With a bouncy, uplifting and perky musical score by "Addams Family" composer Vic Mizzy (who wrote similar scores for several Don Knotts and other Sid Caesar movies), this has the 60's written all over it. The music sets the stage for a comic gangster spoof that outside of a few genuine laughs only garners amused smirks. Caesar's the errand boy for mobster Robert Ryan who makes him a member of the board seemingly because he always gets Ryan's sandwich order right.
Wanted by the police for a murder he didn't commit, Caesar finds himself a target of the mob and desired by women. They include the purring Anne Baxter, the dizzy Arlene Golonka and wild Russian Marina Koshetz. His possessivd mother (the scene stealing Kay Medford) won't get off his case, and Ryan has sicked hit men on Caesar's trail. Police officers Richard Pryor (in his film debut) and Mickey Deems are after him, and other assorted weirdos (Dom DeLuise and Ben Blue) pop in and out for odd bits.
Not as funny (even in 1967) as it thinks it is, it's another gimmicky William Castle film, not an unpleasant watch, but certainly not as funny as it could have been. Medford's stereotypical overbearing mother works because Medford is such a natural and seems to be improvising every line, reminding me of older women I've met, absolutely alive and delightful. Baxter is the best of the women who desire Caesar, a possible black widow. Caesar isn't bad, but his personality is just too overwhelming for being the lead on the big screen. Ryan is obviously enjoying sending up his image, another highlight. Not a film that I'd watch over and over, but the sense of nostalgia in its mood is a great time capsule.
Wanted by the police for a murder he didn't commit, Caesar finds himself a target of the mob and desired by women. They include the purring Anne Baxter, the dizzy Arlene Golonka and wild Russian Marina Koshetz. His possessivd mother (the scene stealing Kay Medford) won't get off his case, and Ryan has sicked hit men on Caesar's trail. Police officers Richard Pryor (in his film debut) and Mickey Deems are after him, and other assorted weirdos (Dom DeLuise and Ben Blue) pop in and out for odd bits.
Not as funny (even in 1967) as it thinks it is, it's another gimmicky William Castle film, not an unpleasant watch, but certainly not as funny as it could have been. Medford's stereotypical overbearing mother works because Medford is such a natural and seems to be improvising every line, reminding me of older women I've met, absolutely alive and delightful. Baxter is the best of the women who desire Caesar, a possible black widow. Caesar isn't bad, but his personality is just too overwhelming for being the lead on the big screen. Ryan is obviously enjoying sending up his image, another highlight. Not a film that I'd watch over and over, but the sense of nostalgia in its mood is a great time capsule.