Fever Pitch

From the Thomas Dolby music that kicks it off--an eighties synthesizer dweeb's variant on Rat Pack swagger--through the many gratuitous jumbo-cleavage shots, from the super-surly acting-against-type of arch villain Chad Everett to the climax, which involves Ryan O'Neal rolling around in a garbage can full of mustard, this picture suggests that the very respectable director Richard Brooks, in his waning phase, was a couple of Schlitzes shy of a six pack. (For a double bill of wackness, put this on after Brooks' homage to Sean Connery's toupee, WRONG IS RIGHT.) The thing you'll take away from this film, aside from Catherine Hicks' attempts not to appear embarrassed in the role of Ho with Heart of Gold, is that insane Dolby score, which suggests the fanfare that would greet Jack Klugman as he impresses the nanas by cleaning up at an old-age home's craps game.