Everything's Ducky

I turned on this comedy, not expecting much. It looked like the sort of meaningless unfunny 'family' comedies that Disney specialized in during the late 1960s. But the sure comic timing of Mickey Rooney and Buddy Hackett won me over immediately: and the absurdity of the situation -- two sailors on a submarine in the middle of the desert, told off to deliver a talking duck is carried through surefootedly. True, it is cheaply shot and timed to look more like one of those fantasy-comedies that populated TV during the 1960s -- Mr. Ed, I Dream of Jeannie, The Munsters -- but there is something about its attitude towards the government, with its idiotic bureaucratic navy that speaks to 1960s dissatisfaction and rebellion than all of Jack Nicholson's performances.

It's not a great movie by any means, but a very amusing time-waster, with some great parts for old timers like former child actor Jackie Cooper and ex-Charlie Chan Roland Winter.

All right, so a whole lot of good performers are kind of wasted in Everything's Ducky. But the film isn't as bad as some would have it, in fact there are a few really amusing moments.

Right around this same time a talking horse was the center of a long running television series and maybe that was the problem with this film. What worked for the whimsical Mister Ed television show just did not work in a feature film where they were going for belly laughs instead of quiet chuckles.

Still as a team Mickey Rooney and Buddy Hackett work well together as a pair of goofball sailors who find a talking duck who was the pet project of a recently deceased scientist. Believe it or not, the duck has the secret to the needed rocket formula for our manned launch around the moon. But these two don't understand it. Like entrusting the formula to Abbott&Costello.

Stanley Kramer must have noticed that Rooney and Hackett did have good chemistry as a team because he used them as an act in It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World the following year.

Everything's Ducky is not the greatest comedy film in the world, but it does have a few laughs and Rooney and Hackett made a great team.

No one has mentioned - or seems to have even noticed - that Joanie Sommers' distinctive gravely voice was dubbed with a high-pitched shrill. It's very odd and disconcerting to see Sommers open her mouth and have another voice come out of it - a voice that sounds like it's coming from the next room. Also, given that audiences were familiar with Sommers' soothing singing voice, there was an added jolt and disconnect. This was not so good for Sommers as this 1961 title was her film debut. It must have been embarrassing for her. She would make only one other film - Jack Arnold's "The Lively Set" three years later in 1961. By the way, there has never been an explanation of why her voice was dubbed. Curiously, the film credits the actor who dubbed the duck but not the actress who dubbed Sommers.

"Everything's Ducky", a 1961 broad, slapstick fantasy, has the feel of a 60s Disney comedy. I believe that it is TV director Don Taylor's first big screen project. The idea for the film is alright, but it all should have been broader. Mickey Rooney is a first rate comedian who never found the right vehicle after his tenure at MGM. He wanted to be part of a team and even asked Bud Abbott to team up with him after Lou Costello's death. Here, Rooney is teamed with Buddy Hackett. They look good together, but they are not permitted to work out routines together. Rooney is a solid burlesque pro, and Hackett was known for his use of blue material. There isn't even any double entendre humor here. Rooney and Hackett could have been dynamite with proper material. This film doesn't even have enough slapstick to make it work.

Joanie Sommers is wasted here as Rooney's "love" interest, but Elizabeth MacRae puts in a convincing performance as Hackett's girl friend. Although Jackie Cooper gets good billing in the credits, he only has a small cameo. Richard Deacon gives his usual solid performance as a fruity scientist. Roland Winters, as Rooney and Hackett's commanding officer, is much too restrained; he needed to play this over the top. It was a nice surprise to see Alvy "Mr. Kimball" Moore, from "Green Acres" as a messenger. A major disappointment was Walker Edmiston's nondescript voice as the duck.

The Hi Los sing two catchy songs by Harold Spina. According to the credits there were supposed to be three songs. But where are the songs for Joanie Sommers? She would have done well by Spina's catchy tunes. A duet with Rooney would have been nice.

Unfortunately, the film does not have a real conclusion. Like a poor two reel comedy, it just stops. I wonder if the production company ran out of money.

For six years (from 1950 to 1955) there was a new entry in the "Francis the Talking Mule" franchise ("Francis Goes To"…."Races.. West Point.. Big Town.. WACS.. Navy"). A few years later "Everything's Ducky" (1961) resurrected this amusing service comedy idea of a talking animal generally smarter than its handlers; substituting a duck for a mule and Mickey Rooney/Buddy Hackett for Donald O'Connor. Instead of a laconic Chill Wills voice-over in decent synch to the movements of a mule's mouth, there is cartoon veteran Walker Edmiston's voice never quite matching the almost spastic movements of the duck's bill. Although in fairness the duck's lines are generally quite funny and if you work a bit to suspend disbelief all these sequences should be entertaining.

Of course I can't be entirely objective about the film, it is one of the first films I saw in a "theater"; and as a grade school age child I found it entertaining enough to buy the Dell comic book, which hit the stores at the time of the film's theatrical release (Dell FC #1251). The movie photo on the cover of the comic is in color, the film itself is in black and white.

Other than the sequences with the duck (Scuttlebutt), Rooney and Hackett are not given much to work with in this film. And the supporting cast has a decided television flavor. Jackie Cooper looks like he just popped in from the set of "Hennessey", going from Navy Doctor to Navy Psychiatrist without the bother of changing uniforms. Elizabeth MacRae plays Hackett's girlfriend, pretty much the same role she would later play with Jim Nabors on "Gomer Pyle". And Richard Deacon does his standard "Leave It to Beaver'-"Dick Van Dyke" wrapped-too-tight persona.

The most notable feature of "Everything's Ducky" is a rare film appearance by singer Joanie Summers. She looks at times like Suzanne Pleshette and at other times like Barbara Eden. Summers unfortunately does not do any singing. She was only 20 and plays the love interest of the 40+ Rooney. While this pairing is a bit disconcerting, Summers deserves considerable credit for successfully selling the idea to the audience. Their best stuff is a reprise of the Lou Costello-Hillary Brooke kissing scene from "Abbott & Costello Meet Captain Kidd" (1952). Seeing her again in the film led me to a U-Tube clip of her singing "Don't Pity Me" on "Hullabaloo".

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.