Dedications: My four late friends Rory, Stan, Bryan, Jeff - shine on you crazy diamonds, they would have blogged too. Then theres Garry from Brisbane, Franco in Milan, Mike now in S.F. / my '60s-'80s gang: Ned & Joseph in Ireland; in England: Frank, Des, Guy, Clive, Joe & Joe, Ian, Ivan, Nick, David, Les, Stewart, the 3 Michaels / Catriona, Sally, Monica, Jean, Ella, Anne, Candie / and now: Daryl in N.Y., Jerry, John, Colin, Martin and Donal.

Friday 29 January 2010

The oddest '60s movie of all ?

Michael Cacoyannis could write his own ticket after the international success of ZORBA THE GREEK in 1964 - and he chose this 1967 farrago: THE DAY THE FISH CAME OUT. There's some competition for the oddest movie of the 60s (THE TOUCHABLES, JOANNA, Don Levy's HEROSTRATUS, Boorman's LEO THE LAST with the odd couple of Mastroianni and Billie Whitelaw), but this could be the oddest:

Life on a remote Greek island is forever changed when two atomic bombs are accidentally dropped in the sea there when a NATO plane flies overhead. This so-called comedy chronicles these changes. When the pilots Tom Courtenay and Colin Blakely realise they have lost their cargo, they bail out and land on the island - dressed throughout in their underwear - and try to get help without being found. The government has beaten them to the punch and has already sent an agent disguised as a resort developer. All of them are busy looking for the missing weapons when the island is suddenly filled with hedonistic tourists, all looking very gay, who believe the developer is going to build the best resort in the area. The locals are also overjoyed, thinking their quiet little village is finally going to be a tourist resort. When the Agean fish being to mysteriously die (hence the title?) everyone realises that the jig is up and so they give into their wildest desires...
add in Candice Bergen and lots of pretty unisex people, including Ian Ogilvy, the pilots in their skimpy briefs and it all adds up to one pretty bizarre movie ! It didn't last long in 1967 as I recall, but fascianting to see again now.

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