Sale e pepe: super spie hippy

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 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.

Salt and Pepper (1968)

** (out of 4)

Charles Salt (Sammy Davis, Jr.) and Christopher Pepper (Peter Lawford) are friends who own a nightclub in Soho and after a woman is found dead there they are held on suspicion. Pretty soon the two are working as undercover spies to try and track down why so many other agents are being killed.

The 1960s were full of various spy movies and Rat Pack member Dean Martin was having a major success with his series. It was an obvious idea to try and get others into the mix and with SALT AND PEPPER both Davis and Lawford got to get back up on the big screen. Sadly, the end result isn't nearly as good as one would have hoped for.

For the most part SALT AND PEPPER is a mildly entertaining film that works largely because of the two leads and their performances. There's no question that they've got a nice chemistry together and their timing bouncing off each other is quite good. Davis is given an extended music sequence and Lawford gets to be that classic British charmer. The two of them make the film worth watching and especially if you're fans of theirs.

With that said, outside of them there's really not too much going on here. The plot itself is rather routine, boring and it never offers up any fresh or original. I'd also argue that the direction is rather lackluster and there's not really much humor to be found in the screenplay. Technically speaking the film is well-made but there's just not enough entertainment here to make it worth recommending.

This movie actually has a very witty script. Several people have complained they didn't laugh. It's SATIRE, the slapstick may be lowbrow humor, but the script has several witty moments - you really have to pay attention closely to the dialogue. A humorous take on the spy movies and tv shows that were barraging the airwaves and theaters of 1968. This was a classic form of camp humor films of the mid 60's through early 70s. Unfortunately, the humor is a bit dated for those who did not live through the insanity of the times. Two nightclub owners are sucked into a web of espionage in which they must save the entire country of Britain. A bit convoluted, the film could have been edited down by a good 20 minutes and been a better film. That said, it was still a fun romp. Vaudeville, meets burlesque, meets 007, meets Rocky and Bullwinkle. James Welch Henderson, Arkansas 3/30/2021.