Bing Crosby and Bob Hope star in this odd couple adventure
into the Middle East, it’s no wonder Seth MacFarlane aped this duo when he made
these odd side adventures of Stewie & Brian in their spoof "The Road To Rhode Island". Something of a musical drawn
from the days of vaudeville, we get schtick and shenanigans all in the name of
fun. It’s especially nice to see a very young Anthony Quinn play a sultan. A
wonderful serious contrast to the wacky stylings of Hope & Crosby.
Also, the jokes are really…um…not politically correct. For
instance, at the bizarre, they both learn that in the (presumed) Islamic
religion a man who is destitute and mentally disabled is to be taken care of,
and is never bothered as he is given free things. In a very insensitive to
today’s society but riotously funny to me, Hope acts like a full-on retard. The
schtick doesn’t stop there…so he attempts this retard on a shopkeeper
who…happens to have a speech impediment and explodes at Hope believing he is
mocking his patois! Fuck that’s funny.
The women in this are really classically hot. Dorothy Lamour (who's done seven of these with Hope/Crosby)
plays the love interest to them both who seems to have an ulterior motive
whereas Dona Drake plays a sweet as pie harem girl, who has eyes for Hope.
This is a fun movie. Some of the jokes are surprisingly
current, a lot is dated. But it’s fun to follow the banter. If you think about
their relationship, it’s so very much like a buddy cop movie. It seems they
began the trend of when one character bamboozles the other in an attempt to get
out of trouble, but the tables are turned as secrets are revealed. I would say
a movie like “Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid” writer William Goldman may
have been influenced by the duo. You could probably draw the same back and
forth swindling in “The Sting” as well.
Fun stuff.
No comments:
Post a Comment