Michael_Elliott Salt and Pepper (1968) ** (out of 4)Charles Salt (Sammy Davis, Jr.) and Christopher Pepper (Peter Lawford) are friends who own a nightclub in Soho and after a woman is found dead there they are held on suspicion. Pretty soon the two are working as undercover spies to try and track down why so many other agents are being killed. The 1960s were full of various spy movies and Rat Pack member Dean Martin was having a major success with his series. It was an obvious idea to try and get others into the mix and with SALT AND PEPPER both Davis and Lawford got to get back up on the big screen. Sadly, the end result isn't nearly as good as one would have hoped for.For the most part SALT AND PEPPER is a mildly entertaining film that works largely because of the two leads and their performances. There's no question that they've got a nice chemistry together and their timing bouncing off each other is quite good. Davis is given an extended music sequence and Lawford gets to be that classic British charmer. The two of them make the film worth watching and especially if you're fans of theirs.With that said, outside of them there's really not too much going on here. The plot itself is rather routine, boring and it never offers up any fresh or original. I'd also argue that the direction is rather lackluster and there's not really much humor to be found in the screenplay. Technically speaking the film is well-made but there's just not enough entertainment here to make it worth recommending.

bkoganbing Around the time that Peter Lawford was officially declared persona non grata by Frank Sinatra from the famous Rat Pack, Sammy Davis, Jr. defied the chairman of the board and teamed with Lawford to do this spy spoof Salt And Pepper. And Davis lived to tell the tale.Salt And Pepper casts Davis and Lawford as a pair of club owners in the swinging Soho section of London in the Sixties. As cool a pair of hip dudes you'd ever want to meet. A working girl is killed in their club which brings the wrath of constipated police inspector Michael Bates down on them. Bates doesn't like them on general principles, I wouldn't with all the nasty cracks made about him being so uptight. But Bates is the least of their problems because the girl was an enemy agent and that gets Davis and Lawford involved in a plot to bring down the British government the details of which I won't reveal because they are truly to bizarre.The Sixties made London the hip capital of the world and at the same time Ian Fleming and his James Bond novels brought to the screen by Sean Connery put a new twist on the spy novel. Salt And Pepper combines both trends with Davis and Lawford constantly rolling witty dialog off their tongues. The film is fast paced and breezy with nary a bow to any reality.I did mention Michael Bates before who looks through the entire film like he needs a stiff shot of prune juice. His performance is a tribute to James Finlayson, the perpetually uptight foe of Laurel and Hardy in dozens of films. Bates gets quite a few laughs of his own.Salt And Pepper holds up well and was popular enough for a sequel One More Time to be made. You'll probably want to check that one out as well.

Woodyanders After discovering the body of a murdered female agent in their trendy Soho, London nightclub, groovy owners Charles Salt (the divinely hip Sammy Davis, Jr.) and Christopher Pepper (smooth Peter Lawford) partake in a fumbling investigation and uncover an evil plot to overthrow the government. Can our cool, yet inept duo stop the bad guys in time? Director Robert Donner (who later went on to helm such major hits as "The Omen," "Superman," and the "Lethal Weapon" pictures), working from a blithely silly script by Michael Pertwee, relates the cheerfully asinine story at a steady pace and maintains a suitably wacky tone throughout. Naturally, we get the inevitable slapstick car chase and plenty of cartoonish explosions, plus a few endearingly crummy racial and homosexual puns in the dialogue. Davis, Jr. and Lawford easily carry the picture with their breezy and engaging on-screen chemistry. Whether he's singing a rousing song on stage while surrounded by hot dancing chicks or ineffectively attempting to use martial arts on the villains, Davis, Jr. is nothing short of a total gas to watch (he even sings the great ending credits theme song). The tip-top supporting cast have a ball with their colorfully broad roles, with stand-out contributions by Michael Bates as the uptight, blundering Inspector Crabbe, John Le Mesurier as the sinister, one-eyed Colonel Woodstock, Ilona Rodgers as the fetching Marianne Renaud, and Ernest Clark as the stern Colonel Balsom. John Dankworth's jazzy and spirited score really hits the swingin' spot. Kenneth Higgins' vibrant color cinematography likewise does the trick. Moreover, the ladies are sexy and attractive and there's a certain animated funky'n'zany 60's go-go vibe to the whole movie that's impossible to either resist or dislike. An enjoyable piece of fluffy nonsense.

ptb-8 This abomination and the sequel ONE MORE TIME (no thanks) and the hideous Jerry Lewis disasters like Don't RAISE THE BRIDGE LOWER THE WATER (why not just flush instead) drove cinema owners to close their doors rather than be forced to run these films. True: in the 60s block booking of films was still enforced on hapless suburban and country cinemas... this means that in order to get a good film the cinema was forced to run woeful timewasters like these: I remember well in 1974 keen to screen FIDDLER ON THE ROOF or something good like that, I was bailed up in the United Artists booking office by some sozzled salesman who waved a sheet of flops before me and squinted, bellowing: "Now before we get to that one, lemme see ya date these ones first". which basically means: "book these duds and we will give ya a tired hit". This is how and why so many cinemas closed, forced to screen and annoy their waning audiences with these assembly line failures with lame comedians and bored talent. Cinema owners, exhausted with arguing simply closed, sold to a petrol station and saw the cinema demolished. These days the same type of films (eg: I NOW PRONOUNCE YOU CHUCK AND LARRY) get banished to the 20 seat cinema 99 in a mega google plex instead. Not much has changed. FREDDY GOT FINGERED... anyone?