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| Patty Boone and Barbara Eden |
Now here's a strange one. Pat Boone plays a popular singer and neglectful husband, Andy Paxton, who has difficult relationships with his wife, Lissa (Barbara Eden), and associates, Hub (Steve Forrest), his bodyguard, and "Bake" (Steve Harris) his pal and right-hand man. Things get even more complicated when Paxton's baby boy is kidnapped right out of their mansion. While at first it may make sense that the terrified couple are scared that police intervention could kill their child, when days go by it seems utterly absurd for them not to let the authorities handle things. Believability goes completely out the window when the Paxtons set off to rescue the child themselves from dangerous people who have nothing to lose. The picture has unusual casting with Boone going against his pleasant milk-fed image just as Eden [Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea] is contrary to her usual perky demeanor. They offer generally good performances although at times the script may make too many demands on them. Steve Forrest [Mommie Dearest] is the cast stand-out as Hub, and there is also good work from Harris as the jealous, heavy-drinking buddy and Jeff Corey as a bartender. Jack Klugman [I Could Go On Singing] is pretty awful as the cop assigned to the kidnapping, a performance which isn't helped by the fact that he is often given ridiculous things to say to the parents. Boone does several numbers and has a nice voice. but the poor quality of the film probably jettisoned his chances of establishing himself as a serious dramatic actor after the previous year's appearance in The Main Attraction. Rod Serling's screenplay is one of his least memorable concoctions. Steve Harris was primarily a television actor.
Verdict: This canary just doesn't sing. **.
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ReplyDeletePat Boone and Barbara Eden are still with us, I always wonder how the feel when their old pictures are on. I once met Ms. Eden when she was doing a tour of The Female Odd Couple. She was very very nice, gracious and looked younger than her years at the time...
ReplyDelete- Chris
Thank you, GST.
ReplyDeleteChris, I imagine actors have mixed emotions watching their old movies, and a lot depends on what they were going through at the time the film was made, as well as what they're going through today. Eden and Boone were also in "All Hands on Deck," a Navy comedy which was more along their usual lines. Eden had a nice turn in the final year or so of "Dallas." I expected either she or Larry Hagman would say something in character along the lines of "don't I know you from somewhere?" but the writers resisted.