HANKY PANKY
US, 1982, 107 minutes, Colour.
Gene Wilder, Gilda Radner, Richard Widmark, Kathleen Quinlan.
Directed by Sidney Poitier.
Hanky Panky is a rather raucous comedy-thriller starring Gene Wilder - at his most strident. He has appeared in many excellent comedies, especially for Mel Brooks. He has written and directed himself in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother and The World's Greatest Lover. He is a genuinely funny comedian - but relies too much on excess here. He is paired with Saturday Night Live American television star Gilda Radner - who plays her role fairly straight. Kathleen Quinlan, Robert Prosky and Richard Widmark are very good in the main supporting roles.
The film is directed by Sidney Poitier - who directed the lively comedies Uptown Saturday Night, Let's Do It Again and, the socially conscious comedy in the Frank Capra style, A Piece of the Action. Here he has a tribute to as well as parody of the fleeing Hitchcock couple - in such films as North By North West. There are many Hitchcock parallels although the film is not particularly subtle. It has been remarked that it is Hitchcock filtered through Close Encounters of the Third Kind. While entertaining in many ways, something of a disappointment.
1. An amusing comedy? Content, style, stars? The parallels with the Hitchcock thriller? The mystery, the fleeing couple, the pursuit - the Grand Canyon flight? The confrontation in the realms of American espionage? The range of Hitchcock parallels and the details of the screenplay?
2. The film as a vehicle for Gene Wilder and G11da Radner? Their appeal, to American audiences. to the universal audience? The ordinary, little American man and his outwitting the powers? The strong but supportive work-in? An attractive couple?
3. The background of American military secrets, espionage and the range of Hitchcock films on espionage? Innocents drawn into nuclear plots. American espionage? Chases, torture, patriotism? The set comedy pieces, the set action pieces? The film drawing on the humour of the spy thriller?
4. Colour photography, the use of New York and the city locations, Boston? Arizona and the Grand Canyon? The flavour of American cities? Scenic values? The crises equivalents of Hitchcock thrillers: Saboteur, The Thirty- Nine Steps, North By North West?
5. The intriguing introduction with the painting and the suicide? The visit of Janet to see Calder and the attack on Calder, Janet's fleeing, the taxi and the parcel, her own death? Desperate moods, deaths and mystery?
6. Richard Widmark as Ransome and his skill in staring villainy? Severity, his black and white henchmen, following Michael Jordon, the interrogation, the truth drug, the pursuit of Janet and his murdering her? Ransome appearing in Boston. the chase in the mall? Ransome as a villain, in Arizona, the kidnapping? The confrontation? The significance of the black and white henchmen and their continually chasing Jordan? Villainous types - how well presented?
7. Michael Jordan as hero: Gene Wilder's appearance and presence. clowning and shouting, his happiness in New York and his contract, the pass at Janet, sharing the taxi, the parcel. posting it, the capture, the torture, the escaping - and the pinching of the lady on the escalator, finding Janet, being present at her death, taking the gun, the reaction of the hotel patrons, his being filmed for television, his being chased and watched? His disguises? The comic style and its frenetic and hysteric shouting? Quips, wits, frantic survivor?
8. His trying to cope and use his wits, the encounter with Kate, the farcical escapes, disguised as a woman, as the visit to the nightclub and the encounter with the magic man, the car chase, the mall chase in Boston, the background of the parcel and the post, the computer checkout of the tape and his switching the tapes, the painting and his interpretation of it, the going to Arizona, his using his wits in saving the tape, the pursuit by the spies, the plane ride through the Grand Canyon and its hysteric desperation, the capture of Kate, his capture and seeming to capitulate, the circle of fire and his vindication? The serious side of his character, humorous side - the picture of the hero of American films?
9. The portrait of Kate - presence, newspaper story, helping Michael escape, the truth about her brother, Boston, the chases, the interpretation of the painting, sharing his experiences in the plane, the kidnap, the rescue and the grand finale? The straight playing of this American comedienne?
10. The supporting cast and their contributions - Janet and her desperation. Calder and his attack in the club. his recovery. his control, using Jordan, trying to seek out the traitor? Pruitt and his control, the traitor, contact with Ransome?
11. The comedy sequences in New York and urban comedy contrasted with the espionage and open spaces of the West for the finale? The special effects for the flight, the final explosions?
12. The background of American defence, computer plans, nuclear warfare? The innocent bystander caught up - an image of nuclear dangers of the '80s? Serious contemporary themes communicated via comedy?
