Otto in fuga

"Eight on the Lam" is not a bad film at all. But one part of it made me laugh. Bob Hope plays a widower with seven children, lots of bills and a girlfriend played by Shirley Eaton...that's Shirley Eaton who was a Bond girl in "Goldfinger" (the one who got gilded, by the way)!! This sort of strange casting always makes me laugh. Now I am not saying that the guy Hope plays isn't a nice guy...he is...but with a gorgeous blonde like Eaton?!?!

When the story begins, you see Henry Dimsdale (Hope) leaving his job at the bank to pick up his kids. So, driving a tiny VW you see him pick up seven kids AND a dog!! Obviously, things are tight when you have that many mouths to feed. But Henry's luck changes when he finds a money clip with $10,000 in a parking lot. He's basically an honest guy and waits a couple weeks to see if anyone claims it...and they don't. So, he begins to spend the money...and the timing couldn't be worse. This is because a bank examiner has found $50,000 missing from Henry's books...and all these recent huge purchases sure make it look like he's been embezzling. Instead of staying and trying to clear himself, he follows a co-worker's advice and runs...with his kids in tow. What's next? See the film and find out for yourself.

Like several other films from this era, Phyllis Diller is in this one as well. However, instead of acting WITH Hope, she mostly is in a parallel story with her boyfriend (Jonathan Winters). I liked this, as the films where she and Hope traded barbs were pretty limp (such as the aptly named "Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number").

So is this any good? It's not bad...and that's something you can't say about many of Hope's later films. For the most part, they are an unfunny and sorry lot...with Hope delivering asides that aren't particularly funny and are mostly annoying. This one, in contrast, works better because most of it's not played for laughs and Hope's limp quips are at a minimum. Now I am not saying it's a great film, but it is pleasant and watchable...though towards the end they did try more comedy and it was the low point of the movie. An amiable time-passer and not much more.

By the way, this film also features another Bond girl, Jill St. John ("Diamonds Are Forever").

In a plot borrowed somewhat from Double Dynamite, bank teller Bob Hope finds $10,000.00 in thousand dollar Grover Cleveland notes in a parking lot. He's real happy until it's discovered at his bank that they're short $50,000.00 in their books. Who seems to have come into some money? Nobody but old ski nose so he has to take it on the lam.

That's not easy considering he's a widower with seven kids. Hope's also got a babysitter played by Phyllis Diller. He leaves her behind, but she proves to be quite an asset behind enemy lines so to speak, especially with her cop boyfriend, Jonathan Winters.

Bob Hope gets only about a third of the laughs with Diller and Winters nicely splitting the rest. Winters does a repeat of his role as the dim bulb truck driver from It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World only here he's a dim bulb of a cop. If it isn't Hope, it's Diller constantly getting the better of him. Winters does a cameo appearance also as is own mother in that little old lady masquerade he was known for.

Of course the mystery is solved, in this case almost by sheer dumb luck and Hope winds up with school teacher Shirley Eaton and Diller with Winters despite all her obstruction of justice. It's how it is done that you have to see the film for.

Look also for a nice performance by Jill St. John as the gold digging femme fatale who inspires embezzlement. Eight on the Lam is nicely directed by comedy veteran George Marshall who's put Hope through all his paces before. It's a bit better than most of Hope's later work in the sixties.

Try as he might, Bob Hope just couldn't change with the times. With "Eight on the Lam"--for a few minutes anyway--Hope seems on the verge of creating an actual character, but he is ultimately defeated by the script. Story has a widower banker with seven children stumbling across 10 G's in a supermarket parking lot; while he decides what to do with the money, the head of the local bank where he's employed blames Hope for a shortage in the receipts. After an airy, funny opening, the plot suddenly becomes illogical and foolish. One (or possibly more) of the four writers credited with this project were obviously instructed to concoct his part of the screenplay from a Bob Hope Comedy Rulebook. Screwball chases and kooky disguises take away all that was charming from the earliest part of the picture, and Bob's wisecracks get more and more desperate. Results aren't shameful, though they are depressing. Director George Marshall gets a likable, easy rhythm going...and then fritters it away on corny gags and Hope in drag. ** from ****

This is a rather silly comedy about Bob Hope, Phyllis Diller and Jonathan Winters on the run from the law. While there are occasional funny moments, the movie is an overall waste of these people's talents. It definitely could've been funnier.

Bob Hope, Phyllis Diller and director George Marshall("Monsieur Beaucaire", "Fancy Pants") reunited for their second film as a team after the abysmal "Boy, Did I Get A Wrong Number!" "Eight on the Lam" is definitely an improvement over their first film together but that's not saying much. "Lam"'s harmless enough and watchable in a "Brady Bunch"/"Yours, Mine and Ours" kind of way if you catch it on a late night TV movie run. But it's never really "good" in the way Hope's best comedies were and still are. I recommend watching a true Hope classic like 1943's "They Got Me Covered" or 1951's "My Favorite Spy" instead.

Best part of "Eight on the Lam": the novelty value of seeing 2 classic era James Bond girls, Jill St. John alias Tiffany Case from 1971's "Diamonds Are Forever" and Shirley Eaton a.k.a. Jill Masterson the "Golden Girl" from 1964's "Goldfinger", in the same film and even briefly in the same scene! Hope obviously exercised his producer power by casting Miss Eaton as his devoted love interest and she is given a decent amount of on-screen time.

Bottom line: ** out of ****, mainly for Shirley and Jill.