Every Little Crook and Nanny

Lovely to see Victor Mature, always a favorite, playing an extravagant Mafia don. And a slimmed-down Lynn Redgrave as a nanny taking care of the don's son, while the don is in Italy. Other members of the cast, Dom DeLuise, John Astin, Paul Sand and Austin Pendleton add to the comedy, but it goes off base when too many have zany moments which take away from the mane story. Nonetheless, it's worthwhile to see the stars who are no longer with us. Also the 1972 comedy is like a time capsule, not something we would see today. Gaudy 70s costumes and female anatomy jokes place this film firmly in the time frame before movies lost their humor.

I enjoyed all the snarky little one-liners. So many shining stars in early performances. Austin Pendleton was hilarious. Who cares if the plot was all over the place, it was a delightful little romp. Ignore the low ratings, give it a look.

Since 1960 Victor Mature's screen appearances were infrequent as he preferred retirement and golf to movie making. It was four years since his last screen role in After The Fox. As he put it they got him to sign for Every Little Crook And Nanny in a moment when he was bored with his retirement routine.

Although Mature himself did a wonderful spoof on his own screen image the rest of Every Little Crook And Nanny falls flat on its face where a whole lot of players try to out mug each other for the camera. There was just no direction in this film. Only Mature and title role co-star Lynn Redgrave try to play it straight.

As organized crime kingpin Mature forces out Lynn Redgrave and her etiquette school to make room for a new betting parlor. When she goes to complain Mature mistakes her for a British nanny he's been looking for to give his juvenile Philip Graves a little polish. Obviously Mature must have been influenced by Mary Poppins. In any event she gets hired and then she hatches a plan to kidnap young Graves because who'd be stupid enough to kidnap a Mafia kingpin's kid?

As it turns out it's fairly easy and if there's no such thing as the Mafia it's because Mature has idiots working for him. People like John Astin, Dom DeLuise and Paul Sand among other assorted stumble bums. But Sand in the end lucks out.

The other running gag is Margaret Blye and the fact that Mature is proud he's married to a full figured girl.

Maybe if someone had taken charge here this might have been a far better comedy than as it turned out.

Mob boss Carmine Ganucci (Victor Mature) is demanding to have a specific location, but stubborn dance teacher Miss Poole (Lynn Redgrave) has a long term lease. He throws her out anyways. Meanwhile, he needs a new nanny for his son. An angry Miss Poole comes into the office to complain. Carmine confuses her for a nanny and hires her on the spot. She sees an opportunity for revenge and recruits her beaten piano player Luther (Austin Pendleton). Vito Garbugli (John Astin) and Mario Azzecca (Dom DeLuise) are his sniveling assistants. Benny Napkins (Paul Sand) is the weak-kneed gangster convinced to keep the kidnapping secret.

This is the downside of Victor Mature's career. He came out of semi-retirement for this. Apparently, they caught him at the right moment, but the material is not that good. I really like Mature's performance, but it's not enough. The plot spirals into a mess. Worst still, it's not actually that funny. There are small moments of comedic possibilities, but this is generally falling flat.

This chaotic, fitfully amusing comedy of how Lynn Redgrave's character came to mastermind the kidnapping of a Mafia don owes its occasional successes largely to Ms. Redgrave's crisp performance and her sardonic delivery of some amusing lines. Victor Mature is also fine as an oblivious Mafia don. Dom Deluise and John Astin put a lot of energy into their roles as lawyers, and Pat Morita has a funny monologue about how Japanese people can't pronounce the letter L. However, the script stumbles in several directions at once, trying and failing to cover the subplots in the Evan Hunter novel, and the other men in the cast, particularly Paul Sand and Austin Pendleton as Redgrave's unwitting henchmen, along with three or four other alumni of the Second City troupe's first year all wind up playing their characters alike, as vague, whiny and low key. The net effect is slow and dull. Give this a miss.