I thought this would be worth watching: 60s caper movie with Rat Packers fallen on unhip times, trying to juggle their increasing fogeyness with the galloping modernity of the late 60s. I thought at least there'd be some unintentional ironic fun to be had in comparing their view of 60s London with Austin Powers, and that they'd both be similarly and amusingly inauthentic. But the fun stuff isn't there. There are too many scenes of Pete and Sammy in cheap hotel room/dressing room/cellar/police station shots, when Sammy Davis sings, it's not the knockout like Sweet Charity's Rhythm of Life that you're hoping for, and the copy of Crosby/Hope's Road series is never pulled off because neither of these blokes is a good enough comedian and the script is terrible anyway. It's like watching your dad trying to be funny.

Also, there aren't enough pretty girls in pretty 60s dresses. For a better version of this sort of thing, you'd be better off watching the Man from UNCLE movies. Robert Vaughan is a little bit of an old git in them, but he's self-mocking and sexy, Ilya Kuryakin is genuinely dishy, and they have proper party scenes with proper pretty frocks and just enough plot to pay attention to. This movie, not funny, not pretty, and more than a little embarrassing, isn't even good enough to laugh at.

I find every movie by the Pack, or any of their subset, other than Sinatra alone, to be a sad waste of film.

This is yet another, where Sammy Davis, Jr and Peter Lawford pilot this shameless, dopey vehicle at missile speed right through the middle of my IQ. Gosh, please make this stop, or at least, make Peter Lawford stop smoking cigarettes for one second and stop ashing his butt on the nightclub floor.

There's one funny scene where Sammy performs a song and dance number with some go-go girls. He pretends not very well to play the guitar.

I couldn't get through the entire movie. Its on a low par with the dreadful Ocean's 11.