BEHAVE YOURSELF!
Tagline: None
Preshow Entertainment: Joe Jackson, Todd Rundgren, Phoebe Cates
In the movie Behave Yourself nearly everyone tries to steal the dog.
But they're foiled, because it's the dog that steals the movie.
But they're foiled, because it's the dog that steals the movie.
Preshow Entertainment:
Starting from where we left off last month, we watched Joe Jackson on Letterman in 1989 doing NINETEEN FOREVER, and then Todd Rundgren's 1990 Letterman appearance of CHANGE YOURSELF. From there, we moved to an awkward interview from 1984 with Phoebe Cates by Regis and Joy Philbin. Stupid questions, fake laughing, and uncomfortable silences. They showed a clip from GREMLINS and rehearsal footage from the show she was in at the time at the Public, NEST OF THE WOOD GROUSE. Yes, I went to see NEST. I had to. Phoebe and I were dating at the time. Well, sort of.
AND NOW, OUR FEATURE PRESENTATION:
Farley Granger (one of the two STRANGERS ON A TRAIN) is undeniably miscast as leading man William Denny. He's married to Kate (Shelley Winters, also miscast). When William comes home with a dog as an anniversary present, Kate is delighted. Truth is, the pooch just followed him home, and since William forgot their anniversary, he goes along with it. But wouldn't you know it? The dog is meant to lead gangsters to...other gangsters.
Also confusing is how a movie with such an impressive cast of character actors (William Demarest, Lon Chaney Jr, Hans Conried, Marvin Kaplan ("Choo Choo" in TOP CAT!), Herb Vigran (frequent villain on the old SUPERMAN show), etc.) fails to get off the runway. The whole movie feels like a bad junior high school play.
The worst character has to be William's mother-in-law (Margalo Gillmore). A cliched, pettish shrew who is not only disapproving of William, but of the entire male species. Why William and Kate live in her house is beyond me. Actually, why William is married to Kate, a materialistic, selfish hen-pecker who never really goes to bat for her husband, is also a mystery. I'd rather live in a Greyhound terminal.
BEHAVE YOURSELF! was written and directed in 1951 by George Beck, one of the founding members of the Writers Guild of America. It's the only film he directed. Lucky us.
I don't know what else to say about this disposable movie except that it's an obvious (and failed) attempt to capture some THIN MAN magic. But after a while, even likable Archie the yappy dog was an annoyance. THE THIN MAN's Asta had class, my friend. Sadly, there's little to enjoy about BEHAVE YOURSELF!. Now that I think about it, the title song, co-written by Buddy Ebsen, was bouncy and fun. But as soon as it ended, the movie started.
Tags: random movie club, behave yourself, farley granger, shelley winters, hans conried, phoebe cates, todd rundgren
