Nozz Review of The Fat Spy

The Fat Spy (1966)

Uneven collection of vaguely related songs and sketches

[3/10 · 2 May 2009]

This is a film that will, and does, occasionally throw aside the logic of plot and characterization just for the sake of including a silly gag. At one point, astonishingly, it throws them aside for a moment of pathos when one of the characters apparently swims out to sea never to return, whereafter the rest of them resume their fun as if nothing had happened. The music is surprisingly competent, but the strong singers are not the strong comedians, the strong comedians don't get much good material, and the strong actors-- well, there are no strong actors. It must be said, though, that when you put a toupee on Jack E. Leonard he is not a bad-looking man. All in all, it's a hit-and-miss effort, much like some second-rate TV variety show of the time.