Nostalgia was everywhere in the 1970s whether it be in the movies, on Broadway, on television or even in the style of songs on the pop charts. But even Ethel Merman singing her hits in disco couldn't liven up this film even though she is very funny in her cameo as a combination of Louella and Hedda, both in name and in character. The problem is that it is a good idea without a story and definitely without hard, dealing with a pooch on death row, saved in the nick of time to take over and become the star of the newest big picture. The film stars Bruce Dern, Madeline Kahn, Teri Garr and Art Carney (as a Louis B. Mayer type studio head), and features practically every living star from the silent era on, some of them so forgotten that it's obvious that they had to dig them out of the Motion Picture actors retirement home. Fortunately online resources give a detailed account of who appears in order so I was able to identify the less familiar ones, but I doubt that anybody in 1976 had knowledge of many of these people's identities and certainly couldn't look up on the not yet invented internet to discover who was who.
Definitely not a film with family intentions even though it is very juvenile in nature, is obviously would have kids in shock watching the dog, a spoof of Rin Tin Tin, being escorted down the kennel aisle apparently to be put to sleep as if he was a prisoner on death row. Hardly funny for an animal friendly family film. Dern, a not yet famous director, is certain that using a dog in a film will get him notoriety, comes through the rescue, and that is basically the whole premise as the film moves on to show the dozens of character players pop on and off so fast that if you blink, you've missed it. This is also the type of film that many people would not want to watch again to catch what they didn't see. So it's a hit and miss (mostly the later) of seeing many faded faces and others who like guest stars Yvonne DeCarlo, Dorothy Lamour and Ann Miller would later sing on stage, were busy touring in stock. One funny visual has Joan Blondell having two beauty marks nearly on top of each other, and Billy Barney does have more footage than others as an assistant director.
Utilizing Madeline Kahn in the female lead probably seemed like a good idea, but her character is hardly as zany as the one she was doing in the Mel Brooks movies. Carney's character is hard-nosed and pretty one-dimensional and he doesn't get any laughs in his attempts to make being mean seem funny. Dern in the lead isn't exactly playing a nice character by the way he exploits the dog either. Garr, having appeared with Kahn in "Young Frankenstein", doesn't really get anything good to do. So it basically becomes a point amount as soon as you see them because poof, they'll be gone, and that includes the aforementioned cameos and others such as Andy Devine, Virginia Mayo, Shecky Greene, Phil Silvers and some of the Ritz Brothers and the Dead End Kids and William Demarest. Perhaps the problem is with the direction of Michael Winner, because he obviously didn't have the skills of a Brooks, Allen, Edwards or Simon to make a decent comedy. It's certainly an attractive film, but then again so was "At Long Last Love", an even bigger disaster for calm the previous year and its equally inappropriate director, Peter Boganovich. A parody of Rudolph Valentino is the nadir of the film, but a saving grace is Kahn in a Mabel Normand like comedy, wearing a dress exactly like Julie Andrews did in "Thoroughly Modern Millie". Nevertheless, a near disaster that fortunately didn't ruin the star's careers, mainly because hardly anybody went to see it.
Definitely not a film with family intentions even though it is very juvenile in nature, is obviously would have kids in shock watching the dog, a spoof of Rin Tin Tin, being escorted down the kennel aisle apparently to be put to sleep as if he was a prisoner on death row. Hardly funny for an animal friendly family film. Dern, a not yet famous director, is certain that using a dog in a film will get him notoriety, comes through the rescue, and that is basically the whole premise as the film moves on to show the dozens of character players pop on and off so fast that if you blink, you've missed it. This is also the type of film that many people would not want to watch again to catch what they didn't see. So it's a hit and miss (mostly the later) of seeing many faded faces and others who like guest stars Yvonne DeCarlo, Dorothy Lamour and Ann Miller would later sing on stage, were busy touring in stock. One funny visual has Joan Blondell having two beauty marks nearly on top of each other, and Billy Barney does have more footage than others as an assistant director.
Utilizing Madeline Kahn in the female lead probably seemed like a good idea, but her character is hardly as zany as the one she was doing in the Mel Brooks movies. Carney's character is hard-nosed and pretty one-dimensional and he doesn't get any laughs in his attempts to make being mean seem funny. Dern in the lead isn't exactly playing a nice character by the way he exploits the dog either. Garr, having appeared with Kahn in "Young Frankenstein", doesn't really get anything good to do. So it basically becomes a point amount as soon as you see them because poof, they'll be gone, and that includes the aforementioned cameos and others such as Andy Devine, Virginia Mayo, Shecky Greene, Phil Silvers and some of the Ritz Brothers and the Dead End Kids and William Demarest. Perhaps the problem is with the direction of Michael Winner, because he obviously didn't have the skills of a Brooks, Allen, Edwards or Simon to make a decent comedy. It's certainly an attractive film, but then again so was "At Long Last Love", an even bigger disaster for calm the previous year and its equally inappropriate director, Peter Boganovich. A parody of Rudolph Valentino is the nadir of the film, but a saving grace is Kahn in a Mabel Normand like comedy, wearing a dress exactly like Julie Andrews did in "Thoroughly Modern Millie". Nevertheless, a near disaster that fortunately didn't ruin the star's careers, mainly because hardly anybody went to see it.