The Fat Spy

Not much. BUT, for a low (low, low, low) budget "beach party" film (set in Florida, for a change) there are *just* enough special moments to satisfy the truly curious. Those moments are all found in the musical numbers: Frank E Leonard croons to his long-lost love, cosmetics mogul Phyllis Diller, an amusing "love" song regarding Diller's supposed ugliness in "You Haven't Changed a Bit"....with lines like "the paper said that Peeping Tom was pulling down your shade.." Ironic, as Phyllis Diller looks quite good here. Jayne Mansfield portrays a chubby daddy's girl/bush pilot who is sent by her father (Brian Donlevy) to see what 'those kids' are up to, and in doing so meets up with her beloved (Frank E Leonard, in a second role). Jayne gets to sing one song, the charming "I'd Like To Be a Rose in Your Garden (But I'm Just a Thorn in Your Side)." In real life, Jayne is obviously pregnant (with her youngest child); in some scenes there was no attempt to conceal her growing belly. Maybe the intention was for her character to be plump? Other numbers include cast member Lauree Berger (a very appealing short-haired brunette who could easily have given Annette Funicello a run for her money) singing the weirdly upbeat but submissive ditty "You Put Me Down the Nicest Way You Can." Jordan Christopher and the Wild Ones appear as "the boys" and perform "The Turtle", a slow-moving dance -which is like nothing you'll ever see in the big-budget "beach" movies. However, none of these musical moments belong in the same film with the Jordan Christopher-Lauree Berger duet "Nanette", a dreamily beautiful melody that could have been a hit if it wasn't lost in this film. "The Fat Spy" succeeds in a few fragments -if not as a whole- and for that its worth a look.

I would like to know the story behind "Fat Spy". After all, when you watch it, you keep saying to yourself that this must be a joke! That's because it's a horrible and incomprehensible mess--even worse, in many places, than films like "Plan 9 From Outer Space" or "Robot Monster"! That's because the movie is so disjoint--as if someone just tossed many disparate pieces of junk and strung them all together. In fact, just describing the plot is practically impossible, as the film is THAT much of a mess.

The film consists of three usually separate films. One is a teen film--sort of like a SUPER-cheap surfer film. None of the folks performing in it appeared to be real actors--just a bunch of young adults cavorting on some island off the coast of Florida. They say that they are looking for some hidden treasure but this rarely seems to be the case. Another consists of music videos by some group I'd never heard of...and I assume the same would be true for you and I can DEFINITELY understand why they never became more famous! The final is made up of professional(??) but mostly D-list stars performing some skits--most of which aren't funny in the least (but I did like the Jackie Leonard song that he sings to Phyllis Diller). The scenes really look like outtakes--bad ones at that. You KNOW a film is doomed when it is anchored by Diller, Leonard and Jayne Mansfield. Oddly, however, Brian Donlevy (a legitimate actor!!) appears in a few of these scenes. All three are woven, ineptly, together with some plot involving the fountain of youth...kind of. And, to make matters worse, the film has no ending....just some sort of hurried comments on the screen trying (in vain) to wrap everything together!

Is the film worth seeing? Well, since it's in the public domain, it costs nothing--so at least that's a plus. Otherwise, unless you are a bad film addict, stay away...RUN from this film. But, for folks who like to see people embarrass themselves, it is an interesting curio.

Here's a sidenote to what everyone else posted.

This film was produced in Cape Coral, Florida. It was only filmed there for product placement purposes, well before product placement was ever really heard of.

The developers of Cape Coral were the typical "bought swampland in Florida" types you heard so much about.. so they thought having a movie filmed HERE would advertise their city. They used all the city landmarks at the time and hoped the movie would sell their property sales.

Eventually Cape Coral became as they say "Lies that came true" and is a thriving city today. It's just a very funny thing to watch this film from the angle of it being a sales tool.

That, and watching them hide Jayne Mansfield's very visible pregnancy with statuary and other methods is funny too.

As a longtime resident of SW Florida, I had to watch this film after finding out it was filmed entirely in the city of Cape Coral, and showed parts of Cape Coral Gardens (known to local residents as The Rose Gardens - an abandoned water park that was a popular hangout for teens back in the late 70's/early 80's). The story is pretty incoherent, and as a previous reviewer put it, was basically a sales pitch for the city of Cape Coral. It looks like the majority of it was shot at the Cape Coral Yacht Club (the beach scenes anyway), with the remainder being Cape Coral Gardens (obvious sale pitch for the park at about 1 hour in), and the corner of Del Prado Boulevard and Cape Coral Parkway. Pretty low budget... The performances, as well as the music... just plain bizarre (though it was the '60's).

I rated this a "4" simply for the archival footage of the city I've known for 30 years. Of particular interest to local residents is a shot of the Iwo Jima statue - located originally at the entrance to Cape Coral Gardens, left abandoned when the park closed and long neglected for years... is the very same statue that now resides by Eco Park along Veteran's Memorial Parkway westbound from the Midpoint Bridge (one of the entrances to Cape Coral from the city of Fort Myers). And unbelievably...this film is available on DVD!

What was everyone thinking when they signed on for this one?

The Fat Spy has just about everything wrong with it, actors not motivated to act, jokes that just fall flat, a plot that makes no sense, and Jack E. Leonard.

I remember Jack E. Leonard from many viewings of the Ed Sullivan show in the Fifties and Sixties. He was the Don Rickles of his day. A roly-poly comedian who made his bones in burlesque, Leonard specialized in insult comedy.

For some reason someone thought he'd be good to star in a feature film. So The Fat Spy was created and we got two Jack E. Leonards. They're playing brothers, one of whom is involved with Jayne Mansfield and the other with Phyllis Diller. Talk about differing tastes, that is the funniest thing about The Fat Spy.

No one ever asked Leonard to star in another film. Jayne Mansfield would make two more and then be tragically taken from us. Phyllis Diller was better served by her appearances with Bob Hope. Brian Donlevy is Jayne's father in this film and he calls her Junior. Donlevy has a look of pain throughout the film, wondering if his paycheck was going to clear the bank.

Anyway a group of treasure hunting teenagers on Brian Donlevy's private island look like they might discover the fabled Fountain of Youth rumored to be there. As Shaw says, "youth is wasted on the young" so the older generation wants to chase the kids off and get the secret of eternal youth for themselves.

Johnny Tillotson who is a fine singer and songwriter made his one and only appearance in film as a character. Acting was not among his talents, but he got to run off with a mermaid.

Pass this one by unless you want to hear Johnny Tillotson sing.