The Maltese Bippy (1969)

Rowan and Martin's "Laugh-In" was one of the cultural icons of the late 1960s, the "don't-miss" show if you wanted to be considered cool at the water cooler (or the playground, in my case). I never saw this movie when it was released. My parents would have found it scandalous. These days, it's much tamer than the majority of prime-time comedy shows, even those for "family viewing." It opens with a funny stand-up routine by Dan and Dick, commenting on the credit roll. This is the closest the movie gets to capturing the spirit of the TV show, and R&M are the ONLY cast members from the series to appear. So it's not really a "Laugh-In" movie; as others have pointed out, it's more like an Abbott and Costello monster film, or a racy episode of "Scooby-Doo." The plot is paper-thin, but that's OK, because the screen is always brimming with 60s goodness, especially in the forms of Carol Lynley and Julie Newmar. How can you miss with character actors like Mildred Natwick, Fritz Weaver, David Hurst, Dana Elcar, and 60s TV staples Leon Askin (Hogan's Heroes) and Robert Reed (Brady Bunch)? The ending has a Pythonic twist to it (a few years before 'Holy Grail'), with a funny version of the "who shot the gun" film cliché.All in all, this is probably a film that only veterans of the 60s will enjoy. It's mindless, but an entertaining way to spend an evening.

Another late 60's entry into Hollywood's attempt to answer the question, What kind of movies/TV shows do these drug-addled kids want to see? Older producers never did really figure it out. The Maltese Bippy is a cross between Head (by the Monkees), an episode of Laugh-In, and any horrible "comedy team meets danger" movie. Poor Rowan & Martin. Born in the early 20's with no chance to engage in all the free love and drugs they saw going on around them in the 60's and 70's. They tried to get in on it with hair dye, bad rugs, sideburns and plaid sport coats (and in the case of Rowan, even taking up the Hefner-like pipe).You don't see Laugh-In in reruns for a reason. I enjoyed the show as a kid. But it was highly topical and the humor just doesn't translate well into the 21st century. Not a lot to irritate anyone in The Maltese Bippy, but it's all been done before, better, by others.Much like Bob Hope movies, you just can't see many of today's kids getting into it. Then again, I don't think anyone will be rushing to watch Napoleon Dynamite in 30 or 40 years either.

Dan Rowan and Dick Martin, famous TV cut-ups from the then-current hit show "Laugh-In", go a curiously different route for their second theatrical film as a team (the first was "Once Upon a Horse" from 1958). In a weak spoof of monster movies, Martin plays the landlord of a suburban boarding house who believes he's a werewolf and eternally-tanned Rowan is a moocher who makes stag films. Carol Lynley is also around as a college student-turned-amateur detective, Mildred Natwick is the housemother, and Robert Reed sniffs about sourly as a police lieutenant. The worst, however, is saved for former-Catwoman Julie Newmar playing the bloodthirsty daughter of a scary Count (with an even-scarier accent). Newmar, looking tired, seems to have wandered over from the old "Munsters" set--or perhaps the latest Don Knotts picture. Odd that two TV swingers would choose to plod through this unfunny comedy like a couple of square schnooks, and the phony sets and cheap backlot look gives the entire enterprise a depressed spirit. 1969 was not a good year for Carol Lynley (she also starred in the clinker "Once You Kiss a Stranger..." around this time), but at least Reed had "The Brady Bunch" to fall back on! NO STARS from ****

This is essentially an updated Abbott and Costello film for 1969 with Rowan and Martin standing in for Bud and Lou. The plot has the boys wandering around a "haunted" house looking for hidden jewels while trying to remain alive and avoid "werewolves" and "vampires". Its a weird mix of comedy horror and mystery put together in a psychedelic blender. Its very much of the time, and of Laugh-In with the brand of humor that was a huge hit on TV interlaced into a murder mystery. Forgive me I have no idea how to explain this movie except that its a bunch of very good actors being very silly, I mean where else can you see Fritz Weaver channeling Bela Lugosi for giggles? The humor is uneven, with some of the jokes dating badly to the point that unless you lived in 1969 you won't get the joke. Its an odd film. I don't know if I can really recommend it, though if you like Laugh-In you stand a good shot at enjoying this 90 minute fluff ball. (though I do have to point out I grew to dislike Dan Rowan's character a great deal since he was much too mean spirited and sleazy for my tastes)