Synopsis
When sinister businessman George Sanders offers to produce a film starring Sonny and Cher,Sonny can’t wait to get started, though Cher has severe doubts. It turns out the shooting scriptis impossibly bad, and Sonny has ten days to come up with an alternative. We see his fantasiesof various film possibilities (western, mystery, jungle adventure), each one clearly a catastrophein its own right.
This was the directorial debut of William Friedkin. Of course it was! Obvi…usly the man whowould go on to direct The Exorcist and The French Connection would get hisstart with Sonny and Cher. Actually, though the “plot” is a Monkees-style excuse to dress ourduo up in wacky costumes and have them sing songs, the movie isn’t that bad. There are someamusing lines and pratfalls (all at Sonny’s expense, whose film this is — Cher is very much asupporting character here). Though I’m not surprised that the normally garrulous Friedkin didn’tsupply a commentary on this film (and he has on even such dreck as The Guardian),he nevertheless holds the thing together with crisp professionalism, and the result is nowherenear as gruesome as it might have been.
Audio
The sound is mono, which might be cause for regret among those who really, really, reallylike the songs, but overall isn’t a problem. The sound is clean, and there is minimal backgroundhiss. Distortion isn’t an issue either.
Video
The colours here are very strong, and if you bear in mind that this means colours of 1967fashions, you’ll realize this is a bit of a scary thing. Some of the reds are too strong, however,notably the supernova-bright blazer George Sanders wears at one point. There is some grain, andthe picture is soft (ranging from slightly to very much so).
Special Features
None.
Closing Thoughts
Nothing more than a curiosity, of course, but a tolerable one. And hey, it beats SpiceWorld.
