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

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.

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.

One of the weirder things I've seem on TV. Turner Classic Movies has been showing some rarely seen stuff lately and some of the movies are gems.

I certainly wouldn't call this a gem by any means. I mainly turned it on just to see why I'd never heard of it before. First I thought I turned on TV Land by mistake. Most of the cast of The Dick Van Dyke Show is in this. I noticed there was no laugh track when Morey Amsterdan cracked a one liner and something seemed missing. That sent me to IMDb to investigate. I then watched simply because of the cameo appearances in the movie.

The movie has a lot of sight gags and wise cracks. A bit like an over length 3 Stooges episode and it does have Moe Howard in one of his final screen appearances.

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.

This movie is about a girl who inherits a bookstore, and the "wacky antics" of her employees. This movie definitely plays on the cold war mentality and fear of espionage of the time, but for laughs. It features some of 1960's television, and 1930's film's greatest stars (Supporting cast of the Dick Van Dyke show, Moe Howard of Three Stooges fame, Milton Berl, Steve Allen, etc...) Chock full of one liners (pretty much the whole movie is set ups for one liners), it takes what would make a 30 minute sitcom hilarious, and makes a 90 minute movie annoying. This movie is really quite goofy. HOWEVER, I really think a kid might find it quite funny...and by kid I mean under 10 yrs.

Seeing all the cameos is a nice trip down nostalgia-lane for the over 40 folks, if you are not interested in a plot, a script, and acting talent.