The Man from the Diners' Club (1963) User Reviews

The same set of feet

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 13 February 2013]

Although another viewer said that Danny Kaye looks like he was doing something originally meant for Jerry Lewis, The Man From The Diner's Club actually is taken part and parcel from the Bob Hope comedy Alias Jesse James.

In the Hope film he plays a life insurance salesman who sells a policy to Jesse James and spends the whole film trying to get it back and rescinded. In this film Kaye works at the Diner's Club Credit Card company and accidentally okays a credit card for gangster Telly Savalas.

Savalas has enough of his own problems, his American assets are frozen in lieu of an income tax liability and he's trying to flee the country to Mexico where he's got cash stashed away. Savalas has a distinct physical trait in that he's got one foot a size 10 and the other a size 11. He's got a guy picked out for a homicide with the same characteristics who goes and gets killed in traffic accident.

But when Kaye comes to call about the Diner's Club card, Savalas notices he has the same set of feet. Another pigeon, but Kaye in his usual bumbling way manages to get through it all.

The Man From The Diner's Club sports a good supporting cast in Martha Hyer who is so beautiful you can't conceive of a bumbling Danny Kaye getting anywhere near here. Cara Williams plays a nice part as Savalas's brain dead moll and she has a terrific drunk scene. George Kennedy plays a similarly brain dead muscle guy for Savalas and he shows a nice flair for comedy that rarely was utilized in his career. Everett Sloane is Kaye's excitable boss and Martin Caine is his sneaky rival in the company.

Kaye has some good moments in the final chase scene where just about the entire cast gets involved. His best moment is with Ann Morgan Guilbert who has designed a system for information retrieval on those old punch cards that computers back in the stone age utilized. Twice in the film the bungling Kaye flips a switch that sends a blizzard of punch cards spewing around the office. That bit was partially taken from the Tracy/Hepburn comedy Desk Set. In fact I think some of the set for that film's computer Emirac was used in this film also from Columbia.

It's not Danny Kaye's best film and it certainly was cobbled together from other sources, but I think his still legion of fans will be pleased with it.

Kaye's Final Feature Film Starring Role

[theowinthrop · 7/10 · 26 July 2007]

THE MAN FROM THE DINER'S CLUB is not Danny Kaye's best film by any stretch, but it has it's moments. Kaye is a member of the staff of the local office of the Diner's Club, and has several things against him. He is a stumble-bum type, frequently causing trouble for fellow employees. There is a running gag with Anne Marie Gilbert, who runs the computer system. It is one of the original computers - which had hundreds of cards in the system. Kaye keeps causing a switch to be pushed that causes all the cards to come out and fall through a window into the street like so much confetti. His boss Everett Sloane threatens to fire him if he goofs up again. So does his supervisor Howard Caine (who is mad that Kaye got the job that should have gone to Caine's nephew).

Kaye is also in the middle of wedding plans. He is marrying Martha Hyer, and is more nervous than usual as the date of the wedding (a few days later) approaches). But then a real disaster upsets everything. Kaye discovers he has approved the credit card application of a notorious mobster (Telly Savalas), and that this is the type of goof-up that Sloane and Caine are looking for.

The film follows Kaye's attempts to retrieve the credit card from Savallas. Little does he know that Savallas (in an early role here - complete with wig) is planning to get to Mexico using the Diner's Club Card of a member - but not the one Kaye would think. He also is planning to have his trail ended by using a substitute corpse.

There are funny moments in the film - Kaye rushing through a wedding rehearsal much to the dismay of Hyer and the annoyance of minister Ronald Long. Also Kaye pretending to be a German masseuse and giving a ridiculous rubdown to his foe Caine (you will see this and never be able to hear the word "tensing" said again with a straight face). Savallas is fine as a self-pitying gangster, wondering why we fought World War II if we allowed a home-grown gestapo (i.e.: his take on the FBI) take root. Savallas is also good dealing with his girlfriend Cara Williams, who he keeps referring to as a "birdbrain". In the end she does show she has more in her than he thinks. George Kennedy, as Savallas' right hand man, does the best he can with his role. And the final sight of Everett Sloane is also curious. Injured towards the end of the movie, we last see him on two crutches. Momentarily we think of Sloane's best recalled film role: Arthur Bannister in THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI.

Oh, Kaye! How could you?

[LCShackley · 5/10 · 13 August 2007]

Danny Kaye made this movie at age 50, just as he was transitioning into his long-running, successful TV show. It's a shame that the film wasn't better tailored to his talents. He gets to do a few funny facial expressions, but no singing or dancing, and almost no verbal humor (his specialties). Probably the best bit is when he pretends to be a Swedish masseur and does dialect humor while he gets revenge on his oppressive office-mate. Most of the blame can be placed on the weak, dated script by "Bill Blatty" (Mr. Exorcist), which is full of tired office humor from the early 60s. (It makes HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS look slick and sophisticated.) Kaye is paired up romantically with a girl clearly out of his league; why would such a hot number put up with a nerd who keeps putting off the wedding? Telly Savalas and Cara Williams make a nice team as the bumbling villain and his moll; Harry Dean Stanton makes an uncredited appearance as a poetry-spouting beatnik. (Yes, what early 60s film would be complete without a beatnik?) Music by Stu Phillips (Cosby Show) tends toward the Carl Stallings cartoon approach. The cinematography is dull and lifeless. If you want REAL Danny Kaye, turn back the clock a decade or more before this lemon, or hope that someday his great TV show is packaged for DVD.

Last Kaye Starring Film

[lzf0 · 5 September 2002]

This is Danny Kaye's last starring comedy, and like the last films of many comedians, it is quite sad. Frank Tashlin's film is much better suited to someone like Jerry Lewis. Kaye is completely out of place in the film. The true scene stealer of this film is Telly Savalas. In this film, Kojak has hair and plays the villain. And what a fine villain he is! But where are the musical specialties for Kaye? There is not one. Kaye was a comedian who depended on facial expressions, funny sounds, and musical patter. Here, he is expected to be a slapstick comedian. "On the Double", Kaye's previous film is a masterpiece next to this.

the only thing missing was the three stooges

[ksf-2 · 6/10 · 12 October 2022]

It's a bit of a silly, over-played comedy, with danny kaye. When ernie approves a diners club charge card for ron pulardos (telly savalas) all hell breaks loose. It turns out that pulardos is a well known mobster, busted for taxes, and wants to disappear in an arranged fire. Of his own gym. So ernie tries to get the card back before pulardos can use it! Ann guilbert (millie, on dick van dyke!) is ella, in the computer room. George kennedy is george, working for pulardos. A funny scene where ernie gets to beat up his boss at work, when he pretends to be the massage therapist. And probably the last film to feature a dumb-waiter as part of the plot! Directed by frank tashlin. Made a ton of films with jerry lewis, but died at 59 of thrombosis. Did you notice the opening song was sung by steve lawrence? Showing on free tubi channel. It's pretty good... a whole lot of slapstick and the usual misunderstandings.

Tashlin and Kaye de-evolve

[DrTuvok · 7/10 · 2 December 2022]

But the results are still entertaining and often quite funny, despite both the director's and the star's bizarre refusal to play up to their strengths. Overall it's far from the worst Danny Kaye movie, though not remotely in the same league as the Court Jester.

There are no musical sequences here and there is minimal wordplay. The former can be excused since this is a pure farce; it depends on structure and escalating plot devices for its humor and songs would just slow it down. The latter is more regrettable; Kaye seems a bit morose here, and his depiction of an overly nervous office worker is almost stressful just to watch. He only really comes to life in the masseuse sequence and the frenetic climax. (Both very entertaining sequences that make the film worthwhile). It's too bad that the film is padded out with fairly unpleasant scenes with the gangster character, who seems to have about an equal amount of screen time as Kaye.

I think this is the first black and white Frank Tashlin film I've seen, and it's probably one of the only ones. One of Tashlin's greatest skills was his use of vibrant color, which is absent here (lower budget, probably). The photography is still quite professional though, and miles above some of Kaye's other color films such as On the Double. Luckily Tashlin's penchant for lowbrow satire is still in full force though, especially in the ridiculous 'modern' gym and the mechanized credit card company. It plays very well into his pet topics: the usurpation of man by machine, the ridiculousness of progress, etc, and it's all aged rather well. ("You're using that evil money?" someone asks Kaye's character at some point, since he works for a credit card company. Hmm, we may really be heading for that society). Another Tashlin trademark, the climactic cartoonish chase scene, has lots of good gags though it can't really compare with his work on 'Son of Paleface'.

The writer, Bill Blatty, would become famous a decade later for writing the Exorcist, but before that most people don't know that he mainly worked in comedy films, especially with Blake Edwards. The Man From the Diner's Club is actually a lot like a Blake Edwards film in some respects, with its often bizarre humor, some of which, yes, revolves around beatniks.

It's as if Danny Kaye was making a Jerry Lewis film!

[planktonrules · 3/10 · 25 January 2013]

This film represents the lasts starring theatrical film made by Danny Kaye. Soon, he'd make his mark on TV--with his popular show and a few assorted television movies. And, because it's the last, you'd hope it would be among his best...which it isn't. Is it worth seeing? Read on...

Danny plays a schnook named Ernest Klenk and pretty much everything he does ends up exploding or breaking. It's a shame, as he wants to marry his long-time girlfriend but just when he things he's got enough money and job security to make a go of it, something stupid happens and the wedding is postponed. There also is an evil gangster (Telly Savalas) who wants to fake his own death--and guess who has a weird anomaly which would make him the perfect candidate to murder in place of the gangster?

If you are used to seeing Danny Kaye singing, dancing and doing comedy, you may be in for a little shock. There's no singing nor dancing and the sort of comedy he does is nothing much like the usual Danny Kaye humor. In many ways, it really reminds me of a Jerry Lewis film from the same era--where the leading man is a screw-up, there are lots of sight gags and the comic mugs A LOT for the camera. A great example of this are the scenes where Kaye is around computers--where he twitches and gesticulates like he's having some sort of seizure. Funny? Not in the least. And, after seeing it, I can see why he stuck to television.

The worst of the Danny Kaye comedies

[gjw · 5/10 · 15 November 2022]

This movie attempts to replace Danny Kaye's usual verbal fireworks with adolescent slapstick, and it doesn't work. Slapstick can be very funny, when done properly, and Danny did a good job of it in "The Court Jester", but here it falls flat. I honestly didn't laugh at a single gag in the movie. It obviously wasn't tailored to Danny Kaye"s unique talents, which his earlier comedies were. It's much too generic. But worse, it's simply not funny. And since Danny Kaye can be an incredibly funny performer, the fault obviously lies with the weak script, which plays like a throwback to an old Buster Keaton silent movie - without the laughs. Don't waste your time. Instead, go watch one of Danny's classic comedies, like "The Court Jester" or "Wonder Man".

A hilarious romp with a wacko plot of many subplots and a superb cast

[SimonJack · 10/10 · 22 January 2022]

"The Man from the Diners' Club" is a comedy that had me laughing so hard in places that I had to stop the DVD. I never came across this film until recently. I bought it, though, even with such small input on IMDb, and the mostly lukewarm reviews. Why? Because I was pretty sure a film with Danny Kaye in the lead would be much funnier and better than the few reviewers before this found it to be. And, looking at a cast that also had Telly Savalas and George Kennedy, especially, as well as some other notable actors, I figured that comedy aficionados had overlooked this film. And, this movie sure seems to prove those points.

At the outset, though, I should note that this is a somewhat different role for Kaye. He doesn't do some of the things that he frequently did in earlier films and for which he was skilled at. He has no tongue-twister lines, and there are no song and dance numbers here. By this late stage in his career, wife Sylvia Fine was not writing and composing songs and skits for him. So, that may account for some of the change. But, Kaye does have more than one scene in which he uses a foreign accent to mimic another character. Kaye's comedy in this film comes mostly in the antics, and the film is loaded with frantic activity on his part. That's funny by itself, but the scenes with other characters add to the humor.

The co-starring cast provide a tremendous amount of the humor. They shine both in dialog and antics. Savalas, as Foots Pulardos, was the source of a couple of my bouts of prolonged laughter. And, Cara Williams as his Sugar Pye, had me in stitches a couple of times. Then, George Kennedy as George, the right-hand man of Foots was superb. The writers for this film were spot on in the dialog they gave these characters, and the actors were tremendous in their portrayals. The rest of the supporting cast were all very good.

The very plot for this film is hilarious. It has so many subplots that work together superbly. When Kaye's Ernest Klenk accidentally approves a Diners Club application for a notorious crime boss, Ronald "Foots" Pulardos, Ernie heads out to try to snatch the card before the man can use it. While this is going on, Ernie is due to marry Lucy (played by Martha Hyer) the next day. She's the favorite secretary of the head of his company, Mr. Martindale (played by Everett Sloane). Ernie had just been put on the carpet with the chief by his boss, Claude Bassanio (played by Howard Caine), who doesn't like Ernie because he was promoted ahead of Claude's cousin. But Ernie got the jitters before marrying Lucy - the wedding was postponed four times already. That, and the fact that the noise from the automated filing system room sets Ernie's nerves on end every time the door to the room opens. In one such nervous moment, Ernie had mistakenly approved an application that a woman had submitted for her German Shepherd dog. So, one more mistake like that, and Ernie gets canned.

Just before this, across town, gangster boss Foots Pulardos (Savalas) had been planning to flee the country. We never find out what rackets Foots was in, but now he's wanted by the Feds for income tax fraud. So, he plans to leave the country with his sweetheart, Sugar Pye (Cara Williams). The trouble is, the Feds have put holds on his bank accounts and are watching every place he has stashes of cash. Sugar comes up with the idea of applying for a Diners Club card so he can charge their airline fares and get cash. She doesn't think it all the way through, of course, but it proves an opening for much more comedy. Foots operates out of his business front, a gym called the Sweat Shop.

Also, as part of his get-away, Foots has hired a hit man to kill a certain guy so that he may be identified as Foots and end the Fed pursuit of him. This is another sidebar aspect of the plot - Foots got his name from his feet. His left foot is one inch longer than his right foot. I defy anyone to keep from laughing when the film pans down on Savalas' shoes with the left shoe sticking out an inch. This is the source of much humor, because his hit man is supposed to have the victim incinerated except for his feet. The victim is another man with one foot longer than the other. But, Foots has more problems and figures that "somebody up there hates me," when his replacement body is killed in a freeway accident. So now, he sends George out (Kennedy) to find anybody they can use for the hit. The cream of this whole thing happens when Ernie goes to the Sweat Shop and applies for the job of a new gym instructor, as a way to get into the firm so he can try to find and snatch the Diners Cub card. Well, as George is typing his information and credentials, he discovers that Ernie has one foot that is an inch longer than the other. More laughter when the camera pans down on Ernie's shoes.

From there on, the comedy ramps up. I haven't watched another film for months that gave me so many laughs. I give all this background as a dare to anyone who enjoys real comedy to watch this film. Even knowing what it's about, and these details, true comedy fans are sure to have many laughs. What a great comedy. It's a keeper and permanent film in my library. If Danny Kaye, Telly Savalas and Cara Williams don't bring tears of laughter to one's eyes, it's a sure sign the tear ducts are dry.

Slower moving than I remembered it

[CornanTheIowan · 5/10 · 27 December 2015]

This may be (I only did a little research) Danny Kaye's final lead role in the movies, yet comes only a few years after our favorite Danny Kaye movie, Me And The Colonel. I enjoyed The Man From the Diner's Club when I first watched it, which must have been whenever it arrived on television after its release in 1962-63 (when I was nine years old).

Seen today, the movie generally moves too slowly, especially in the beginning, as if most of the movie is a set up for the final climax and resolution. Yet the movie never quite catches fire, perhaps held back by the reliance on the familiar Danny Kaye "schtick", which by this point in his career must have been very familiar to theater goers.

We watched it during the Christmas holiday, 2015, as I wanted to share my decades old fondness for the film with my best friend, who gradually warmed to the movie as it developed.

But for me, a dyed in the wool Danny Kaye fan, the film stayed slow until the end.