Les pieds dans le plat

I have not seen many movies with Danny Kaye, I prefer Jerry Lewis but this one, directed by Lewis' fetish film maker Frank Tashlin, is still funny, not too long, not boring, and announcing the future - for this period - computers system issues. From now, in 2025, of course it sounds old fashioned but the humor is still here. And it's amusing to see Telly Savalas and George Kennedy co starring Danny Kaye as mobsters. In France, such a film, in 1963, could easily have been starred by Bourvil or Fernandel. I did not know this movie at all before the viewing. I don't know if computers machines looked like this in 1963 though. Now, they can be as big as a simple electronic bug.

But the results are still entertaining and often quite funny, despite both the director's and the star's bizarre refusal to play up to their strengths. Overall it's far from the worst Danny Kaye movie, though not remotely in the same league as the Court Jester.

There are no musical sequences here and there is minimal wordplay. The former can be excused since this is a pure farce; it depends on structure and escalating plot devices for its humor and songs would just slow it down. The latter is more regrettable; Kaye seems a bit morose here, and his depiction of an overly nervous office worker is almost stressful just to watch. He only really comes to life in the masseuse sequence and the frenetic climax. (Both very entertaining sequences that make the film worthwhile). It's too bad that the film is padded out with fairly unpleasant scenes with the gangster character, who seems to have about an equal amount of screen time as Kaye.

I think this is the first black and white Frank Tashlin film I've seen, and it's probably one of the only ones. One of Tashlin's greatest skills was his use of vibrant color, which is absent here (lower budget, probably). The photography is still quite professional though, and miles above some of Kaye's other color films such as On the Double. Luckily Tashlin's penchant for lowbrow satire is still in full force though, especially in the ridiculous 'modern' gym and the mechanized credit card company. It plays very well into his pet topics: the usurpation of man by machine, the ridiculousness of progress, etc, and it's all aged rather well. ("You're using that evil money?" someone asks Kaye's character at some point, since he works for a credit card company. Hmm, we may really be heading for that society). Another Tashlin trademark, the climactic cartoonish chase scene, has lots of good gags though it can't really compare with his work on 'Son of Paleface'.

The writer, Bill Blatty, would become famous a decade later for writing the Exorcist, but before that most people don't know that he mainly worked in comedy films, especially with Blake Edwards. The Man From the Diner's Club is actually a lot like a Blake Edwards film in some respects, with its often bizarre humor, some of which, yes, revolves around beatniks.

This is Danny Kaye's last starring comedy, and like the last films of many comedians, it is quite sad. Frank Tashlin's film is much better suited to someone like Jerry Lewis. Kaye is completely out of place in the film. The true scene stealer of this film is Telly Savalas. In this film, Kojak has hair and plays the villain. And what a fine villain he is! But where are the musical specialties for Kaye? There is not one. Kaye was a comedian who depended on facial expressions, funny sounds, and musical patter. Here, he is expected to be a slapstick comedian. "On the Double", Kaye's previous film is a masterpiece next to this.

This may be (I only did a little research) Danny Kaye's final lead role in the movies, yet comes only a few years after our favorite Danny Kaye movie, Me And The Colonel. I enjoyed The Man From the Diner's Club when I first watched it, which must have been whenever it arrived on television after its release in 1962-63 (when I was nine years old).

Seen today, the movie generally moves too slowly, especially in the beginning, as if most of the movie is a set up for the final climax and resolution. Yet the movie never quite catches fire, perhaps held back by the reliance on the familiar Danny Kaye "schtick", which by this point in his career must have been very familiar to theater goers.

We watched it during the Christmas holiday, 2015, as I wanted to share my decades old fondness for the film with my best friend, who gradually warmed to the movie as it developed.

But for me, a dyed in the wool Danny Kaye fan, the film stayed slow until the end.

This film represents the lasts starring theatrical film made by Danny Kaye. Soon, he'd make his mark on TV--with his popular show and a few assorted television movies. And, because it's the last, you'd hope it would be among his best...which it isn't. Is it worth seeing? Read on...

Danny plays a schnook named Ernest Klenk and pretty much everything he does ends up exploding or breaking. It's a shame, as he wants to marry his long-time girlfriend but just when he things he's got enough money and job security to make a go of it, something stupid happens and the wedding is postponed. There also is an evil gangster (Telly Savalas) who wants to fake his own death--and guess who has a weird anomaly which would make him the perfect candidate to murder in place of the gangster?

If you are used to seeing Danny Kaye singing, dancing and doing comedy, you may be in for a little shock. There's no singing nor dancing and the sort of comedy he does is nothing much like the usual Danny Kaye humor. In many ways, it really reminds me of a Jerry Lewis film from the same era--where the leading man is a screw-up, there are lots of sight gags and the comic mugs A LOT for the camera. A great example of this are the scenes where Kaye is around computers--where he twitches and gesticulates like he's having some sort of seizure. Funny? Not in the least. And, after seeing it, I can see why he stuck to television.