Throw Out the Anchor!

This is a badly made movie about a publicity guy on vacation helping a small town fight big business and pollution. Clearly aimed at the family market this appears to have been made by a bunch of film makers who didn't know what to do beyond point and shoot. This would be passable if it wasn't for the fact that the cast knows that no one behind the camera cared so they don't care either. Everyone seems to be walking through their roles as if waiting for something better to come along. Still the movie can't be completely written off since there are a few laughs and once you get a decent amount into the film you'll be curious enough to see what happens (I liken it to seeing a bad road accident). I wouldn't hunt it down, but if trapped in a room with this on I think you could do worse.

This family comedy has a fairly serious background: the ecological destruction of much of Florida in the late 60s/early 70s and the real estate boom that was also destroying much of the nature in favour of trendy condos. The film is also surprisingly straightforward regarding corrupt poloiticians. this set up reminded me pretty much of John D. MacDonald's late Travis McGee novels which was my main reason for watching it. The film itself was quite enjoyable with some funny moments and some mediocre moments but hardly any bad moments. The story centers around a group of people that seem to be a microcosm of what America should be: all ethnic groups and ahe groups living in tolerance and harmony but without being too obvious about it. Okay, the solution itself is pretty silly and was a bit of a let down but all in all I found it a very entertaining and well made film which for the day and age it was shot in was very open and critical.

One almost expects a degree of pathos when viewing the ensemble drama of Throw Out the Anchor. Indeed, when presented with such a serious and irony free play based on one man's struggle against corporate America, and of course his own inner struggle to sustain that true American identity, then I suppose it is not surprising that the material presented is devoid of humour.

Once, while serving in the Second Boer War, my grand-uncle observed an Elephant absent-mindedly defecate upon the head of a Trek Oxen. I'm sad to report that this is a similar experience to that which one will find if one does manage to sit through the serious allegory of the Second World War presented through some middle aged-man's efforts to save a cove from being built over by a road.

Second World War, you ask? Indeed. For within this film you will find the Jewish lawyer forced to gaze upon the remnants of a society he once loved, a sub-continental type praising universal love (representing the forgotten army of the Burma campaign), the child being the face of the baby boomers post war.

There is more, but I just remembered I died a couple of years ago.

Yours, Brian Sewell's ghost.

A public relations man goes to Florida for a holiday, when there he comes into contact with some river people who are fixing up a boat. Before long he finds himself assisting the poor folks in their fight against evil corporate types who are polluting the river where they live.

Sadly, I found this comedy to be pretty interminable and completely devoid of laughs. Its story-line was completely forgettable and it was quite a challenge remaining even vaguely interested with events that unfolded on screen. I couldn't really find anything to keep my interest going quite honestly.

Apparently filmed for a pittance in Florida, this local production would be entirely unwatchable if not for the two name stars attached to it. Richard Egan was almost at the end of his career and looks unhappy and unhealthy, but Dina Merrill is as excellent as ever and looks fetching in a diving suit. Produced, written, and directed by John Hugh, the film is poorly lensed by DoP Robert Caramico, the genius behind the camera of A.C. Stephens' almost unwatchable Orgy of the Dead as well as Albert Zugsmith exploitationers like Psychopathia Sexualis. Throw Out the Anchor is a million miles from those films, though, as it tells a gentle tale of backwoods folks fighting the good fight against corporate polluters. What comedy there is--and it's not much--is supplied by folks falling in the water or dropping heavy objects in the water. Ha. Ha. The rest of the cast and crew are strictly amateur hour and most of them have few if any other credits to their names, though young Alison Arngrim went on to appear in the TV series Little House on the Prairie.