Another Nice Mess

Ever have the feeling that you are the only one in the world who saw something? And everywhere you look to verify what you saw, there's nothing? So it was for years with "Another Nice Mess". If I didn't already have plenty of other reasons to doubt my own sanity, trying to find anything on this little film would have been a BIG reason. Rich Little and Herb Voland (probably best remebered today as General Clayton in the early run of M*A*S*H) do Nixon and Agnew as Laurel and Hardy. Need we say a lot more? Probably not. But give it a look if you ever run across it. This one truly belongs in the "What were they thinking" Hall of Fame.

I'm amazed that this film finally showed up on IMDB. For year's I've called it the most obscure movie ever made, since not a single reference source - Maltin, Variety, Screen World - has ever listed it, despite the presence of familiar names like Smothers, Little and Einstein in the credits. Made during the brief spurt of anti-Nixon movies in the early 70s, it's a one-joke movie, and not a very good one. The premise is that Nixon and Agnew have the vocal patterns and mannerisms of Laurel and Hardy. The result is an all-too familiar collection of imitation L & H gags with hardly anything that could pass as political satire...

The film reflects Einsteins politics and slap stick sense of humor. Nixon asked to see it, It was also used as a fun raiser at the Canon Theater in Beverly Hills for the democratic party. The songs were much more controversial than Einstein wanted. But he was away and the mice did play.

I'm glad this film finally has been listed! I thought that it was locked away in a vault, unseen, and was lost forever.

The only thing I ever knew about this film was that, sometime around 1972, Rich Little appeared on the Tonight Show and told Johnny Carson a little bit about the making of the film. He also told how, as a gag, he, in full makeup, was in the back seat of a limo that pulled into a gas station for refueling. Mimicking Nixon's voice, Little then threw a mock temper tantrum much to the amazement of the gas station attendant.

I never, ever heard of Another Nice Mess having any release whatsoever. I remember, also, that I'd swear Little referred to the film's title as Another FINE Mess. Maybe there was a last-minute title change?

Anyway, I'm hoping for an eventual DVD release.

When i was a young "tween" back in the early 70's i remember seeing this movie on the marquee and seeing the poster for it at a local movie theatre... one of my friends who had just turned 13 told me he had gotten in to see it and was raving about the "fart" scene that took place in the limo... A few years ago i was trying to tell someone about this movie and got a really blank stare from them... Now I find it did exist! I would be one of those people who would love to see this thing resurface either on DVD or a cable network... I'm sure it's no worse than other "Golden Turkey Award" winning films that have resurface over the years... Maybe producer Tommy Smothers can get together with Jerry Lewis and screen this with "The Day The Clown Cried"...