MASTER PLAN: steal the new gravity formula. This would appear to be another in a long line of films spoofing the James Bond spy craze of the sixties, specifying the female perspective ("Modesty Blaise"; "Fathom"), but is more like just another in a long line of successful Doris Day comedies. Ms. Day was usually partnered with the likes of Rock Hudson or James Garner, leading men specializing in light comedy. In this case, her partner is Rod Taylor, who had just starred as "The Liquidator" the year before. Here, he's a very successful aeronautics engineer who has just invented a new formula for duplicating gravity while one flits about in outer space. Naturally, enemy agents would love to get their hands on this formula. Day's character, a widow, divides her time between a tour guide job at NASA, taking college courses and helping her dad by pretending to be a mermaid whenever he conducts one of his sightseeing tours from his glass bottom boat (hence, the title; yet, this boat plays no part in the plot except in the very beginning of the movie). Her dad is played by then-famous TV/Radio personality Godfrey, who didn't really star in films until then. Taylor accidentally snags Day when he goes fishing and she becomes bottomless, quite a suggestive scenario for those days, especially in Day comedies. Day continues her adorably furious posturing, setting up the requisite sexual tension between the two leads.
The two leads slowly but surely hook up, in standard sappy, if silly, romance clichés, despite Day's preposterous predilection for clumsiness - she's a walking disaster area, very similar to some female characters in a couple of Matt Helm films and even the Bond films themselves. Taylor's character represents modern technology and progress; he's one of those guys who will be responsible for all of us getting around in flying cars at some point in the future. There are a few amusing scenes in Taylor's very modern house, where he shows off some gadgets to Day in his kitchen; I suppose it's a sad comment on how far we've progressed in the past 40 years that some of these still look very advanced. The whole spy angle really kicks in during the last third, during Taylor's house party, when all his compatriots are convinced that Day is a foreign spy. Seems she's been making weird phone calls to some guy named Vladimir and running off some numbers. Of course, the audience knows who Vladimir really is and this sets up the characters proceeding on a false assumption, which we get to snicker at. There's also the matter of who the real spy is. We've seen this before, many times, but the actors make it entertaining; Lynde is goofy as the head of security and Dick Martin is especially funny as Taylor's buddy. Dom DeLuise shows up in an early role, playing off of Day in some crude slapstick; he's better in his last scenes. Day & Taylor make a pretty good match, breezing through the romantic stuff. It's also interesting to see actor Fleming, who had just finished his long-running role on TV's "Rawhide" and died soon after this in a drowning mishap. Heroine:7 Villain:7 Male Fatales:7 Henchmen:5 Fights:4 Stunts/Chases:6 Gadgets:6 Auto:6 Locations:6 Pace:6 overall:6
The two leads slowly but surely hook up, in standard sappy, if silly, romance clichés, despite Day's preposterous predilection for clumsiness - she's a walking disaster area, very similar to some female characters in a couple of Matt Helm films and even the Bond films themselves. Taylor's character represents modern technology and progress; he's one of those guys who will be responsible for all of us getting around in flying cars at some point in the future. There are a few amusing scenes in Taylor's very modern house, where he shows off some gadgets to Day in his kitchen; I suppose it's a sad comment on how far we've progressed in the past 40 years that some of these still look very advanced. The whole spy angle really kicks in during the last third, during Taylor's house party, when all his compatriots are convinced that Day is a foreign spy. Seems she's been making weird phone calls to some guy named Vladimir and running off some numbers. Of course, the audience knows who Vladimir really is and this sets up the characters proceeding on a false assumption, which we get to snicker at. There's also the matter of who the real spy is. We've seen this before, many times, but the actors make it entertaining; Lynde is goofy as the head of security and Dick Martin is especially funny as Taylor's buddy. Dom DeLuise shows up in an early role, playing off of Day in some crude slapstick; he's better in his last scenes. Day & Taylor make a pretty good match, breezing through the romantic stuff. It's also interesting to see actor Fleming, who had just finished his long-running role on TV's "Rawhide" and died soon after this in a drowning mishap. Heroine:7 Villain:7 Male Fatales:7 Henchmen:5 Fights:4 Stunts/Chases:6 Gadgets:6 Auto:6 Locations:6 Pace:6 overall:6