micksteel86

I've been watching Bob Hope Chrysler Mystery Theatre on You Tube and came across this gem. This would have been a great fourth and final film for Rock Hudson and Doris day.

Peter Falk is a bachelor (Mike) and entrepreneur who has a huge tax bill. His accountant Norman Fell suggests he marry a wealthy woman with big debts. He finds divorcee Janet Leigh (Jenny) who has these big debts.

Problems. Mike has a very attractive but money hungry girlfriend. Both are high profile people so the marriage is considered a stunt.

The only issue with the show is the the laugh track which should never have been used in these one hour shows and this script is funny enough without one.

Of course it needed a few more angles to be a film but it's well on it's way. It could have also been a film for these two stars but Janet does not necessarily have the comedy smarts of Doris.

Barry Humphries will be remembered in my opinion as the greatest stage performing comedian of all time. As guests on talk shows Barry Edna and Les are also at their best with a live audience. I've seen his LIVE show 6 times and was always in awe of his genius.

This is a terrible film.

Essentially the Les Patterson and Edna characters cannot hold a film audience for 90 minutes but even if they could this script which never gets out of the toilet is an insult to all involved.

Producer and co writer Diane Millstead obviously had good intentions to make a film to rival the popularity of Crocodile Dundee.

The other George Miller was a capable director and apparently loved making this film , no doubt with all the talent involved.

The unfunny cameos of Graham Kennedy and John Clarke are such a disappointment and Paul Jennings doing a then Prime minister Bob Hawke impression is TV sketch comedy stuff 1987, it's not for a film.

Not all comedians can crack the film market, If you want to watch Barry Humphries the genius there's plenty of his material on You Tube. Zero stars.

I should add that with some very extreme editing the film could be made watchable but it needs about ten minutes trimmed especially from the appalling start.

I like this film because it works for me on many levels. The basic story line is that a sailor named Skip has died and wanted to be buried at sea. This is not the done thing this century so the authorities have organized a proper church yard burial. However his life long friend Wally wants the sea burial to happen and stealing the corpse is the way to make this happen.

Writer director Robert Young and his producers have set out to make a little story told well and they have succeeded. It's a sensible use of film funding money which was able to attract Brian Cox , Lauren Bacall and James Fox.

The script has some good laughs and the support characters look and act well.

If given the opportunity this is the sort of film I would like to make.