Not The Same

Every July I enjoy the Mods And Rockers festival at the Egyptian Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard. They offer cool movies from the 60s, both hits and misses.

Today, there's a showing of two films that are often coupled, The Loved One and Lord Love A Duck. I've never understood the pairing. Sure, there are surface similarities: black and white satirical comedies about Los Angeles in the mid-60s featuring Roddy McDowall. But in feeling and accomplishment, they're night and day.

I consider Lord Love A Duck an almost-great film that doesn't quite work. There are some brilliant scenes, and performances of surprising power from McDowall and Tuesday Weld. Its problem, though, is a serious one--it blows hot and cold, and quite a few bits don't come off as they should. Yet, overall, it fascinates me, and I always try to catch it when it plays in a theatre.

It also has a theme by Neal Hefti that's a cool Beatles' parody. He also wrote the themes for Batman and The Odd Couple.

Count me out when it comes to The Loved One. A forced, overlong comedy with a lot of stunt performances adding up to nothing. The film tries to shock you into laughing, and creep you out into laughing, but it's never as funny as it seems to think it is. I'm always looking longingly at the exit well before the film is over.

UPDATE: I just got back from the double feature. No change in how I feel.