DVD Review: Don't Worry, We'll Think of a Title

Unless you’re a huge fan of The Dick Van Dyke Show, the name Morey Amsterdam might not ring a bell. The late Jewish comedian will probably always be best remembered (when he is remembered, that is) as the energetic “human joke machine” on Van Dyke’s show, which also featured funny people Rose Marie and Richard Deacon in supporting roles — and was produced by Danny Thomas. It should be pointed out, however, that Amsterdam’s ability to pull a quip out of his hat preceded him in the world of comedy; an ability that earned him frequent work writing jokes for movies and television shows.

A few months before The Dick Van Dyke Show broadcast is final episode, Morey co-wrote, co-produced, and starred in an abysmally tepid spoof of the popular spy genre that was piquing at the time: some thing called Don't Worry, We'll Think of a Title, and that featured many of his comedic colleagues from The Dick Van Dyke Show and beyond.

Now, if the name alone doesn’t tell you a bit about the amount of care that was put into the making of this low-budget black-and-white horror, the tiny crumbs of a plot might. Morey plays a wise-cracking short order cook named Charlie Yuckapuck (!), who is the dead ringer for a missing Russian cosmonaut who has reportedly defected to the US. The film starts with Charlie icing a cake, only to have the frosting bag suddenly jam as his boss (Richard Deacon) steps in front of him.

Now, if you’ve ever only heard of the Three Stooges, Abbott & Costello, Laurel & Hardy, or of vaudeville in general, you should damn well know what happens next. And just about every other gag in this movie is as old and tired as that one, with some being far worse — and stretched out to the point of nauseam.

So anyway, shortly before Charlie and waitress Annie (Rose Marie) are fired for their accident-prone antics, a shady lawyer (a cameo appearance by none other than the Three Stooges’ Moe Howard himself) arrives to inform their other co-worker Magda (January Jones — no, not that January Jones: this one couldn‘t act her way out of a wet paper bag) that her uncle has passed away and left her a book store near Updike University.

Article Author: Luigi Bastardo

Luigi Bastardo is the disgruntled alter-ego of Adam Becvar, a thirtysomething lad from Northern California who has watched so many weird movies since the tender age of 3 that a conventional life is out of the question. …

Visit Luigi Bastardo's author page — Luigi Bastardo's Blog