"The Busy Body" has much working in its favor.
First of all, it has a source book by comedy/crime writer Donald E. Westlake. I haven't read the original novel but the script has several amusing elements that perfectly fit Westlake's style.
It also has that "Vic Mizzy sound." Mizzy did music for "Green Acres" and "The Addams Family" as well as Don Knotts vehicles. His work is more typically associated with rural or small-town atmospheres, and it's good to hear that it works just as well in an urban setting. He provides a memorable theme (though not in the way you think).
"The Busy Body" has first-rate comedy line-up. Among those who get laughs are Godfrey Cambridge and Mary Ingles as a couple of inept hit-men; a young Dom DeLuis trying to make a name for himself in a thankless role; and comedy veteran Ben Blue. And Arlene Golonka is always worth watching.
Bill Dana is unable to make much of his blink-and-you'll miss him part (the writers should have given him more business). Now comedic legend Richard Pryor, in his first major film role, does a creditable job playing it straight as a police officer.
The script has many amusing plot twists (probably derived straight from Westlake).
If you are bothered by graves, caskets, the funeral industry, and dead bodies in general, you won't enjoy this movie. If, however, desecrating graves, digging up corpses, and seeing live people trapped with dead people all suits your sense of humor, you'll be more inclined to enjoy this little comedy.
The problems with the feature include its star, Sid Caesar. This is a part that might have been written for Don Knotts (or, in an earlier era, Danny Kaye). Caesar could be a funny man, though one is probably more prone to laugh at his shtick if one grew up with "Your Show of Shows" (I did not, coming along in the next decade). Caesar starred in few movies, and it was questionable whether he ever should have ever tried to carry a feature, since he can give such good support. Dick van Dyke would have been a happier choice for the lead -- or Knotts, who would at least give us his googly eyes.
Robert Ryan's crime boss is played to the hilt -- and that's a bad thing. Don't expect Ryan to turn in the sort of part that would be offered to serious actors in movies like "Airplane" a decade later, where they were able to be serious yet spoofing. Ryan has one note and he seems far too serious and professional a crime boss to hire this gang.
Caesar plays a young man who has just been made a Board Member of his Organization. Unfortunately, the organization is criminal; and when he loses one million dollars (that was a lot of money in those days -- think "Austin Powers") that may be buried with a friend, the crime boss tells him to recover it -- or else. But Caesar has various problems in locating the right body. At one time he has too few bodies; at another time, too many. The movie is helped by DVD -- on television it was always pan-and-scan, and that kills comedy. Director William Castle (a strange choice) doesn't really use the entire frame to full comedic effect, but it's nice to see the movie as it was intended.
It's not one of the all-time great comedies and it's not a hitherto undiscovered classic. It's just a sweet little comedy about dead bodies and grave robbing and I like it.
First of all, it has a source book by comedy/crime writer Donald E. Westlake. I haven't read the original novel but the script has several amusing elements that perfectly fit Westlake's style.
It also has that "Vic Mizzy sound." Mizzy did music for "Green Acres" and "The Addams Family" as well as Don Knotts vehicles. His work is more typically associated with rural or small-town atmospheres, and it's good to hear that it works just as well in an urban setting. He provides a memorable theme (though not in the way you think).
"The Busy Body" has first-rate comedy line-up. Among those who get laughs are Godfrey Cambridge and Mary Ingles as a couple of inept hit-men; a young Dom DeLuis trying to make a name for himself in a thankless role; and comedy veteran Ben Blue. And Arlene Golonka is always worth watching.
Bill Dana is unable to make much of his blink-and-you'll miss him part (the writers should have given him more business). Now comedic legend Richard Pryor, in his first major film role, does a creditable job playing it straight as a police officer.
The script has many amusing plot twists (probably derived straight from Westlake).
If you are bothered by graves, caskets, the funeral industry, and dead bodies in general, you won't enjoy this movie. If, however, desecrating graves, digging up corpses, and seeing live people trapped with dead people all suits your sense of humor, you'll be more inclined to enjoy this little comedy.
The problems with the feature include its star, Sid Caesar. This is a part that might have been written for Don Knotts (or, in an earlier era, Danny Kaye). Caesar could be a funny man, though one is probably more prone to laugh at his shtick if one grew up with "Your Show of Shows" (I did not, coming along in the next decade). Caesar starred in few movies, and it was questionable whether he ever should have ever tried to carry a feature, since he can give such good support. Dick van Dyke would have been a happier choice for the lead -- or Knotts, who would at least give us his googly eyes.
Robert Ryan's crime boss is played to the hilt -- and that's a bad thing. Don't expect Ryan to turn in the sort of part that would be offered to serious actors in movies like "Airplane" a decade later, where they were able to be serious yet spoofing. Ryan has one note and he seems far too serious and professional a crime boss to hire this gang.
Caesar plays a young man who has just been made a Board Member of his Organization. Unfortunately, the organization is criminal; and when he loses one million dollars (that was a lot of money in those days -- think "Austin Powers") that may be buried with a friend, the crime boss tells him to recover it -- or else. But Caesar has various problems in locating the right body. At one time he has too few bodies; at another time, too many. The movie is helped by DVD -- on television it was always pan-and-scan, and that kills comedy. Director William Castle (a strange choice) doesn't really use the entire frame to full comedic effect, but it's nice to see the movie as it was intended.
It's not one of the all-time great comedies and it's not a hitherto undiscovered classic. It's just a sweet little comedy about dead bodies and grave robbing and I like it.