Cancel My Reservation (1972)

User Rating:

4.0/10   

Director:

Paul Bogart

Writers:

Bob Fisher (writer)
Louis L'Amour (novel)

Release Date:

21 September 1972 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Mystery

Plot:

Bob Hope is a stressed out talk show host who is sent on a vacation to Arizona on doctor's orders and has to play Sherlock Holmes with his wife, the lovely Eva Marie Saint, to solve a series of murders that has Bob as the prime suspect. |

Plot Keywords:

Based On Novel

Cast

Bob Hope	...	Dan Bartlett
Eva Marie Saint	...	Sheila Bartlett
Ralph Bellamy	...	John Ed
Forrest Tucker	...	Reese
Anne Archer	...	Crazy Hollister
Keenan Wynn	...	Sheriff 'Houndtooth' Riley
Henry Darrow	...	Joe Little Cloud
Chief Dan George	...	Old Bear
Doodles Weaver	...	Cactus, Deputy Sheriff
Betty Ann Carr	...	Mary Little Cloud
Herb Vigran	...	Roscoe Snagby
Pat Morita	...	Yamamoto
Gordon Oliver	...	Mr. Willie Sparker
Isabella Hoopes	...	Elderly Lady
Buster Schaefer	...	Doc Morton

Runtime:

99 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:G

Filming Locations:

Arizona, USA

Company:

Naho Productions

Trivia:

Bing Crosby's cameo marked his final acting appearance in a film (his remaining appearances would be in documentaries).

Quotes:

[Riding on the back of a motorcycle.]
Dan Bartlett: We can pick up my stomach on the way back!

Thanks for the Memories--of cinematic swill, films that made us ill..

"Cancel My Reservation" was premiered at Radio City Music Hall as a fill-in before the "Salute To Spring" show. There was a musicians' union strike at the time and only the film and not the famous Rockettes or the Orchestra were allowed to be presented. So the world's largest (at the time) movie theater had 300 people at the premiere, including Bob and Dolores. It was reported that Bob decided that night that he would never appear in a film again... NOT, astoundingly, because Cancel is one of the saddest and dullest films ever made, but because he felt he looked to old to be considered an appealing leading man. The original book by Louis L'Amour- "The Broken Gun" is a dark, brooding film about the mistreatment of the Native American. According to Bob's agent, this was to be a dramatic film initially, a way for Bob to purge himself from the excrement of his previous 7 cinematic failures. When Bob approached United Artists for the funding, they said they would never finance another of his films, however NBC- with whom Hope had a lifetime contract with (did they think he'd make it to 100?), said they would help if he used Carson, Flip Wilson, etc.- also NBC contract folk circa 1971, if he'd squeeze in a few cameos. Hope is known as one of the richest and (unlike the allegedly mean-spirited but very generous B. Crosby) cheapest as they come. Hope did kick in the remaining money and took (Zero-value) production credit. With the cameos in place and George Marshall refusing to further humiliate his name with another phoned-in direction, Paul Bogart walked off the set of "All In The Family" and Hope gave up hope in giving a dignified "serious" performance as he had done so beautifully on his anthology series in the mid-60's and in "The Seven Little Foys" and "Beau James"- both Oscar-worthy turns. "Cancel My Reservation", as in Hope's later career, was another cruel disappointment that served as his cinematic epitaph. In only seven years (1965-72), Hope's films disintegrated from high corn, to low camp, to oppressive gloom. Thanks for the memories, Bob. R.I.P.