Post by Eddie Love on Jun 18, 2011 9:50:19 GMT -5
Let me state upfront: a comic 60s spy thriller set in swingin’ London and starring Tom Courtenay? That’s my wheelhouse, and OTLEY would have to truly suck for me not to love it. Maybe that makes me unreliable, but, in any event, trust me: this insanely unheralded picture from 1967 is a lost classic and offers a delicious time to be had by all.
The plot is nothing new. It’s the old standby of the regular guy who gets mistaken for a man who knows too much about certain quickly forgettable, yet deadly, spy-jinks. The patsy this time around is Gerald Otley a young East End layabout more interested in finding the next sofa he’s going to crash on than any Cold War secrets. When the latest acquaintance to keep him off the streets for the night turns up dead, Otley is the principal suspect and soon spies good and bad are after him.
Courtenay, the up and coming new wave, kitchen-sink star and later a revered stage actor, may seem unlikely for this sort of fare, but he’s simply perfect in the title part. He’s like a Beatles-era Bob Hope, or an English Woody Allen projecting just the right degree of likability and bumbling cowardice. He’s completely perfect. Man, I wish there’d been sequels to this, as there was more than one Otley novel.
Sure, there were lots of pictures around this time that sought to leverage off the fads and fashions London was awash in, but what’s different about OTLEY is the richly observed setting of a kind of funky, working-class yet Bohemian lifestyle. Lots of 60s romps tried to capture the vibe of London at that time, but I don’t know of any better than this. It’s akin to pictures like THE KNACK… that captured the youthful energy of the time, but also OTLEY feels comfortably old guard and keyed into the everyday life that existed around all the buzz.
And of all the spy spoofs from this era, OTLEY may be the laugh-out-loud funniest when seen today. Almost none of the humor is dated and its served up with that sly London workingman’s dry humor. The middle-class characters are drawn very broadly, but with no condescension; you can tell the filmmakers share their class. (This affinity was on view from the same writers some 40 years later when they penned the instant modern classic THE BANK JOB.) And no one here is free from the politically incorrect ribbing. Indeed, there are some limp-wristed effeminate gays on display, but what’s terrific about OTLEY is that while these character’s are lampooned, they’re no more so than any of the other characters. The movie is cheeky, but not at all mean-spirited.
Okay, if the film has a downside it’s the rather bland femme fatale played by Romy Schneider, who’s not that great shakes acting wise and isn’t exactly a stunner either, as her looks are a bit subdued. (Fortunately, Fiona Lewis is also along as a girl from the old neighborhood, so things do heat up a bit.)
Anyway, long out-of circulation, OTLEY has finally found it’s way onto the TCM roster. Let’s hop they keep it in heavy rotation from here on in.