Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feelin' So Sad (1967) Reviews

• Too self-conscious for its own good

  thomandybish2001-03-15

  Okay, so the sixties was the decade when lots of rules were broken and new frontiers were forged. Unfortunately, alot of this rule-breaking looks self-indulgent and stupid now. Take the case of OH DAD ..., which is based on a George(or is it William?)Kopit play. Not quite absurdist but definitely absurd, the story involves a woman who lugs her dead husband's corpse with her and her adult virgin son as they traverse various resorts. Rosalind Russell is the white-clad, pastel-wigged mother, Robert Morse the wimpy man-child, and Jonathan Winters is Poor Dad in the closet(also the narrator). Also on hand is Barbara Harris as a young nymphet--one of the few reasons to see the movie. I happen to like Harris, and her film roles are few and far between(FREAKY FRIDAY and FAMILY PLOT are probably her most readily available films), so I grabbed POOR DAD at a small independent video shop several years ago. Harris is a great comic actress, and although she is one of the good things about POOR DAD, it's not one of her better efforts. Winter's character narrates and points out the plot points of this film as it goes along, almost to cue the audience how to react to the next scene. It's interesting to note that, despite all the big names, this movie tanked. Probably because nobody knew what the hell this movie was--Winters' wacky narration and the goofy flashbacks detailing his courtship and marriage of Russell (who parodies her Auntie Mame persona) stab at being comic in that manic 1960s way (think of the way the old Monkees TV show was shot), or some kind of weird symbolic representation of the spiritual bankruptcy of the collective American soul (nobody has a corpse in a closet strickly for shtick purposes). And THAT TITLE . . . a sure sign the film is a bomb. If you're a student of film and feel the need to survey the various kinds of films that were perpetrated during the sixties, you might want to give this one a try. Or maybe not

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• 100% Head Scratcher

  JasparLamarCrabb2013-03-17

  If you've never seen a film that is a 100% head scratching oddity, then see this 1960s mind bender. Rosalind Russell checks into a Caribbean hotel with her son and husband. The son is a feral man child and the husband is dead (literally...he's stuffed and resides in a coffin). Russell proceeds to woo crackpot commodore Hugh Griffith while her son (Robert Morse) gets life lessons from party girl Barbara Harris. It's a comedy, but really not particularly funny. Russell wears one outrageous outfit after another while Morse skirts very close to making an absolute fool out of himself. Only Harris is genuinely funny; she's so off kilter, it's hard to tell if she's daffy or really worldly. It's directed with a lot of gusto by Richard Quine and the whole thing is narrated by Jonathan Winters (as "dad"). His part was reportedly edited in after completion of the film. Neal Hefti's music is appropriately '60s and the cinematography is credited to none other than Geoffrey Unsworth! Based on the play by Arthur Kopit.

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• Madame Rosepettle invites you on a mind bending vacation.

  jjnxn-12016-03-04

  Madame Rosepettle (Rosalind Russell) arrives at a Caribbean resort for a vacation with quite a menagerie, her 24 year old son (Robert Morse) who acts like a 5 year old, his stamp collection and telescope, a pair of Venus Flytraps, her tank of pet piranhas and her dead husband (Jonathan Winters-who serves as narrator) who she's had stuffed and travels with them in his coffin that she keeps in the closet. While they're there the hotel's babysitter Rosalie (Barbara Harris) falls for the infantile young man while Madame is pursued by a crazy ship captain, Commodore Roseabove. Got that? The cast is game, the production design impressive and the costuming, especially for Roz, elaborate. Wait until you get a load of Miss Russell's ever changing wigs in various pastel colors, pink, golden and green among them. Oddball film is different, how much you like it depends on how game you are for outlandish cinema. It's theatre of the absurd and the kind of whack-a-doodle thing that could only be produced in the 60's.

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• Roz Russell in a drag show that moves along...

  mark.waltz2013-03-22

  The last part of Rosalind Russell's film career saw her appearing in a variety of film versions of Broadway plays, ranking from classic ("Picnic" and "Auntie Mame") to miscast ("A Majority of One") to critically mixed ("Gypsy"). This play, one of the most unforgettable titles in Broadway history (and a notorious flop), is about the most domineering of all mothers, a woman who hates her deceased husband so much that she keeps his casket and literally hangs his stuffed corpse in the closet, I guess hiring more maids to take care of the smell when that started to occur was out of the question since he supposedly flaunted an affair with their maid in her face and she ended up serving them. Here, the late hubby is none other than Jonathan Winters, and he narrates the story, following one of the most bizarre movie theme songs in movie history, dropping wisecracks such as "We fell in love when I removed the thorn from her paw". Robert Morse ("How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying") plays their dominated son, treated by his mommie dearest as if he was still a tot. Russell looks like an aging drag queen here, clad in funky 60's outfits with matching wigs and even more bizarre make-up. You'll want to watch the entire movie just to see what she will show up in next if you can stomach the content. The film flashes back to Winters and Russell's marriage, thanks to an actual film she has of it which she shows to the eccentric Hugh Griffith, her new man. Of course, this is shown through her point of view before she became this harpy, and if you can get past the idea of seeing this 60-something year old woman trying to pass for her 20's and 30's, you can find some amusement in the black comedy unraveling on the screen. The ultra-talented Barbara Harris plays the young miss who becomes a formidable competitor for Russell for both Griffith and Morse's affections. Eventually, this becomes loud and braying, hurting the ears with each syllable the normally lovable Roz is forced to say. As directed by Richard Quine, this is a mod, mod movie that shows why the 1960's are sometimes best left in the past.

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• Typical Family film - Like Mondo Kane

  theowinthrop2008-08-02

  I never fully understood the reasons that my parents took us to see movies in the 1950s and 1960s. We saw popular films like Disney's "Peter Pan", "The Sound Of Music", "My Fair Lady", and "South Pacific". We saw kid oriented films like "The Incredible Mr. Limpet". We saw obscure films (nowadays) like "Escapade In Japan". But we also saw comedies like "The Great Race" and "Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell". But I have never figured out why my parents took us to see "Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mama's Hung You In The Closet And I'm Feeling So Sad". We saw it just a year before I went to high school, so it was the year before I began going by myself to the movies. Was my coming of age at 13 considered the reason to see this avant garde comedy? If so, I consider it a waste of time. That same year we saw "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner", so my parents still could pick good films...but why this? I am inclined to think it was my father who chose it. Dad could be curious about odd films now and then. Certainly the cast was good: Rosalind Russell, Robert Morse, Barbara Harris, Hugh Griffith, Jonanthan Winters, and Lionel Jeffries were all above average performers. But the film was not a good film. The story (from a play by Arthur Kopit) skewered sex and money. Russell inherited the fortune of her high-living husband Winters, who died after leaving her with a son. The son grows up (in terms of chronological age) as Robert Morse. Russell travels with him and his stamp collection, and plays the rich widow who everyone else caters too. While in a Caribbean port she is attracted to elderly millionaire sailor Hugh Griffth, or (as she is always looking for the main chance) his impressive multi-million dollar yacht. She begins a romance with him, while a local girl (Harris) tries to reach out to the infantile, socially awkward Morse. The film follows the two resulting romances, as well as Russell's attempts to maintain control over Morse: you see, she is aware of how her husband Winters died - he overdid his drinking, eating, and sleeping around until he was found dead in bed. Russell doesn't want that to happen to Morse. One of the critiques on this thread mentions that a small positive for this film was Russell had a chance to redo her Mame Dennis characterization. True, but Madame Rosepettle is very status oriented and wealth consumed (she mentions her son's philatelic interest has created a very rare stamp collection - probably purchased at her direction). Mame only looked at wealth as a means, not an end, and did shower affection on Patrick, on Agnes, on Beauregard, and on her friends Lindsay and Vera. Put another way, if Mame met Madame Rosepettle once she wouldn't have sought out the lady again. Come to think of it, one wonders if the Upson Family would have either. At the time this film came out, Russell was riding a crest. She had managed to keep her female star billing up to the middle of the 1960s, at a time when most of her contemporary stars (Claudette Colbert, Norma Shearer, Jean Arthur) were retiring, or were treading water in horror films (Bette Davis, Joan Crawford...once Olivia De Havilland). Although Russell had never gotten the Oscar De Havilland, Davis, Shearer, Colbert, and Crawford got (one could add Hepburn to that list), she still was packing in fans on Broadway (in "Wonderful Town" and "Auntie Mame") and in decent film lead roles ("Auntie Mame", "A Majority Of One","Gypsy", "Picnic"). But there were signs this was ending. She had just appeared in "The Trouble With Angels", wherein she was a Mother Superior with her hands full from two girl students - and her role supported the two student parts. Shortly after "Oh Dad", Russell was in the sequel film "Where Angels Go Troubles Follow". Her last real star turn would be in the film "Rosie" at the end of the 1960s as a female "Mame" type confronted by a "King Lear" situation. That film would flop. So with OH DAD, POOR DAD we are entering the twilight of Russell's career. We also are witnessing the brief rise and fall of Morse's film career. He had just made a hit in "How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying", and repeated it in the film version. A terrific stage performer (whom I'd see years later as Truman Capote), his film credits were mixed...possibly only "The Matchmaker" and "The Loved One" being worthy of film memory with "How To Succeed". His performance as Jonathan Rosepettle was capably handled as far as it went, but the character seemed a caricature of an infantile young man (literally sucking his thumb and mumbling "I love you mommy!" at the end). Morse never had a real chance in motion pictures after this. Winters, Harris, and Griffith acquit themselves well. Winters is dead from the start (in the present scenes he is only seen as a stuffed corpse in Mom's closet). He is dead, but enjoying being out of the reach of his wife. He comments on the actions...and gives the last word on the movie (as in the Summary Line above). One wishes the work had better dialog for him. Harris and Griffith pursue their sexual interests in the Rosepettles...to their gradual late realization of their mistakes. Lionel Jeffries (as a local airport official) does the best he can with the paucity of his material. Interesting that so many characters have "Rose" in their names: Madame and Jonathan ROSEpettle, Commodore ROSEabove, ROSEalie. But a better film based on a play, Tennessee Williams' The Rose Tattoo" did the same thing earlier. Game cast - mediocre results. Russell's career hurdles to oblivion, and Morse's film career collapses. Just too bad.

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