Sunday, August 19, 2012

Peter Lawford & Sammy Davis Jr. in Salt & Pepper (1967)

The sixties saw an explosion of spy themed filmes, all inspired by the success of the 007 franchise. From serious cold war dramas like The Spy Who Came In From the Cold (1965) to ridiculous romps with sexy starlets like Modesty Blaise (1966), the intrigue was thick and heavy. This film is one of the latter type, with Lawford and Davis playing night club owners who are sucked into a seriously stick situation. A girl is found dead in their club and she just happens to be part of a terrorist group, bent on wrecking havoc on the British government. Will the inimitable Salt (Davis) and Pepper (Lawford) be able to intervene in time?
MoviePosterShop.com
This silly film is more of an excuse for the stars to act cool and hip and for the producers to parade an endless collection of sexy sixties babes in front of the camera. The scenes of swinging London are fun to look back on and the film was successful enough to inspire a sequal - One More Time (1970) which has the distinction of having been directed by Jerry Lewis.

This film is available on DVD, as is its sequal. Above is the trailer, uploaded to YouTube by OurManInHavana.

Obscurity factor: 7 (on DVD, known to rat pack fans, dimly remembered otherwise)

6 comments:

  1. Wow, directed by Richard Donner! ("The Omen"...."Superman" , etc.)

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  2. LOL, dig Sammy's Austin Powers wardrobe! Classic!

    The hip American teamed up with the suave, aristocratic Brit seems to be a recurring staple of English-language films & TV. A few years later there would be "The Persuaders" with Tony Curis and Roger Moore, then in the 80s it was "Dempsey and Makepiece," then in the early 2000's it was Mark Valley and Julian Rhind-Tutt in "Keen Eddie."

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  3. After Peter Lawford split with Patricia Kennedy, Sammy was the only member of the rat pack that didn't completely sever ties with him. He cast him in this and the other film as a way of trying to help the by than financially strapped Peter Lawford. Last years of his life Peter was pawning his possessions just to get by. Sad end for a very talented actor who after years of playing the nice guy it all blew up in his face.

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  4. That is a sad story... I was just watching Easter Parade the other night and he was so charming in it.

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  5. I just watched this a few days ago on GET TV. Funny movie.

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