BLITZKRIEG: ESCAPE FROM STALAG 69 -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 4/23/09

 

 

At a stultifying 135 minutes, Keith J. Crocker's ode to grindhouse Nazi-sploitation, BLITZKRIEG: ESCAPE FROM STALAG 69 (2008), is almost twice as long as his 1997 trash classic THE BLOODY APE, but not quite as much fun to watch. Still, the more prurient among us (excluding myself, of course, heh heh) will find much to enjoy, although getting to these tidbits of titillation can be pretty slow going until the lively climax.

With the writer-director of THE BLOODY APE at the helm, BLITZKRIEG's atrocities rub shoulders with lots of goofy comedy. Charles Esser plays Helmut Schultz, the rotund commandant of the camp, like a petulant kid whose mommy didn't love him enough. Shoehorned into the same uniform that he had fifty pounds ago and sporting a German accent that would be hard for Arnold Schwarzenegger to decipher, Schultz delights in performing inhuman experiments on prisoners even as his superiors warn him of retaliation by the rapidly advancing Allied forces. His Ilsa-lite sister Frieda (Gordana Jenell) is a junior officer who also enjoys tormenting the hapless POWs.

Schultz's "pet" project is a mutant ape-man (seen only in deleted scenes) about which he boasts, "This beast will not only kill the enemy...he will rape the women, and defile the entire environment!" After a disapproving scientist nixes the project, Schultz tells his equally-corpulent toady Wolfgang (Steve Montague): "He must be blind not to realize the potential of my mighty man-ape!"

Meanwhile, burly Yank prisoner Jack Jones (Edward Yankus) is planning a daring escape with the help of his fellow inmates Lucille (Brenda Cooney), a plucky Scottish lass, and the fierce Natasha (Tatyana Kot), a Russian ball of fire whose unending torture sessions only make her more revenge-crazed and dangerous. Yankus, whose acting style consists mainly of reciting his lines without actually falling over, resembles an amusing cross between John Goodman and Al Gore. Crocker himself, as "James St. Bernard", appears as an American sad sack named "Bernard St. James."

Also joining the Allied opposition are two captured USO performers-- Marjie Kelly as 70s style jive-talkin' black mama Marjie ("Who in the hell are you two turkeys?" she asks Schultz and Wolfgang), and Tammy Dalton as a cute Southern-fried stripper named Candice, who, posing as a guard, greets an approaching Nazi with a chipper "Heil Hitler, y'all!" Kelley looks well fit in the buff, but after a brief flogging and a shower scene, she doesn't have much to do. But when sweet Candice is forced to perform her cheesy burlesque act for her jeering captors, Tammy Dalton pulls it off beautifully. It's one of the three or four really good setpieces in the film--suddenly Crocker and company are firing on all cylinders and, for a few minutes, it feels like we're watching a real movie.

For sheer, manic intensity, however, nobody in the cast can match Tatyana Kot. Her flame-haired dervish Natasha is a real treat to watch, whether she's spitting blood and screaming wild-eyed obscenities back at her torturers or running naked through the woods with a machine gun, mowing down German soldiers. In a flashback, we see her lure one of them into a bubbly bathtub for some almost-hardcore sex before gleefully castrating him, in an obvious homage to the tub scene from I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE.

Another penectomy occurs in the Nazi torture dungeon, this time in full close-up as the sadistic and sexy Dr. Zuber demonstrates to a visiting Japanese general (Wayne Chang) the best way to neutralize an unruly male prisoner. Here, the awesome Steph Van Vlack, who is the closest thing in BLITZKRIEG to a genuine "Ilsa"-type character, delivers the film's most skilled performance while once again the direction and camerawork somehow click into just the right groove. Seductive yet steely-eyed and evil, the topless Dr. Zuber playfully toys with her captive until the scene comes to a cutting end with some fake-looking but rather startling FX. After that, I'm thinking that if Crocker had made Steph Van Vlack's Dr. Zuber the main character of this movie, it would've been a lot more awesome.

Additional horrors include Natasha's incessant ordeals of bamboo shoots under the fingernails, hot branding irons, a nasty finger vise, a stretching rack, etc., plus various other male and female prisoners being violated in depraved ways. These episodes are interspersed between numerous boring dialogue sequences until finally we get to the breakout finale, where the action finally kicks into high gear. In addition to the obligatory gory revenge against the Nazis, some of the good guys also get theirs in surprising ways and there's an ironic twist or two as well. It's no spoiler to reveal that Schultz gets away, since the whole sordid tale is a flashback that he's recounting years later to a shocked priest (THE BLOODY APE's Paul Richichi), in a framing story that has its own surprise ending.

Obviously, no film made for $10,000 is going to look all that impressive, especially when it's a WWII sex-and-sadism thriller set in a Nazi prison camp. The locations are okay although some of the camp exteriors look like they were shot in somebody's backyard. Costuming and set design (by co-scripter Keith Matturro) range from semi-realistic to impressionistic, with a ragtag group of Russian POWs looking the most authentic. Crocker decided to go with the cheaper digital video instead of film this time, although his 16mm black-and-white test footage (one of the DVD's extras) looks pretty cool.

Other bonus features include an entertaining commentary track with Crocker, Matturro, Kot, and Wild Eye Releasing's Rob Hauschild, a making-of featurette called "Nazis Over Nassau", the original 16mm extended trailer "Schindler's Lust" (1995) starring THE BLOODY APE's Larry Koster, deleted scenes, a cast and crew Q & A session from the film's premiere, production stills, bloopers, trailers, and short film by Crocker entitled "Desade '88." Image and sound quality are okay, although the really bad accents rendered much of the dialogue difficult for me to make out.

Although the production values are exceedingly low, it's fun watching Keith Crocker attempt something this ambitious on such a small budget. And while it takes a bit of effort to get through this overlong and often tedious schlock epic, there are enough elements of sex, violence, and perversion--along with some pretty off-the-wall comedy--to make the trip worthwhile for fans of this bizarro brand of entertainment.

BLITZKRIEG: ESCAPE FROM STALAG 69 -- DVD Review by Porfle

AND SOON THE DARKNESS -- DVD Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 12/30/10

 

One of the perennial subsets of the "thriller" genre is the story about a desperate person frantically searching for their companion who has disappeared without a trace, usually in an unfamiliar location. Whether it's a big-screen affair with major stars (THE VANISHING, BREAKDOWN) or a tense little made-for-TV nailbiter with a meager budget (DYING ROOM ONLY), such films have the potential for keeping viewers on the edge of their seats if done with a little finesse.  Once it gets cranked up, AND SOON THE DARKNESS (2010) manages to do so to a certain degree, although the experience isn't quite worth going out of your way for.

Steph (Amber Heard, ExTERMINATORS, DROP DEAD SEXY) and Ellie (Odette Yustman, OPERATION: ENDGAME, CLOVERFIELD) are two flaky American girls who have ditched their bicycle tour group and decided to see Argentina for themselves.  Wandering into the Village of Bad Vibes, they seem oblivious to the apprehensive stares of the locals who regard them as though the two cutie-pie strangers might vanish from the face of the earth at any moment.  Which, we find, isn't an uncommon occurrence in those parts.

Since their bus doesn't leave until the next morning, they decide to hit one of the local night spots.  Steph, the marginally-sensible member of the duo, is concerned when Ellie gets dopey drunk and starts prancing around in front of all the guys like she's dropping a chum line in a pool of sharks.  Acting out the song "I Touch Myself" in front of the jukebox, she then breezes into the men's room and proceeds to take a whiz in front of whoever happens to be in there.


Amazingly, this is a character we're supposed to care about.  We pretty much know what's going to happen to her, yet she's such an obnoxious, irresponsible doofus that the prospect doesn't generate much concern.  Naturally, she attracts the attention of an unsavory type who might as well wear a name tag with "Kidnapped American Girls 'R' Us" printed on it.

One thing leads to another, and before you know it Steph is searching high and low for her missing friend.  Naturally, the local constable, Calvo (César Vianco) scoffs at her concerns, forcing Steph to start scouring the countryside on her own.  Enter Michael (Karl Urban, STAR TREK), an American who seems to turn up everywhere she goes.  Michael offers to help, but we're never sure if he's on the level or if he's going to turn out to be in league with the kidnappers.  This makes his character one of the few things about the story that isn't totally predictable. 

Urban does his usual solid acting job, but the actresses portraying Steph and Ellie aren't going to be mistaken for Dame Judi Dench anytime soon.  Their wafer-thin dialogue isn't much to listen to either, especially during the silly spat which causes them to unwisely split up in the first place.  Amber Heard manages to carry the lightweight film pretty much on her own--she appears in nearly every scene--using a variety of pained expressions while frequently rubbing her hands over her head to denote concern.
 

Director Marcos Efron does a workmanlike job and wrings as much suspense out of the script as he can while capturing some nice Argentine scenery along the way.  The highlight is a sequence filmed inside an actual ghost town called Lago Epecuén, which was destroyed by a flood and consists entirely of gutted ruins.  Somewhat implausibly, it takes Steph about ten minutes to find this place and stumble onto the kidnappers' hideout.  This sets into motion a series of fights, chases, standoffs, and narrow escapes leading to a fairly exciting finish.

The DVD from Anchor Bay is in 2.40:1 anamorphic widescreen with Dolby Digital 5.1 sound.  Subtitles are in English and Spanish.  Extras consist of a commentary track with the director, editor, and DOP, a making-of featurette, deleted scenes, and a trailer.

AND SOON THE DARKNESS is based on a 1970 British film written by Brian Clemens and Terry Nation and directed by Robert Fuest, which I'd be interested in seeing now that I've watched the passable but unexceptional remake.  It's the kind of time-waster that can hold your attention till the fadeout, then vanish from your memory without a trace.

AND SOON THE DARKNESS -- DVD Review by Porfle

ALICE UPSIDE DOWN -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 7/11/08

 

I've gotten quite a few DVDs to review for this site that I normally wouldn't watch in a million years, and so far I've been pretty lucky in that not only did most of them not suck, but I've actually found some to be quite enjoyable. The latest in this series is the preteen angst comedy ALICE UPSIDE DOWN (2007), whose kiddie-hip bubblegum packaging and "coming of age" synopsis had me cringing in fear. Would my lucky streak of non-totally-horrible movies continue? In a word--yes. In fact, this is one of the most entertaining family-friendly films I've seen in a long time.

Alice (Alyson Stoner, CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN) is a sixth grader moving to a new town along with her widowed father, Ben (Luke Perry) and older brother Lester (HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL's Lucas Grabeel). Fraught with insecurities while trying to fit in at her new school, she misses her mother terribly and yearns for a female role model in her life. Ben tries his best as a single dad and struggles to help Alice with her problems while tentatively re-entering the dating scene. Lester, meanwhile, is an affably laidback slob whose social life benefits from his membership in a popular local band called the Naked Nomads.

The very likable Alyson Stoner, with her non-glamorous looks and natural acting style, is terrific in her first starring role as Alice. She plays the character with a subtle realism that's lacking from many films of this type, and is helped by a screenplay refreshingly free of slapstick, forced "hip"-ness, and empty razzle-dazzle. Her attempts to make friends while suffering from one embarrassing blunder after another are just the sort of thing that both kids and adults can identify with.

The fact that Alice often has flashy wish-fulfillment fantasies in which she's beautiful, stylish, and wildly popular seems at first to be an intrusive gimmick, but this is used sparingly and is done in a way that I could relate to. Her habit of speaking directly to the camera to express her inner thoughts is also well-handled. Sometimes what she says is a little on-the-nose, but younger viewers may benefit from having things spelled out for them now and then.

The subtle humor comes from comparatively realistic situations. Alice is trying on new school clothes in a store, and when she opens a dressing room door there's a boy her age standing there in his underwear. Horribly embarrassed, she not only finds that the same boy goes to her school but that she's now known as "the Peeping Tom." Later, when she auditions for a school play, her off-key caterwauling is ridiculed by everyone and her appearance in a minor role during the play's premiere is a disaster. It's the same kind of stuff that happens to most kids, and it's believably done.

Alice sets her sights on a beautiful young teacher named Miss Cole (Ashley Drane) as her perfect female role model and potential new mom, but ends up stuck in the class of the school's most dreaded teacher, Mrs. Plotkin (Penny Marshall). Here, of course, Alice learns that first impressions aren't always correct, and that sometimes the unlikeliest people are the ones who make the biggest difference in our lives. I'm not a big Penny Marshall fan, but she's surprisingly good here, playing the part with a lot more warmth and depth than you usually get from her.

As Ben, Luke Perry proves that he's settling into older roles quite well and is convincing as the well-meaning dad. Lucas Grabeel gets to play Alice's older brother Lester as easygoing and clumsily supportive of her, which is a nice change from the usual insensitive dolt. The rest of the kids' roles are well-cast, especially Bridgit Mendler as a Little Miss Perfect type who causes Alice constant grief by effortlessly excelling at everything.

To my great relief, this film has none of the usual MTV-style camerawork and editing, over-precocious child actors spewing artificial dialogue and cracking snarky jokes, or mawkish sentimentality. Alice cries only once in the whole movie and it comes at just the right time to be effective. Based on Phyllis Reynolds Naylor's book The Agony of Alice, the screenplay strikes just the right tone throughout while the direction and photography have the polished look of one of the better Disney Channel films.

The DVD image is 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen, with Dolby 5.1 and 2.0 surround sound. Extras include brief interviews with Alyson Stoner and Lucas Grabeel, both of whom seem just as likable off-camera as on, a look at the film's costuming, and trailers for this and four other Anchor Bay kid-vids. The end credits contain some bloopers.

If you're looking for a family film that will keep everyone entertained while unobtrusively teaching the kids a few valuable lessons about life, you could do a lot worse. And if you normally don't like this kind of movie but find yourself watching ALICE UPSIDE DOWN for some unlikely reason, you just may end up enjoying it as much as I did.

 

ALICE UPSIDE DOWN -- DVD Review by Porfle

THE LOVE GOD? -- Movie Review by Porfle

(This is part four of my look at the "Don Knotts Reluctant Hero Pack", a two-sided DVD containing four of Don's best-known movies: THE GHOST AND MR. CHICKEN, THE RELUCTANT ASTRONAUT, THE SHAKIEST GUN IN THE WEST, and THE LOVE GOD?)


In THE GHOST AND MR. CHICKEN, THE RELUCTANT ASTRONAUT, and THE SHAKIEST GUN IN THE WEST, we got to see Don Knotts' nervous-guy character face his biggest fears and triumph over them in the end. But in THE LOVE GOD? (1969), he finally faces his biggest fear of all...S-E-X.

Don's previous films all skittered around the subject of sex, but in a non-overt, family-friendly way. THE LOVE GOD?, on the other hand, is obsessed with the subject. In fact, it almost plays like a psychic prediction of Larry Flynt's famous First Amendment difficulties, as Don plays the owner of a bankrupt birdwatching magazine who is duped by unscrupulous pornographer Osborn Tremaine (the great Edmond O'Brien) into serving as the figurehead for a dirty magazine because Tremaine has just been legally stripped of mailing privileges for his own porno mag. At first horrified by what he's gotten himself into, Don's character (Abner Audubon Peacock IV, of "The Peacock" magazine) soon find himself hailed by the public as a fearless crusader for the First Amendment and the sexual revolution.


Which, of course, doesn't sit well with the folks back home, including the congregation of the church where Abner's virtuoso birdcall performance is a highlight of the annual choir recital (Don's rendition of this is absolutely priceless), and the reverend's ever-faithful daughter Rose Ellen (Maggie Peterson) patiently waits for her beloved Abner to return and pop the question. Meanwhile, Abner keeps getting in deeper and deeper, as feared mob boss J. Charles Twilight (B.S. Pully) takes an active interest in "The Peacock" magazine, and aspiring journalist Lisa LaMonica (Anne Francis, FORBIDDEN PLANET, "Honey West"), who has been chosen to run the magazine and turn Abner into an international sex symbol, takes an increasingly active interest in him.

There's a lot of funny stuff in this movie, but is it a proper Don Knotts movie? Not according to what's gone before. His other offerings were innocuous, family-friendy fare that, while flirting with the subject of sex at times in a general way, were still wholesome and innocent enough to be enjoyed by the entire family. THE LOVE GOD?, on the other hand, plays like one long, smutty, third-grade joke, and the joke's on Don. We've always been happy to laugh with his characters, but here, we're urged to laugh at him--the prim, straight-laced, trembling virgin who is afraid of women and terrified of sex. While his previous three films remain unrated (but would probably each get a G), THE LOVE GOD? is rated PG-13--not quite what most of Don's fans would be expecting from one of his movies. So who's this movie made for? Don Knotts fans who have been patiently suffering through his previous films waiting for more T & A?

On the plus side, Don is in fine form here, making the most of what the script impels him to do. His first performance of the birdcall recital is sublime, but later in the film when he fears that mobster J. Charles Twilight has come to whack him, his frantic, screwed-up rendition of the same piece is hilarious. It's also fun to see him trying to function as a Hugh Hefner/Bob Guccione type, strutting around town in horrendous mod outfits with an entourage of beautiful women, in a series of delightfully retro 60s-camp situations. But when Anne Francis' Lisa LaMonica starts taking advantage of his sexual inexperience to manipulate him, the sweetly-innocent Don Knotts character finally begins to lapse into the pathetic.


Part of the reason for this is that Jim Fritzell and Everett Greenbaum, the veteran "Andy Griffith Show" writers who handled the scripts for Don's previous three films, are missing here, and writer-director Nat Hiken just doesn't seem to fully understand what makes Knotts tick as a screen presence. Sure, he's a coward, and he sinks to the depths of despair before the film's final act (especially when Lisa LaMonica tricks him into thinking he's had sex with her, which spoils his chances to marry the pristine Rose Ellen), but there's no cathartic triumph over his fears that redeems his character in the end. What--is he supposed to triumph over his fear of sex? The only victory Abner Peacock has here is when he finally punches J. Charles Twilight in the nose. It's only through sheer happenstance that Abner ends up living happily-ever-after at the end of THE LOVE GOD?, and that's just not the way it should be.

Taken as a smutty sex comedy, though, THE LOVE GOD? does have its pleasures. As a fan of the voluptuous Maureen Arthur (HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING, HOW TO COMMIT MARRIAGE), I find it delightful that her role as Osborn Tremaine's wife and chief model for his magazine affords her the opportunity to parade around in sexy outfits and pose for wonderfully lewd photographs. Holy mackerel, she was so incredibly sexy that I just get giddy watching her--and she was funny to boot. Abner's "Pussycats" are nice to look at, too, but they don't make that much of an impression, especially next to a wildly-mugging Don Knotts. Anne Francis, of course, is a certified babe from way back, but in this movie she just tries too doggone hard to be funny and sexy, and generally just comes off looking silly.

One of the funniest things about the movie, in fact, is seeing mobster J. Charles Twilight taking instruction from retired schoolteacher Miss Love (Jesslyn Fax, THE GHOST AND MR. CHICKEN), whom he has hired to teach him "class." From her, he learns the error of saying "Me and Nutsy Herman got the contract to go to upstate New York to knock off Big-Nose Schlossburg...", as he writes in his assigned theme, instead of the correct "Nutsy Herman and I." She also teaches him a new word every day, such as "fastidious" and "prerogative", which he awkwardly shoehorns into his speech at every opportunity.

With the marked absence of writers Fritzell and Greenbaum, there's not much of an "Andy Griffith Show" connection here, with the exception of the church choir singing a hysterical version of "Juanita"--Barney Fife's self-written ode to his girlfriend at the Bluebird Diner--and the casting of Maggie Peterson (who played man-hungry hillbilly Charlene Darling) as Rose Ellen. As usual, there's a fine assortment of familiar faces all over the place, such as James Gregory (who seems to relish his role as Abner's defense attorney and makes the most of it), Don Knotts stock players Jim Boles and Jim Begg, James Westerfield as Rose Ellen's father Reverend Wilkerson, Herbie Faye, and Bob Hastings. And once again, Vic Mizzy supplies a suitably lighthearted musical score.

But on the whole, THE LOVE GOD? suffers in comparison to Don Knotts' earlier films, because the people who made it just didn't seem to understand his film persona--or else they thought it would be funny to pervert it and turn the character into a pitiful, emasculated butt of cheap sex jokes. So while there's much to enjoy in this movie--no Don Knotts film could possibly be entirely without its pleasures--it certainly doesn't do justice to his established screen character. Imagine Thelma Lou making fun of Barney Fife for having a tiny "you-know-what." That's THE LOVE GOD? in a nutshell.

THE LOVE GOD? -- Movie Review by Porfle

THE SHAKIEST GUN IN THE WEST -- Movie Review by Porfle

(This is part three of my look at the "Don Knotts Reluctant Hero Pack", a two-sided DVD containing four of Don's best-known movies: THE GHOST AND MR. CHICKEN, THE RELUCTANT ASTRONAUT, THE SHAKIEST GUN IN THE WEST, and THE LOVE GOD?)

The years 1966-68 saw the appearance of three Don Knotts comedies in quick succession--THE GHOST AND MR. CHICKEN, THE RELUCTANT ASTRONAUT, and 1968's THE SHAKIEST GUN IN THE WEST--each of which dealt with Don's nervous-guy character by placing him in hazardous situations that forced him to somehow overcome his natural cowardice. In the latter entry, he was swept all the way back to the rip-roarin' Old West of 1870, complete with gunslingers, outlaws, and marauding Indians. Which, I would think, would be a pretty nerve-wracking place for a coward to be.

Don plays Jesse W. Haywood (a nod to Don's actual name, Jesse Donald Knotts), a dentist whose dream is to spread dental health throughout the West. After a rib-tickling main titles song by The Wilburn Brothers, the film gets off to a rousing start as we see Jesse trying to examine a fiercely-unwilling patient, Miss Stevenson, during his final "pass-or-fail" dentistry exam, which turns into a UFC-style fist-flying brawl. "How's it going, Haywood?" asks rival dental student Phelps ("Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman"'s Greg Mullavey, in one of this film's few running gags), to which Jesse responds "Fine...just fine" even as his fingers are being chomped. Once he gets his diploma, he bids a tearful farewell to his mother (Ruth McDevitt), then hops a train and it's westward ho.

Meanwhile, the notorious bandit Penelope "Bad Penny" Cushings (Barbara Rhoades) has just been captured after a long career of cattle rustling, stagecoach robbing, etc. But the sheriff (Ed Peck) offers her a deal--she must go undercover and travel West on a wagon train suspected of carrying smugglers who are supplying rifles to the Indians, and if she discovers their identity and nabs them, she'll get a pardon. But there's a catch--no unaccompanied women are allowed on the wagon train, and the agent who was to pose as her husband (John Wayne stock player Ed Faulkner) just got killed. So she needs to find a husband fast. Guess who she picks? Right--the duded-up, derby-wearing "tender ninny" (as she sneeringly refers to him during their first encounter), Jesse.

Her seduction of Haywood, when she comes to him for a feigned dental complaint and lets her cleavage do the talking, is still high on my short list of things that jump-started my puberty. Whether dressed in denim and rawhide and packing six-guns, or tarted up like a dancehall girl, Barbara Rhoades made my hormones yell "Yee-haaa!" But enough of my personal problems...

On the way West, the wagon train is attacked by Indians. Penny secretly disposes of them all, but Doc Haywood mistakenly thinks he's the big Indian fighter. So as soon as they get into town, he buys the standard black gunfighter outfit and goes swaggering around, revelling in his new status as a dead-shot Indian fighter. But the rifle smugglers (Don "Red" Barry and "The Addams Family"'s Uncle Fester, Jackie Coogan) hire a feared gunfighter named Arnold the Kid to challenge Doc Haywood to a shootout. Can you guess what happens?

Finally the truth comes out and Jesse realizes he's been duped, which leads to a great "Don gets drunk" scene in the local saloon. But just as things look their worst, Penny is kidnapped by the rifle smugglers and taken to a nearby Indian camp, and Jesse realizes he's her only hope. So he sobers up, straps on his six-gun, and goes to her rescue, resolving to save her from the bad guys even if it means dressing up as an Indian maiden and getting hit on by some horny Indian dudes. And when she finds out how brave he really is, Penny at last finds herself smitten by the "tender ninny", giving hope to all of us nerds who always dreamed of having the hottest babes in school fall for us somehow.

Once again, the cast is populated with familiar faces. Jim Begg of THE GHOST AND MR. CHICKEN reappears as a deputy who lives for excitement ("I just love this kinda stuff!" he exclaims in another running gag). The great Carl Ballantine ("McHale's Navy") and a surprisingly-young Pat Morita play storekeepers who cheat Jesse out of his every last cent as he attempts to equip himself for the journey West. Frank McGrath of THE RELUCTANT ASTRONAUT reappears as one of the people on the wagon train. MASH's William Christopher shows up as a hotel clerk, Eddie Quillan (the elevator operator from THE GHOST AND MR. CHICKEN) is a train porter, and Burt Mustin makes his third straight appearance in a Don Knotts comedy. Legendary character actor Dub Taylor even shows up as Penny's outlaw accomplace early on, before he decides to go to Boston to open up a little dress shop.

As in Don's previous two flicks, James Fritzell and Everett Greenbaum ("The Andy Griffith Show", THE GHOST AND MR. CHICKEN, THE RELUCTANT ASTRONAUT) are involved in the screenplay, along with Edmund L. Hartmann and the redoubtable Frank Tashlin, in this update of Bob Hope's classic comedy THE PALEFACE. Vic Mizzy is on hand once again to provide an appropriately lighthearted musical score. THE GHOST AND MR. CHICKEN'S Alan Rafkin ably directs. And aside from Fritzell and Greenbaum, the "Andy Griffith Show" connection here includes an appearance by Hope "Clara Edwards" Summers.

A worthy addition to the Don Knotts oeuvre, THE SHAKIEST GUN IN THE WEST is an endlessly fun romp that should please his fans. It's Don Knotts at his best, and that's pretty much as good as it gets.

THE SHAKIEST GUN IN THE WEST -- Movie Review by Porfle