204-Catalina Caper

Film Year:  1967
Genre:  Comedy, Musical
Director:  Lee Scholem
Starring:  Tommy Kirk, Ulla Stromstedt, Little Richard
MST Season:  2

The Movie

*I HAVE SURVIVED WATCHING THIS MOVIE UNRIFFED*

Originally titled Never Steal Anything Wet, this flick tells a “story” (let’s face it, bikini booties shaking is the real story here) of a scroll being stolen from an art museum.  The crooks try to swindle their boss and hide the scroll at the bottom of the ocean, but when their plans don’t pan out the race is on to recover it.  And obviously dance scenes on the beach have everything to do with all of this.

But who cares?  Let’s watch the only scene in this movie worth watching!

I despise this movie.  In fact, I’m sorely tempted to call it one of the worst movies they’ve ever done.  However I find myself stopping myself and asking whether or not I was going to tear this movie a new one because it’s genuinely dreadful or just not my cup of tea.  My final deduction is…I don’t know.  There are a lot of beach party movies from the 60’s and I have trouble figuring out which are the “good” ones and which are the “bad” ones, or if those designations even exist for them for the people who watch them.  They probably do, but if it does they lie in little production subtleties that only that crowd would notice from one film to the next.  All I know is that this one doesn’t have an elderly Buster Keaton bringing dignified routines to the film, which is a strike against it in my opinion.  That’s the only reason I’d ever watch one of these films.

Bikini bodies are nice and I do enjoy Little Richard, even in a useless cameo singing a lesser song.  Maybe this one is less bad than my brain is telling me it is, and if you like this type of movie you might enjoy it (I'd be a bad judge of that).  But let’s watch some more Little Richard to wash more of it out anyway.

The Episode

Cited as the first time Mystery Science Theater riffed on an intentional comedy, which is a big deal because it’s an important lesson learned.  There are a lot of hurdles to jump over when tackling this kind of movie, and one of them is acknowledging that the movie has the same objective as MST and that it’s failing.  The question that begs be asked is that how you make humor doesn’t work into something that does?  There are moments in Catalina Caper that prove that it’s not impossible, however there are only so many ways they can make it work.  Since MST is two hours long, watching them work the same variations of “HAHAHAHAHA that’s not funny” become tedious.  As the film goes on, all of their efforts at tearing the film down just seem to bounce off it, like bullets off of Superman.  That is if Superman were a male-bimbo in little trunks, wearing a daffy grin and go-go dancing.

Host segments for the most part tend to bet better.  Highlighting is Tom Servo’s song “Creepy Girl,” an ode to the female lead of the film, which is fabulous.  The Invention Exchange is a winner too, with the Tank Tops being one of the best visual gags ever featured on the show.  The sole loser of the bunch is Frank’s Tupperware party, which starts nowhere and spirals out of control.

Catalina Caper isn’t the last time MST would take on a comedy (Hobgoblins being their big dip back into that territory), but it was a lesson learned in that they need to be careful about where they tread here.  It’s a hard lesson too, because this episode just doesn’t jive.

Not Recommended

The DVD

Rhino released the episode in Volume 1, and the picture and sound are fabulous.  The first special feature is an uncut version of the film itself, which is just too unbearable to make it through.  I pride myself in being able to watch almost anything, but I may have found my limit with this one.  On the plus side, the full screen picture quality is terrible, faded and full of scratches.  The less I get to see of this movie the better.  The sound is pretty washed out too.  The print in the actual episode is better.  There’s also a trailer for the movie, in case you want to see even more washed out random clips of it.

Shout Factory later rereleased Volume 1, in which Catalina Caper both looked and sounded just as good as its Rhino counterpart.  In case you have no interest in the unriffed film itself (and I don’t blame you if you do), here you’ll find a documentary on Crown International Pictures titled “The Crown Jewels”, which is almost a companion piece to Shout’s documentary on American International on their Viking Women and the Sea Serpent disc.  It also contains interview footage from Ross Hagen (star of The Sidehackers and Wild Rebels) shot shortly before his passing.  There is also a trailer to the film, which is identical to the one on the Rhino disc.