Wednesday, May 03, 2006

Movies That Fell Through the Cracks # 3



Gene Wilder was a major star (one of my personal favorites!) after YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN in 1974 enabling him to write and direct his own vehicles just like his mentor, Mel Brooks. If he wasn’t as talented as Mel Brooks, what did it really matter? THE ADVENTURE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES’ SMARTER BROTHER and THE WORLD’S GREATEST LOVER were still funnier than most other movies of their day. Around 1980, it looked like Gene could do no wrong. That’s where SUNDAY LOVERS comes in. Actually, I haven’t seen it so I shouldn’t talk that way. Hmmmm….according to my records I have seen it. Was it really that unmemorable? This was one of those combination features so popular in Italy in the sixties. This particular one was a French/Italian/British/US co-production. That kind of warning should NEVER be ignored! Four completely unrelated short sex comedies. Wilder starred in "Skippy," the American thirty minutes. Then-current 007 Roger Moore was in director Bryan Forbes’ UK segment with international favorites Ugo Tognazzi and Lino Ventura rounding out the other two sections. Other than the unusual fact that the Moore segment was written by Anthony Newley’s longtime lyricist Leslie Bricusse there’s not much else to say about this little seen and less remembered sex comedy anthology. Gene Wilder still had a couple of hits in him but this was the start of his career downslide. Too bad.

3 comments:

  1. Loving the new Movie...Cracks articles! Roger Moore stars in two of my favorite movies: The Cannonball Run and a future fell through the crack movie SpiceWorld!

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  2. Roger Moore seems to have made a career out of "through the crack movies", raking up the bucks and free cigars whilst his daytime career as the 70s Bond ticked along.

    One of his weirdest(therefore best)is Gli Esecutori aka The Sicillian Cross, where he plays an Italian hitman, teamed with a jive-talking Stacey Keach. A true slumming it classic...

    Please keep flagging these obscurities!

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  3. Anonymous1:57 PM

    Be sure to check out CURSE OF THE PINK PANTHER to see Roger Moore as a post-plastic surgery Clouseau, speaking in his approximation (or was he dubbed) of the Inspector's voice.

    I'm a HUGE fan of CANNONBALL RUN. My favorite movie of all time. Moore is a hoot in that, sending himself up wonderfully.

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