My local library picked this up as part of it's own fiftieth anniversary celebration last year, so this week I finally got around to watching it. With Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward in the cast, one would expect so much more, but sadly that's not the case. The film is too farcical to be considered a screwball comedy, and relies too heavily on slapstick and buffoonery to make it's comic points. It's perhaps a tad above your typical beach blanket genre film, but without the girls, except Tuesday Weld who was embarrassingly juvenile. Other reviewers on this board who feel that she stole the show apparently missed the scene where she squealed in delight at Corporal Opie's (Tom Gilson) rendition of 'You're My Boojum'. Boojum, or Boo for short, is a word I've never heard before, and I'm sure never will again, unless I watch this one more time, and that's not likely.
It's too bad too, because on the face of it, this vehicle had enough talent to pull off a capable production, but it got frittered away somewhere along the line. Newman comes across as absolutely goofy most of the time, especially in that chandelier/choo-choo escapade with Angela Hoffa (Joan Collins). As his wife Grace, Joanne Woodward is almost lifeless, something the script obviously called for by placing her on every pointless committee in existence in Putnam's Landing. Gale Gordon and Jack Carson portrayed their characters pretty much straight from the play book, but it was disappointing to see Dwayne Hickman as a neutered version of Marlon Brando from "The Wild One". It wouldn't have been so bad if he had tried out his Dobie Gillis TV role, I think that would have been much more effective.
Which made it all the more puzzling to view the theatrical trailer on the 20th Century Fox DVD release, where Bob Hope practically rolls on the ground in a fit of laughter while congratulating director Leo McCarey on his cinematic achievement. I would like to have known what Hope REALLY thought. For viewers back in the day, the redeeming feature might have been seeing this one in full color, as the trailer itself for some dubious reason was offered in black and white.
It's too bad too, because on the face of it, this vehicle had enough talent to pull off a capable production, but it got frittered away somewhere along the line. Newman comes across as absolutely goofy most of the time, especially in that chandelier/choo-choo escapade with Angela Hoffa (Joan Collins). As his wife Grace, Joanne Woodward is almost lifeless, something the script obviously called for by placing her on every pointless committee in existence in Putnam's Landing. Gale Gordon and Jack Carson portrayed their characters pretty much straight from the play book, but it was disappointing to see Dwayne Hickman as a neutered version of Marlon Brando from "The Wild One". It wouldn't have been so bad if he had tried out his Dobie Gillis TV role, I think that would have been much more effective.
Which made it all the more puzzling to view the theatrical trailer on the 20th Century Fox DVD release, where Bob Hope practically rolls on the ground in a fit of laughter while congratulating director Leo McCarey on his cinematic achievement. I would like to have known what Hope REALLY thought. For viewers back in the day, the redeeming feature might have been seeing this one in full color, as the trailer itself for some dubious reason was offered in black and white.