They Went That-A-Way & That-A-Way

Still another DVD from Wal-Mart's bargain bin, it's a two-for-the-price-of-one deal, featuring THE LONGSHOT on side one. THEY WENT THAT-A-WAY was the better of the two. Several scenes stand out-among them: Tim Conway is forced to perform dentistry on Warden "Gunner" Warden; Conway and Chuck McCann trying to convince the Warden that they don't really belong in prison and would he lend them his vehicle so they can get to the Governer's mansion; and the scene where they hijack a hearse to take them there.

Catch this one if you can.

Rating: ****1/2 out of *****

LOVE tim conway! Loved his solo bits, loved him on carol burnett. He wrote and starred in this, but had others direct. And apparently there were two directors, but I haven't been able to find the reason why; the two directors both lived another twenty years, so not sure what the problem was. Partners dewey and wallace are sent undercover to try to get information from a rough, tough inmate, already in prison. Of course, they say and do all the wrong things, which get them in more trouble. Can they ever get back out, or will they be there forever? It's fun. Pretty silly, and slow at times, but if you have patience, and are a big fan of conway, you'll get some laughs. Reni santoni steals the show as the correction officer. And you'll recognize richard kiel.. he was jaws in james bond. Script could have used some juicing up. Many of the jokes are situational humor, so you have to pay attention sometimes to see it. Other times, it's brutally obvious! Lots of silly slapstick humor, and much of it is pretty dated. I can forgive much of that, since it was made back in 1978, and I've always been a big conway fan.

This is one of those movies that I remember seeing when I was a kid. It was old fashioned slap-stick that made us goofy pre-teens laugh our butts off. I have always loved Tim Conway, and this is one of his prime examples of comic genius. Tim is fantastic with his timing and those goofy looks on his face. You know what's coming next, but you don't care because you know it will be funny, whatever it is. The part I remember the most is when he and his partner are dressed as a man and a woman and they have some kind of can that they're carrying that has something to do with them getting out of prison, I'm not sure how. Tim keeps yelling "My wife! The can!" and the host of the party keeps telling him that the bathroom is in the house. I love this movie for the good laughs but even more for the memories of that time in my life. Me and my buddies going to the movies, yuckin' it up and not caring about a thing in the world.

A riotous laugh out loud comedy written by and starring Tim Conway as a bumbling police officer who goes undercover in a Georgia prison with his partner with strict orders by the governor that only the three know about the whole deal. Comedy ensues when the current governor, the only man who knows the two policemen's true identity dies. Richard Kiel co-stars as another inmate at the prison and he towers over Conway and dwarfs him in every scene they share.

While the policemen are undercover, the warden needs emergency dentistry and that just happens to be the specialty of Conway's undercover counterpart. That whole scene is a replica of a scene Conway did with Harvey Korman on the Carol Burnett Show. Conway's character even manages to stick himself with the needle multiple times just like he had with Korman. However, it wasn't as funny here as it was when he and Korman did the bit together. Dub Taylor plays the warden, and he's nowhere as amusing.

But for some slapstick fun and a few funny scenes with Tim Conway that are reminiscent of his role in the Apple Dumpling movies, you might also like this one.

Gosh, & Conway even wrote this one himself. It's fun being able to predict what is gonna be happening. I was laughing hysterically throughout this thing. It was also fun seeing so many old comedians jammed into one flick from over 30 years ago. People who read my IMDb comments know that errors in plot-logic usually annoy me but, no, this is simply funny. I'd say it ran out of steam near the very end but, heck, I'd already laughed a gazillion times by then. The only sad thing is that I have actually worked with guys like Dewey (but I'm not as humorous as McCann). Just think how wonderful a world we would live in if prison farms were really like this. 'Certainly not as depressing as those "realistic" crime dramas I usually watch, eh? I wonder if this would make a good date movie.