Don't Worry, We'll Think of a Title

If you're a fan of '60 sitcoms, this will probably give you a few chuckles. Don't look for much of a plot or decent sets (or even color). Come for the myriad of comedian cameos and stay for the irrepressible Morey Amsterdam. Vaudeville was long dead by 1966 and this film does nothing to disprove that....but it sure gives it one last try. Co-written and produced by Mr. Amsterdam, the film tries to cash in on the recently ended Dick Van Dyke Show's team of Sally Rogers, Mel Cooley and Buddy Sorell. Sadly, the cheesy script replaces them with three hapless diner employees caught up in a Russian espionage caper....or a bizarre attempt at one. Still, Morey's one-liners and Rose Marie's reactions give it just a touch of the old Buddy and Sally. And that makes it worth a look.

It's 84 minutes long. I lasted 7 minutes. I enjoyed Morey Amsterdam on the old Dick Van Dyke Show. Carl Reiner has a writing credit on all 158 episodes, Morey has none. One of Morey's few writing credits is this dog. So, I guess Morey was a funny performer, but not a good writer.

Avoid.

Writer / Producer Morey Amsterdam attempts to spoof the spy film genre. The style is very similar to "Get Smart", but not nearly as well-written. Most of the jokes fall flat. The endless stream of cameos a la "Mad Mad World" is occasionally amusing, but not enough to save this film.

This was obviously made on the cheap -- most of the action is confined to a bookstore, and there are only about 3 other sets in the entire film.

Morey Amsterdam and Rose Marie were perfect sidekicks on The Dick Van Dyke Show. Their chemistry is one of the reasons that show is such a classic. Unfortunately, they can't carry a film on their own, at least not one as badly written as this. Even their one-liners, of which there are plenty, are pretty lame.

If you think this might be worth a look just for curiosity, especially if you're a Dick Van Dyke Show fan, then do yourself a favor -- skip it.

Even by the dismal standards of mid-1960s spy spoofs (others have titles like "The Last of the Secret Agents?" and "The Maltese Bippy"), this is a forlorn little comedy, shot on Desilu sets and looking like a quickie TV show. Every Desilu TV star on the lot that day puts in a witless cameo (Irene Ryan, Danny Thomas, Carl Reiner); the rest is Rose Marie and Morey Amsterdam, Buddy Sorrell and Sally Rogers in all but name, exchanging lame repartee as a bumbling pair of friends to a nubile bookstore owner (the conspicuously untalented January Jones), all of them caught up in labored international intrigue. Amsterdam co-wrote the screenplay and thus has only himself to blame, but he and Rose Marie look distinctly unhappy amid the low-budget surroundings, and the movie's reputation as a legendary stinker is well deserved. Harmon Jones, who actually has a good movie or two to his credit, directs in a grab-the-paycheck-and-run style that's winceworthy.

This was a lost film for decades, until someone at Turner and United Artists resurrected it for a few TV showings. Apropos of all the other reviews here, unless you enjoy 60s culture as viewed by middle-aged men of the period, the movie will leave you at a loss. Morey Amsterdam, who co-wrote and produced, and Rose Marie are alternately embarrassing and silly. Morey's one-liners were dinosaurs on the vaudeville circuit and would have been rejected immediately for the Alan Brady Show. A low-budget and unfunny pastiche of bad jokes that simply painful to sit through. However, there is some amusement in seeing Richard Deacon try in vain to rise above the material. A few of the cameo roles are of historical interest. A bomb at the box office when first released in 1966, this film is best left in the vault.