amosduncan_2000
My family took us to the drive-in to see this when I was around six years old. Needless to say, I was not quite as tough on it as the junior John Simons around here. In fact, we all thought it was a masterpiece. Well, we didn't say that; but we thought it was funny. My Dad probably even knew the connection to "Your Show Of Shows." Now it is impossible to see, though I guess it turns up on T.V. now and then. It sounds like the historic significance as a precursor to the now played out "Airplane" school of comedy might make it fun. Martin and Rossi continued to play Vegas for many years after the film. Harvey Korman must have just been getting started.
Jeffrey Fahmie (Slyhuckster)
Just wanted to know if anyone else noticed William Petersen in an uncredited role. He appears in the restaurant/club about thirty or forty minutes in, with blonde hair or streaks. He looks good; appears to be a bouncer. I didn't mind the movie a bit, needs a few more good gags.
Craig Gustafson
I saw this on AMC last night, introduced by Nancy Sinatra, whose years of experience have not yet rendered her able to read believably from a cue card.It actually looked like it might be interesting, since it was written by Mel Tolkin, head writer for "Your Show of Shows" and "Caesar's Hour" (two of the most intelligently written comedy shows of the fifties) and who was later head writer for "All in the Family."This movie stinks. Brilliant comic actors like Lou Jacobi, Sig Rumann and John Williams are wasted. The plot limps along like a snail with gout. Allen and Rossi, who I remember liking very much on the Ed Sullivan show, do the best they can with underwritten characters. The aforementioned Nancy Sinatra attempts an accent (I believe French, but it's hard to tell.) Her dress gets ripped off, which is the high point of the movie.I stuck with it until the end because I began to have a morbid fascination with the film: Can It Get Even Unfunnier As It Goes On? The answer is yes, and an hour and a half of my life is irretrievably gone.You could watch this movie three or four times, and be rolling on the floor... if someone set you on fire and you were trying to extinguish it. Which would actually be preferable to concentrating on this film.
Squonk
In 'The Last of the Secret Agents,' Marty Allen and Steve Rossi end up being recruited by a very secret organization to help stop the evil force known as THEM. The evil genius behind THEM has managed to find the missing arms of the Venus Di Milo, so now he wants the rest of the statue. There are some sequences here that are very funny. The scene in which Allen and Rossi discuss marriage was my favorite. Most of the best gags in the film are in the style that would later be perfected in movies like 'Airplane' and 'The Naked Gun: from the files of Police Squad.' There are, however, plenty of sequences where the gags just plain bomb. Marty Allen seems to have gone to the Joe Besser school of comedy (shave his head and he'd almost look just like Besser). His buggy eyes and constant whining are probably not everybody's taste, but he does have some very funny moments. Nancy Sinatra sings the title tune, but her role in the film is pretty much a glorified cameo.
AD
