No, It's Not!

EVERYTHING'S DUCKY-1961-Two dumb sailors (Mickey Rooney and Buddy Hackett) who are stationed in the desert are assigned the task of freeing the former pet duck of a deceased scientist. It turns out the duck can talk so they try to find a way to make money off it but this only leads to trouble when the duck (named Scuttlebutt) gets drunk! Scuttlebutt might also hold the secret to the dead doctor's missile experiments. The Navy wants to remove the duck's brain and the two spend the rest of the movie protecting him.

It's all pretty silly and a romantic sub-plot really slows things down. Perhaps Columbia Pictures thought they were creating a new Abbott & Costello but we don't even get Brown & Carney. Speaking of A & C, Gordon Jones (Mike The Cop on their TV show) has a supporting role as a superior officer. Roland Winters is their captain and Jackie Cooper has one scene as a psychiatrist. Also with Richard Deacon, singer Joanie Sommers (whose voice seems to be dubbed...??), Elizabeth Macrae and Alvy Moore.

It was the first full length feature for director Don Taylor after a lot of TV shows. Hackett and Rooney were teamed a year later in IT'S A MAD MAD MAD MAD WORLD. Of course years later Hackett portrayed Lou Costello in the terrible TV movie BUD AND LOU...

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One Oldie, One Moldy...

WISHCRAFT-2002-This is a typical slasher film with a small dose of the supernatural thrown in. A nerd (Micheal Weston) uses a magical bull's penis that grants three wishes to get a cheerleader (Alexandria Holden) to go out with him. Meanwhile a slasher in a raincoat kills people. Broadway actor/director Austin Pendleton plays his high school teacher (he must have needed vacation money). Meatloaf (using his real name Micheal Aday) is the investigating cop. Little Zelda Rubenstein is a coroner. In a unique (?) twist the hero defends himself with a lawn jockey. Gee! Jackie Chan never thought of that! The cast also includes Joseph Ruskin, Sam McMurray, Luis Avalos and Hamilton Camp. I think parts of this were suppose to be intentionally funny!




An oldie: O'SHAUGHNESSY'S BOY-(1935)-This standard '30's tearjerker reunited the two stars of THE CHAMP (from 1931) Wallace Beery and Jackie Cooper.

Beery portrays a lion tamer who loses an arm (to a tiger) after his wife and son leave him. The infant son is played by future "Our Gang" member (and "Little Rascals" leader) Spanky McFarland. After several years Beery returns to society a broken man. He does manage to get temporary custody of his son (now played by Cooper) despite the intrusions of a trouble making aunt (Sarah Haden) and eventually father and son learn to love each other when Beery's well meaning, big lug personna (which dominates the movie despite Cooper's pouting and crying) overcomes his fears.

From what I've read when Beery is sharing some tender moments with Cooper he's REALLY acting! Clarence Muse is also featured as Beery's kindly (but racially stereotyped) assistant.

Director Richard Boleslawski (from Warsaw) also helmed RASPUTIN AND THE EMPRESS, the only movie to feature all three Barrymores....

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