What's Up Front!

Sonny Bono lookalike Homer L. Pettigrew, takes us on a brassiere drenched romp thru a Southern California populated by nobodies. I can't figure out the deal with this picture... it's tame; tamer than successful commercial releases of it's time, and not funny. It's like a manque Hugh Hefner's college film project, inexorably thudding along to the end. Watch it and say, "Why does it exist?"

Homer Pettigrew is a salesman that gets into the Brassiere selling business. One hopes for a light sex comedy going into this, with maybe some skin to redeem it if it is a bad movie. This movie is simply Homer put into various suggestive (in 1963 anyway...) situations which usually results in him leering at women. Homer ends up being a door-to door bra salesman (ha ha ha..) and the movie goes no where. Why was this made? Was it a B-movie to go with nudie movies? My only guess is that it had to have been that, a teaser movie before the real nudie movie started. Seen by itself away from a double-feature setting it has no value and you will wonder why you wasted your time when there are many better movies out there.

Intended for sophisticated audiences who find the subject of ladies' chests an irresistible subject of mirth and lines like "Have you ever handled brassieres before?" the height of wit.

The action meanders along following the adventures of Tommy Holden - wearing a smile that could shatter glass - as a commercial traveller rejoicing in the name of Homer J. Pettigrew, who ultimately ends up (SLIGHT SPOILER COMING:) under hot lights accused of spying for the Russians.

The most risqué line is probably an air hostess saying brassiere salesman "have to stay abreast of the competition". It's biggest asset is Technicolor photography by Vilmis Zsigmond, it's greatest liability a Mickey Mouse music score.

While it's single biggest surprise has to be a guy in a blonde wig gustily playing the organ in the final wedding scene.

I saw this movie when I was a kid and remember thinking it was so stupid it was hilarious. It came on this old cable channel and it was rerun about every week. I must have seen it 20 times. My father watched it with me once and thought it was the worst movie he'd ever seen, but laughed the whole way through. For the next twenty years, he would bring up "the bra salesman movie" and crack up.

This was a surprisingly clean movie, as everything was "suggested" rather than crude. The acting was terrible, on par with a porno film. Actually, many of the situations in the film were basic porno set-ups, but without the payoffs.

I wish I could see it again, for nostalgia alone.

This is a fantastically campy movie, and gets a bad rap it doesn't deserve. Movies don't need huge production budgets to be good, and What's Up Front is an excellent example of that.

Even though the subject matter is adult oriented, it has such a corny innocence to it you could easily show it to the kids. The early 60's color processing and perky soundtrack immerse you in a happy-go-lucky world gone past.

Sure, it would make for a truly great MST3K episode, but it's still a fun ride of pure cheese on its own. I can't recommend it highly enough, and wish it was available on DVD!