Rat Pfink a Boo Boo

So what do you do for a movie when you've got no script, no stars, and no money. First, you get a cast with tight pants and shoot them from the rear; then, you make sure everything and everybody stays in constant motion even if you get a headache; lastly, you throw in a spoof and hope it all comes out like camp. I'll say one thing for impresario Steckler--he knows how to wield a camera even if to no overall purpose. No, this isn't camp. It's more like a student film, with all the energy in the world, a pass to Griffith Park, and a 1940's gorilla suit. One thing for certain, Steckler's mania sure puts the 'motion' in motion picture. Too bad it left me with a headache, and a tug for poor Carolyn Brandt who gets one heckuva workout. Anyway, I think Steckler has proven something, I'm just not sure what.

A strange hybrid of contemporary movies styles, Rat Pfink a Boo Boo begins as a seemingly straight, very low budget and amateurish crime drama. Cee Dee Beaumont (Carolyn Brandt), girlfriend to rock 'n' roll star, Lonnie Lord (Ron Haydock), is being harassed on the telephone by a gang of bored hoodlums. The first half of the film plays like a pulp melodrama, but this is also mixed with some beach party scenes. The whole film is a post-modern concoction of ideas, taken from the popular youth movements of the time. A year previous to the production of the film, an incredibly saccharine and asinine movie was released, that actually began a bizarre - if short-lived - series. Beach Blanket Bingo (1965), has been pilfered for the lame beach party scenes that interject throughout the first half of the film.

After Lonnie's girlfriend is kidnapped by the previously mentioned gang, he receives a phone call giving the demands for her release. This is where the film changes. It is not a revelatory change. It simply seems that the film maker just didn't know what to do with the ending. So, as per the previous action of pilfering, I can only assume he simply switched the TV on and was introduced to two popular shows that were being aired at the time. Lonnie, along with a character we hardly noticed in the previous half, Titus Twimbly (Titus Moede), step into a cupboard. After a kerfuffle they exit wearing ludicrous outfits, and proclaiming their super-hero pseudonyms as Rat Pfink and Boo Boo. (As a note, this was the full original title. However, in post production, the titles were messed up leaving the a instead of the and.)

What proceeds is a farcical parade of the eponymous super heroes gliding through the streets on a motorcycle and side car around the streets of Hollywood. This last part plays out like the camp Batman series that clearly influenced it, and the title being adapted from another cartoon TV character, Batfink. With it's cheap credentials in place, the film still has some amateurish charm. I believe that much of the humour is intentional, and the super hero section has it's tongue placed firmly in it's cheek - much like the Batman series that it is riffing on.

The film does deserve it's 2.9 IMDb rating, but because it is so low budget, I believe it has more to offer that let's say, for example, Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011), which has less to offer as it takes itself so seriously, and was made on a budget that could probably alter the third world. Also, with a running time of only 67 minutes, does not waste 3 hours of your life, and is worth it for it's outrageous acting, preposterous settings, and the more obvious limitations of it's director, a man who clearly lost his way 40 minutes into the film, resulting in the super hero ending, shoehorned into place.

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Despite the fact that I missed the first ten minutes of this movie, I was still downright amazed by the sheer absurdity of the plot and the Batman-like fight scenes. I'm not saying this was a bad movie. It was a great movie. It has a certain quality to it that many movies don't... it's an abomination, but you can't tear yourself away from it. The characters are both absurd and captivating at the same time. It's certainly pushing the envelope for the "bad but incredibly amusing" category. And as for the costumes... Boo Boo's hat deserves a review of its own.

RAT PFINK A BOO BOO (5 outta 5 stars)

I have been dreaming about seeing this movie ever since I heard it mentioned in an old issue of Castle of Frankenstein Magazine when I was like 10 years old. It never plays on TV, never ever made it to any repertory cinemas in my neck of the woods... and not even the more eclectic video stores around here ever carried it. God bless the amazingly fast growth of DVD technology which allowed me to finally *purchase* the movie for my very own at a ridiculously low price! Even so... after purchasing it, I was scared to watch it at first. After having dreamed about this movie for so long could it possibly live up to my expectations? Or would it be just another in a long list of disappointments? Well, I needn't have worried... this movie... as low-budget and cheesy and downright STRANGE it is... it is absolutely brilliant! Infused with incredible passion from the director and the cast... it transcends its monetary limitations and is wildly infectious in its creativity! Rat Pfink and Boo Boo, our two low-rent superheroes, are obviously inspired by Batman and Robin... but actually created and filmed BEFORE the popular 60s TV show! A bunch of psycho delinquents are terrorizing women... when they begin to pick on the girlfriend of rockabilly musician Lonnie Lord (secret identity of Rat Pfink) they cross the line and incur the wrath of our heroes! Genius filmmaking! Just imagine what director Ray Dennis Steckler could do with a budget!

I don't think I've ever laughed more in a movie theatre than the first time I saw "The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living And Became Mixed-Up Zombies" (1963) at NYC's Thalia some years back, and have wanted to see Ray Dennis Steckler's legendary 1965 follow-up, "Rat Pfink A Boo Boo," ever since. And the good news is that, to my not-so-great surprise, this turns out to be an extremely entertaining short film in the superhero genre. Filmed on the supercheap for only $20 (as Steckler tells us in an excellent interview on this DVD)--although every penny of that is evident on screen--the picture tells a simple story, in which Cee Bee Beaumont, girlfriend of rock star Lonnie Lord, is tormented and kidnapped by a trio of thugs. Good thing that Lonnie is actually costumed crime fighter Rat Pfink, and that Cee Bee's doofus gardener is actually his cohort Boo Boo, who hop aboard their sidecar motorcycle to rescue her from the villains, as well as an escaped gorilla! The picture features remarkably fine photography and editing, and although there is no synchronized dialogue whatsoever, I was able to quickly adapt, especially when being thrilled by some very frenetic dukeouts and no less than four upbeat rock 'n' roll numbers. The varicolored tinting of the film only enhances the already impressive lensing, and, at a mere 65 minutes or so (not the 90 minutes widely stated), the movie never even begins to wear out its welcome. By turns amusing, suspenseful, exciting and ludicrously funny, "Rat Pfink A Boo Boo" is a worthy successor to filmdom's "first monster musical." And Steckler, in his lengthy interview, proves to be just as bright and funny as his films would lead one to believe. The man has a remarkable memory, and his articulate stories round out this DVD very nicely indeed.