Um Viúvo do Barulho

By this time, in the late 60s, Hope was churning out absolute garbage films. This one is cheap, and stupid. He's something like 63 years old in this thing, and has a bunch of young children.

He never stopped milking the name. His family continued the practice till his death. I worked on one of his last TV specials, and it was extremely sad. He was barely lucid until the camera started, and then he was on auto-pilot.

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.

This is a classic -- if predictable -- 60s comedy, complete with smart-aleck kids and Bob Hope's one-liners delivered in his deadpan style. Like the big family in "Yours, Mine and Ours" some of the kids just stand around and we're to blithely accept the fact that middle-class families reproduce like rabbits, but those of us with *only* three or four kids can still identify.

Unlike the Disney movies of the same era, or the Hepburn-Tracy movies of a few years prior, the situations, clothes, and other styles truly reflect middle-class America. Oh, and it's actually funny!

My impressions from this movie is, Great Cars, God awful furniture (I wouldn't even offer it to my friends), Clothes are funky, and Humor is timeless!. This a great movie to watch for a time capsule of 1967. Bob Hope is funny (Korny), and J. Winters and P. Diller both do a great job of being weirder than life as supporting characters. Tina Louise sure did a good job as the "hot" babe too. don't expect a complicated story, this is a HAHAHA movie worth seeing

"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").