OUT OF SIGHT (1966)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *poor*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *comedy*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *sociological*                                                                                                                                                  OUT OF SIGHT is so bad, its production history is interesting by comparison-- and that's just going on very basic info provided by IMDB. Both SIGHT's director Lennie Weinrib and producer Bart Patton were known mostly for acting prior to their collaboration on a modestly successful flick, BEACH BALL, which was an imitation of the popular "Beach Party" franchise by producer William Asher. This led to two other movies in a similar vein: WILD WILD WINTER and OUT OF SIGHT. I'm guessing SIGHT bombed, for Weinrib and Patton didn't collaborate again and mostly went back to acting. The script for SIGHT was also the first writing-credit for actor Larry Hovis, and he too didn't exactly prosper as a Hollywood scripter.                                                                                                               

Hovis may well have auditioned for the lead role of SIGHT, since main character Homer was not unlike the nerdy character Hovis played on the HOGAN'S HEROES series. Instead, the part went to Jonathan Daly, whose most recognizable credit, then and now, was that of recurring DICK VAN DYKE character Herman Glimpsher, a mother-dominated nebbish who occasionally dated the Sally Rogers character. But even more skilled nebbish-types, such as Jerry Lewis, could never have got any mileage out of the Hovis script. Even the setup for Homer's attempt at heroics is clumsy. Beach-bunny Sandra (Karen Jensen) just happens to hear mysterious mastermind "Big D" plotting with his goons to bring an end to all rock-and-roll. She communicates this to her glasses-wearing gal-pal (Carol Shelyne), who for no damn reason sports the male name "Marvin." The two of them decide to seek the help of secret agent John Stamp, because as we all know, secret agents are just like beat cops. Stamp is unavailable because he was injured by his clumsy valet Homer, and when the girls mistake Homer for his employer, the doofus just rolls with it so that he can hang out with pretty girls.                                     

  Oddly, while most spy-spoofs would have no problem matching up a homely nebbish with a hot girl, Sandra's character is sidelined (she already has a beau) and glasses-girl Marvin becomes the female lead who keeps trying to spark the reluctant Homer. Big D hears that John Stamp is on his trail, and he doesn't trust his whole two henchmen (a little chatty guy and a big brute) to handle the famed agent. So he hires various female killers to go after the, uh, counterfeit Stamp. One of these is a motorcyclist, obviously a take on a similar female killer from THUNDERBALL, though the one in SIGHT needs the help of a bomb-tossing midget (Billy Curtis). Incidentally, a working title for SIGHT was THUNDER BLUNDER, but the producers probably figured out that a spoof of THUNDERBALL would cost too much money. It was easier just to do a beach-film with a lot of singers, whose records the producers could then seek to exploit through cross-marketing.                                  

The second female assassin (Wende Wagner from TV's GREEN HORNET) craps out in her attempt to off Homer. Big D then enlists his only real threat, a karate-chopping dame named Wipeout (appropriately played by an actress with a "threatening" name, Maggie Thrett). The scene in which Wipeout slams the incompetent Homer all over the place almost redeems all the rest of SIGHT's dullness, but of course Homer is saved from extinction by dumb luck. The last female, oddly named "Tuff Bod" (Deanna Lund from LAND OF THE GIANTS), is not an assassin but just Big D's henchgirl, and after Homer is captured by the mastermind's two goons (which I guess they should have tried at the beginning), the dumb henchgirl gets conned into letting Homer loose. This leads Homer and the rest of his merry band to foil the villain's plans, to destroy all of rock-and-roll by using a disintegrator ray to destroy-- well, just one band of performers.                                                       

  As stated earlier, I think the producers' main aim was to sandwich in as many musical performers as possible for marketing purposes, but none of the acts struck me as memorable. Daly's pretty terrible, the villain sucks, and the cute girls don't have enough screen time. The sole exception to this generalization is Carole Shelyne, who proves quite charming despite the script's attempt to characterize her as "homely" because she wears glasses. It's a little amusing to see her pursuing the genuinely homely Daly, and she gets the film's best joke, becoming jealous when Homer tells her he was beaten up by another woman. The ending is weird without being funny. Homer gets ejected by a gimmick in Stamp's spy-car and ends up on a motorcycle with a blonde lady-- except that the "lady" is John Stamp in drag. It's hard to believe that working professionals came up with a comedy this unfunny.