The Busy Body

This film should be considered a comedy classic with a top notch cast such as Sid Caesar, Richard Pryor in an early role, Kay Medford, Dom Deluise, Arlene Golonka and even Anne Baxter in the cast. The film has Sid Caesar who must deal with the mob and murder all in a day's work. There is a mystery going on here with comedy as well.

Mario Gauci has submitted an excellent review of this movie. I have little to add except to say that Sid Caesar reveals himself as a somewhat charmless "comedian" in this obviously hastily assembled and filmed with celerity movie that offers little in exchange for the coat of an audience's admission tickets (or the purchase or hiring price of a DVD). The script is more than a trifle tedious, the direction of course is plain dull and the whole affair has virtually nothing to offer in the way of entertainment. I am speaking of course from the vantage point of a paid critic. A casual moviegoer who has not been exposed to a great deal of William Castle's offerings will probably not agree with me when I say that in my opinion the photography was somewhat less than capable, the script more than trifle tedious and the direction, as previously stated, just plain dull.

When the best thing you can say about a movie is that you didn't hate it that seems to be damning it with faint praise but really this film is so contrived it's hard to say anything else. First the good, Robert Ryan provides his usual touch of class to the proceedings and Anne Baxter, looking stunning with skyscraper hair, is wonderfully droll. Kay Medford is amusing as the overbearing mother even if her part is silly and Arlene Golonka is sweet and kooky. The main story is lame, and the use of obvious dummies for the bodies is just stupid. The real weak link is the star. Sid Caesar proves he was not leading man material with a performance so arch as to be painful to watch. Okay to pass the time with once or if you are a completist for either Ryan or Baxter films but do not go out of your way.

This comedy has all the elements of the type of comedies Don Knotts and Jerry Lewis were performing in during the 1960's. An ordinary man gets involved with murder (I forgot to mention Dick Van Dyke). The comedy was tailored around the talents of Ben Blue and Caesar, with the other comics filling time. It's a pleasant comedy, but don't go out of your way.

Looks like I'm the only one here who really enjoys The Busy Body, a movie I've watched many times and love. Sid Caesar is really funny, prissy and nitpicky as an obsessive-compulsive, overly fastidious clothes horse (a parody of a GQ/Esquire reader) who is a deliveryman for the mob (like the boss's lunch). Sid's decision to play it straight, as opposed to a scaredy-cat type like Don Knotts, works. Robert Ryan's great, a tough as nails, quick igniting organized crime boss, a combination of Marine drill sergeant and hood. The interaction between these two makes BB the fun pic it is. I wish there had been more of it. The supporting cast is a true who's who of comedic geniuses, from Bill Dana and Dom DeLuise to Godfrey Cambridge and Marty Engels. An added bonus is a young Arlene Golonka in the prime of her stacked sexiness and sweet, ditzy personality. The Vic Mizzy soundtrack is a plus.

Since Sid Caesar died a few days ago, I decided to watch one of his movies. "The Busy Body" makes no pretense about being silly. The characters are pretty much what we expect: Caesar is the nervous everyman mixed up in a murder case, Robert Ryan is the slimy exec, Arlene Golonka is the cleavage-flaunting blonde bombshell, and Kay Medford is the overprotective mother. The movie features the first appearance of Richard Pryor but he doesn't have much to do. I figure that an old-school director like William Castle wasn't about to let Pryor play the kind of character for which he eventually became renowned. In the end it's not any kind of comedy classic but funny enough for the brief period that it runs.