cinefan

This is Graham Chapman's first solo film outside of his work with Monty Python. He stars, produces, and co-wrote the script with his only other frequent collaborator aside from John Cleese, Bernard McKenna (who co-wrote several of TV's "Doctor in the House" and "Yellowbeard" with Graham). It, unfortunately, became a rather doomed project and the end result is pleasant if not hilarious. The Odd Job man was originally to be played by Who drummer Keith Moon, who had to drop out due to commitments to the Who and because his drinking was quite out-of-control at that point. The original director was injured before shotting began and had to be replaced at the last moment. But, Chapman pushed forward. Moon was replaced by comic David Jason, who had appeared previously with Eric Idle, Terry Jones, & Michael Palin on the pre-Python TV show "Do Not Adjust Your Set." The film certainly not bad, but it's one-joke premise is stretched a little thin: Arthur Harris (Chapman) is jilted by his wife and, being too timid for suicide, hires an Odd Job man to kill him.

The wife, of course, returns and patches things up while Harris finds himself unable to reach the Odd job man out to kill him. Chapman's performance is suitably loony and energetic and the cast across the board is pretty good. But, somehow, it all seems lackluster. The film was never even given a theatrical release in the U.S. Too bad, because the film has it's moments and Graham, as all Python fans know, was a very funny, bizarre, intense performer and writer.

Considering the amount of talent in this film, it should have

been a classic. Unfortunately, it somehow falls short of it's

promise. Which isn't to say it isn't good, but there are many

low points as well as high ones. It is most significant for

being Graham Chapman's biggest solo venture outside of Monty

Python and, indeed, his over-the-top performance is one of the

film's treasures. The script was written by Chapman and his

frequent collaborator Bernard McKenna (who also co-wrote "The

Odd Job" and episodes of the "Doctor In the House" series with

Graham, as well as appearing in "Life of Brian") and by comedy

legend Peter Cook (best known for "Beyond the Fringe" & his team

with Dudley Moore). It also reunites Graham with old cohorts

Eric Idle and John Cleese (who, of course, are fellow Python-ites), and Marty Feldman (who did "At Last the 1948 Show"

with he & Cleese). Rounding out the cast are Cook, Mel

Brooks-films refugees Peter Boyle & Madeline Khan, Cheech &

Chong, James Mason, the "Young Ones'" Nigel Planer, and the

"Goon Show"'s Spike Milligan. What keeps the film from

greatness are the uninspired direction of Mel Damski, a dull

performance by Martin Hewitt, and the wildly divergent styles of

the different camps of comedy (Python, Mel Brooks-types, and

Cheech & Chong just don't MESH well). But, there ARE a great

many laughs to be had from

Primarily of historical interest, "Beer and Pretzels" is one of a handful of shorts made by Ted Healy and His Stooges for 20th Century Fox in the early '30s. Most of these shorts are difficult to find, but they are sometimes screened at oddball times on cable stations, like AMC, for instance. Of the ones I've seen, this is not one of the best, but it is by no means bad. Basically, the formula was this: take some musical numbers from Busby Berkeley films that got left on the cutting room floor and pad them out with comedy from Healy and His Stooges. His Stooges, of course, are comprised of Larry Fine, Moe Howard, and Curly Howard, who would later gain immortality and fame as the Three Stooges. But, though, they have plenty of screen time, the show belongs to Ted Healy. At the time, Healy was a huge vaudeville star but is virtually forgotten today (except as a footnote on the careers of the Three Stooges). He can best be described as a '30s Richard Belzer or Dennis Miller - acerbic and abusive, a domineering know-it-all who happens to have some charm and a nice tenor voice. Basically, his "boss" role was overtaken by Moe when the Stooges went solo. In the film, Healy & his Stooges play vaudevillians who are fired as the film opens. They soon find work as waiters in a posh nightclub and chaos ensues. Though their characters are by no means as defined as they would become, it's fascinating to see glimpses of Moe's pugnaciousness, Larry's wishy-washiness, and Curly's overgrown kid act.