George Seaton was best known for his dramas in the 40s, 50s and 60s but he had a background in writing comedy - notably several musicals and the Marx brothers film A Day at the Races. He worked on the script for the latter with Robert Pirosh and the two of them collaborated for this one. I think knowing that helps give this some context - Seaton and Pirosh were clearly going for something equally mad cap and off the wall, their attempt to match say the 60s films of Richard Lester. That sort of film is hard to pull off though, especially by old men, and Seaton was writer, producer and director. This is a dreadful mess that is painful to watch.
The film starts with George Peppard as a one time ad man living with some hippies in a loft, including girlfriend Mary Tyler Moore. (I wonder if the team at Mad Men ever saw this - a lot of the visuals are reminiscent: hippies in the village with beards and guitars, etc). Then a virus strikes which makes everyone feel positive about things. It spreads throughout New York, causing sales of alcohol and tobacco to plummet, resulting in a tax crisis; the mayor (John McMartin ) and governor (Dom Deluise) get involved.
That's an OK idea - not the world's best, but you can see opportunities for satire. It probably needed to be made for an established comedy star - Jerry Lewis, say, or The Beatles, someone with whom it was easier to travel into a world of make-believe. Mary Tyler Moore can play comedy well, as well all know; George Peppard isn't a bad straight man (eg Breakfast at Tiffany's) but struggles in "madcap" world. Some players get it right such as Dom Deluise.
But the tone is all off. It's not particularly funny or clever or even genuinely madcap / subversive - at heart it's about people being nice to each other, and having to get married. It may have played better had we seen Peppard fall in love with Moore instead of already establishing them as a couple. Or maybe it simply needed to be funnier.
No comments:
Post a Comment