What would you say if I were to tell you that in 1970 Disney made a wacky comedy featuring a bumbling gang of jewel thieves led by Phil Silvers? And that one of Silver's crew was Norman Fell? And that Wally Cox was on hand as a swinging hedonist?
What? You'd say it sounds like it's not actually anything special, but rather an OK farce with a lame set of romantic leads and a climactic chase scene that goes on way too long?
Wow, you guys are good.
Yeah, "The Boatniks" isn't great. The stars I mentioned are fun to see, but they don't do as much funny stuff as you want them to, and eventually the movie drags. Nothing with Phil Silvers should drag. Robert Morse and Stefanie Powers never win me over, and each scene they share is a scene that could focus on Silvers and Fell, or even Joe E. Ross doing his patented shtick.
Disney shows it doesn't exactly consider "The Boatniks" one of its Treasured Classics, either, releasing this in full-screen format. They at least throw in a trailer and an outtakes reel, though.
The most amusement I got out of this DVD was seeing the struggle between the G rating and the Buena Vista/imprint on one hand the attempt to get some "adult" appeal on the other. In "The Boatniks," this means numerous shots of babes in bikinis and a few risque innuendos here and there. Actually, Don Ameche's Commander Taylor indicates he thinks Morse's character is gay and/or a peeping tom at various points of the movie, and who knows, maybe their patter inspires Norman Fell years later when he goes on to play the immortal Stanley Roper.
The placement of such bits and mature themes that pop up now and then in this setting might make for an interesting story. Perhaps someone who knows a lot about the Disney live-action efforts of this era has told it somewhere. If so, it could well be far more entertaining than "The Boatniks" itself.
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