The Maltese Bippy

A number of people have commented negatively on this film, and also slam Rowan and Martin, Laugh-In, and the fact that this movie was made in 1969 and is therefore dated. I wonder why they bothered watching it.

I was but a toddler when Laugh-In was on, but I watched it with my older siblings. I've seen clips from it more recently, and yes, it is horribly dated now. So are bell bottoms, peace signs, and harvest gold appliances, but they were very popular at the time. People seem to have a hard time believing that something they really like today will ever look ridiculous, but it happens to every generation.

This movie is not particularly dated. Maybe 3 lines will go over your head if you have no knowledge of Sixties culture. This film is a silly spoof of monster/mystery films. Rowan and Martin act a lot like Hope and Crosby in their "Road" pictures, without any singing, and even speaking to the audience and acknowledging that they are in a movie. Every cliché from the aforementioned genres is skewered in this film, and I think it accomplishes everything it sets out to do.

You don't need to know anything about Laugh-In, Rowan & Martin, or the Sixties to enjoy this film. If you've ever enjoyed, or enjoyed groaning at, movies about werewolves, vampires, old houses, hidden treasures, and dead bodies appearing unexpectedly, you will get a laugh out of this movie. Personally, I watched it expecting the worst, and was very pleasantly surprised.

If you're like me and like the crazy comedies of the 60's, then it would be worth checking out this one. The chemistry of Dan Rowan (1922-1987) and Dick Martin (1922-date) was fantastic and at times was sorely needed to carry this film which starts out slow, but picks up laughs as it goes. The story involves Ernest Gray (Dick Martin) buying a house in Flushing, Queens, New York. There's a murder in the neighborhood, wacky neighbors who act like vampires, and it turns out everybody's looking for $2 Million worth of diamonds left in the house by the previous owner. By the end of the movie, just about everyone is dead, and in wacky '60's style, Rowan and Martin actually argue on camera as to how the movie should finish. The hysterical ending, along with beauties Carol Lynley and Julie Newmar, make this otherwise lame comedy bearable.

Good for a rainy Saturday Afternoon!

Recommended from the '60's: Peter Sellers in: I Love You, Alice B. Toklas (1968), The Party (1968), The Magic Christian (1969).

This is essentially an updated Abbott and Costello film for 1969 with Rowan and Martin standing in for Bud and Lou. The plot has the boys wandering around a "haunted" house looking for hidden jewels while trying to remain alive and avoid "werewolves" and "vampires". Its a weird mix of comedy horror and mystery put together in a psychedelic blender. Its very much of the time, and of Laugh-In with the brand of humor that was a huge hit on TV interlaced into a murder mystery. Forgive me I have no idea how to explain this movie except that its a bunch of very good actors being very silly, I mean where else can you see Fritz Weaver channeling Bela Lugosi for giggles? The humor is uneven, with some of the jokes dating badly to the point that unless you lived in 1969 you won't get the joke. Its an odd film. I don't know if I can really recommend it, though if you like Laugh-In you stand a good shot at enjoying this 90 minute fluff ball. (though I do have to point out I grew to dislike Dan Rowan's character a great deal since he was much too mean spirited and sleazy for my tastes)

This was designed to capitalize on the run-away popularity of Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In during the late 60's, but it was neither fish nor fowl. And many of the jokes today are badly dated. What is left is Dick Martin's absurdist slapstick and a very clever ending that tries hard to salvage the film, If you wish to re-visit the 1960's, this is a great film for you. Otherwaise, it's just mediocre.

This curious filmic transplant of Rowan and Martin's "Laugh-In" is notable for being the first movie I've ever seen in a movie theater and the first one I recall seeing at all. I was five years old and my family was traveling in a rinkydink town in Minnesota (Duluth, if you're interested) and it was on the same day as Neil Armstrong and company's landing on the moon. The only scene I remember from the original viewing was the one in which Dan Rowan is under the impression that the foxy vampiress can transmogrify into a tiger and, consequently, acts strangely intimate with the tiger. A most strange movie, like the TV show, and worth seeing for sixties psychedelia buffs.