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Reviews
Another Nice Mess (1972)
Nixon & Agnew as Laurel & Hardy in the White House
I first became aware of this movie back in 1971 when Rich Little plugged it on Dick Cavett's show. A clip showed 3 minutes worth of Nixon & Agnew doing Laurel & Hardy's dance steps from "Way Out West." Not only that, Rich Little as Nixon and Herb Voland as Agnew were dead-ringers. The uncanny part is the President and Vice-President spoke and even moved like Stan & Ollie. Sounds like a riot right? Well...if playing golf with Hitler, and getting duped into eating Alice B. Toklas brownies where they go into a "Blotto" laughing fit and hallucinate seeing white robed Ku Kluk Klan members playing hardball in slow motion, doesn't discount you, then this may be your movie of all time for political incorrectness. You won't find it in the credits but Steve Martin makes his feature film debut as a long haired hippie. Steve was writing for the Smothers Brothers back them. In short, the L&H stuff is fun. The padding, i.e. Secret Service (Bob Einsein) is painful. They'll never release this, but I hope they do.
Hats Off (1927)
A similar comedy film directed by the same director
We all would like to watch Laurel & Hardy's "Hats Off." There are a series of photographs that still survive that depict some of the scenes. The book, "Laurel & Hardy" by John McCabe, Al Kilgore and Richard Bann show some of the gags that were in the film. In the RKO "Average Man" comedy; "It's Your Move," is the closest look we'll likely ever see of some of the same sight gags. Edgar Kennedy stars, he and his brother-in-law (Jack Rice) carry a washing machine up a long flight of stairs, just like L&H did. The most significant aspect about it; it was directed by Hal Yates, the same director of "Hats Off." Unfortunately, the long flight of stairs were not the same ones used in "Hats Off" and the later "The Music Box." Bill Cassara author-"Edgar Kennedy-Master of the Slow Burn"