Don't Worry, We'll Think of a Title (1966)

Thanks for the memories!

From my favorite movies..

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

I read about this one years ago, and it has FINALLY come to DVD! Fans of the Dick Van Dyke show will be happy to see (part of) the cast from that show united here. That series ended mid 1966, and Dick V. and Mary T. were on to film careers, so you won't see them in the film. Written and produced by Morey Amsterdam, which makes sense. According to wikipedia, he had started in vaudeville in the 1920s, and worked with his brother in Al Capone's saloon. At the open, the gang works in a diner. A HILARIOUS scene where Mel Cooley, I mean actor Richard Deacon, reads his supply order, and it is intertwined with a couple saying romantic things to each other. Tons of one liners and set-up punchline, set-up punchline. Charlie (Amsterdam) is mistaken for someone else, a missing cosmonaut. After getting fired, he and Annie (Rose Marie) leave the diner and go find their friend Magda (January Jones). She runs a bookstore, but strange things are going on, and Charlie tries to figure it all out.Some great cameos ... Uncle Milty, Steve Allen, Moe Howard, Carl Reiner (Still doing the hairpiece gag), Danny Thomas. And of course, Irene Ryan, still playing Granny. One of the customers in the diner is Percy Helton... played in SO many things back in the day. Did he do the voice of winnie the pooh? sounds like like it to me! Deacon plays two roles, Peter Sellers style. This one is so under-rated. Granted the plot is a bit thin, and the opening diner scene is only added on to get those vaudeville bits in. If you liked the Dick Van Dyke show, you'll probably get a kick out of this, as long as you see it for the low-brow fun that it is. and I think the title is Genius. Directed by Harmon Jones, who was nominated for EDITING Gentleman's Agreement. Directed mostly television for the last ten years.

This movie is like a "make a wish" grant for a dying child. In this case, the producers of the Dick Van Dyke show must have felt sorry for Morey Amsterdam as they killed the last big job he'd ever have when then ended the Van Dyke series.Consider the relatively sophisticated humor coming on television at this time, much less the movie. Addams Family, Munsters, Batman, etc. All with loads of adult based double entendre humor that would make kids giggle, yet make adults think twice.And these shows used many celebrity cameos like this movie does, but the other shows understood the point of having the celebrities make fun of themselves. This movie just parades stars through like they all took numbers at the studio cafeteria and were waiting in line.I've never been a big fan of Amsterdam's version of vaudeville humor (consider the Marx brothers were from the same era and how much bawdy and funnier they were), so jamming it into a full length movie doesn't make it any better.I have a feeling that Amsterdam was a great ad-libber on the Dick Van Dyke show, and they kept him around to sweeten scripts, but he wasn't really much of a performer - Dick Van Dyke could have done the show by himself.This movie IS fun to run in the background just to see how many performers whored themselves out for a few seconds of screen time, but other than that, this movie has little entertainment value.

I am watching this film on TV right now. If you are in the mood, it is hilarious. "How did you sleep?" "Terrible. I was up all night, trying to get the window open." "The room doesn't have a window." "No wonder I couldn't get it open." The movie is a terrific period piece (early 60s), with sight gags (man cutting steak with a newly invented electric knife cuts the table in half), period references (hitching a ride from the Beverly Hillbillies). Every B actor from the 1950s has a walk on, and even some greats like Milton Berle and Danny Thomas can be seen. If you want some kind of incredible plot with tricky double crosses and new sports cars driven off bridges, pass on this. If you feel like fun, lean back and laugh.

I went across this film on TV and watched it mainly because I had enjoyed a lot the first "The Dick van Dyke Show" and everybody but the main couple was there. In my opinion they didn't think of anything at all here, not just the title.The conclusion could be that the cast was comfortable on television but the big screen was too big for them. Director Harmon Jones started making some average or below average pictures but ended up filming episodes of different series of the little screen; this was probably his right place. Rose Marie and Morey Amsterdam don't reach at all their funny performances with van Dyke and several cameo appearances by well known comedians don't help either.Can't recall a single smile with this one.