Apparently filmed for a pittance in Florida, this local production would be entirely unwatchable if not for the two name stars attached to it. Richard Egan was almost at the end of his career and looks unhappy and unhealthy, but Dina Merrill is as excellent as ever and looks fetching in a diving suit. Produced, written, and directed by John Hugh, the film is poorly lensed by DoP Robert Caramico, the genius behind the camera of A.C. Stephens' almost unwatchable Orgy of the Dead as well as Albert Zugsmith exploitationers like Psychopathia Sexualis. Throw Out the Anchor is a million miles from those films, though, as it tells a gentle tale of backwoods folks fighting the good fight against corporate polluters. What comedy there is--and it's not much--is supplied by folks falling in the water or dropping heavy objects in the water. Ha. Ha. The rest of the cast and crew are strictly amateur hour and most of them have few if any other credits to their names, though young Alison Arngrim went on to appear in the TV series Little House on the Prairie.
8 Reviews
Throw out the movie
dbborroughs19 April 2006
This is a badly made movie about a publicity guy on vacation helping a small town fight big business and pollution. Clearly aimed at the family market this appears to have been made by a bunch of film makers who didn't know what to do beyond point and shoot. This would be passable if it wasn't for the fact that the cast knows that no one behind the camera cared so they don't care either. Everyone seems to be walking through their roles as if waiting for something better to come along. Still the movie can't be completely written off since there are a few laughs and once you get a decent amount into the film you'll be curious enough to see what happens (I liken it to seeing a bad road accident). I wouldn't hunt it down, but if trapped in a room with this on I think you could do worse.
Throw out the DVD! Bunch of Wanchors!
Bezenby14 October 2016
One almost expects a degree of pathos when viewing the ensemble drama of Throw Out the Anchor. Indeed, when presented with such a serious and irony free play based on one man's struggle against corporate America, and of course his own inner struggle to sustain that true American identity, then I suppose it is not surprising that the material presented is devoid of humour.
Once, while serving in the Second Boer War, my grand-uncle observed an Elephant absent-mindedly defecate upon the head of a Trek Oxen. I'm sad to report that this is a similar experience to that which one will find if one does manage to sit through the serious allegory of the Second World War presented through some middle aged-man's efforts to save a cove from being built over by a road.
Second World War, you ask? Indeed. For within this film you will find the Jewish lawyer forced to gaze upon the remnants of a society he once loved, a sub-continental type praising universal love (representing the forgotten army of the Burma campaign), the child being the face of the baby boomers post war.
There is more, but I just remembered I died a couple of years ago.
Yours, Brian Sewell's ghost.
Once, while serving in the Second Boer War, my grand-uncle observed an Elephant absent-mindedly defecate upon the head of a Trek Oxen. I'm sad to report that this is a similar experience to that which one will find if one does manage to sit through the serious allegory of the Second World War presented through some middle aged-man's efforts to save a cove from being built over by a road.
Second World War, you ask? Indeed. For within this film you will find the Jewish lawyer forced to gaze upon the remnants of a society he once loved, a sub-continental type praising universal love (representing the forgotten army of the Burma campaign), the child being the face of the baby boomers post war.
There is more, but I just remembered I died a couple of years ago.
Yours, Brian Sewell's ghost.
Ugh
BandSAboutMovies28 November 2021
Warning: Spoilers
The beauty of the Mill Creek box set is discovering a movie that you would otherwise never find.
The terror of a Mill Creek box set is discovering a movie that you would otherwise never find.
Throw Out the Anchor claims that it's a comedy. It strains the very notions of what comedy is, let me tell you that much.
It's about an unemployed widower who heads to Florida with his children for a vacation on a houseboat, but they get there and, comedy situation after his wife dies and he loses his job, there was never any boat at all.
Director John Hugh directed one movie and if you ask me, it was more than enough. A G-rated comedy from 1974 is my idea of a horror movie, all earnest and dry and poorly realized. But even worse, this is a message movie, as when the family finally gets a broken down boat, fixes it up and sets sail, the water is all polluted. Everyone laugh!
When I was eight years old, Jerry Lewis made a big return to America's movie theaters with Hardly Working, a film that starts with a montage of his greatest hits and the entire theater went wild with laughter. After a decade away - and unbeknownst to young Sam, most of it spent on the Day the Clown Cried - Lewis was back, baby! And then the movie started, a film that ran out of money numerous times, had a depressed star and barely held together and it just started grinding. People started audibly sighing in the theater and as a young kid, I learned the lesson, the horrifying lesson, that movies can suck. They can just be so bad and this movie became the opposite of a comedy, it was a tragedy and each action that Lewis' clown character undertook and each job that he got fired from - people in my small mill town did not want to be reminded of being fired in 1980 - just kept strangling the air and the funny out of every person in the theater until we left, shambling messes blinded by the mid-day sun, unsure of what we'd seen and realizing that each of us would carry some part of the ennui of that film with us until we died alone.
This movie doesn't even get to have the montage at the beginning.
The terror of a Mill Creek box set is discovering a movie that you would otherwise never find.
Throw Out the Anchor claims that it's a comedy. It strains the very notions of what comedy is, let me tell you that much.
It's about an unemployed widower who heads to Florida with his children for a vacation on a houseboat, but they get there and, comedy situation after his wife dies and he loses his job, there was never any boat at all.
Director John Hugh directed one movie and if you ask me, it was more than enough. A G-rated comedy from 1974 is my idea of a horror movie, all earnest and dry and poorly realized. But even worse, this is a message movie, as when the family finally gets a broken down boat, fixes it up and sets sail, the water is all polluted. Everyone laugh!
When I was eight years old, Jerry Lewis made a big return to America's movie theaters with Hardly Working, a film that starts with a montage of his greatest hits and the entire theater went wild with laughter. After a decade away - and unbeknownst to young Sam, most of it spent on the Day the Clown Cried - Lewis was back, baby! And then the movie started, a film that ran out of money numerous times, had a depressed star and barely held together and it just started grinding. People started audibly sighing in the theater and as a young kid, I learned the lesson, the horrifying lesson, that movies can suck. They can just be so bad and this movie became the opposite of a comedy, it was a tragedy and each action that Lewis' clown character undertook and each job that he got fired from - people in my small mill town did not want to be reminded of being fired in 1980 - just kept strangling the air and the funny out of every person in the theater until we left, shambling messes blinded by the mid-day sun, unsure of what we'd seen and realizing that each of us would carry some part of the ennui of that film with us until we died alone.
This movie doesn't even get to have the montage at the beginning.
Mundane Comedy
Rainey-Dawn29 October 2015
I got this film in the 50-pack Drive-in collection. 'Throw Out the Anchor' I found to be a mundane comedy... it's your average 1970s Z-grade film comedy. Nothing special about it. It's not very funny. It's full of your average jokes and 'cutesy' music. Flat jokes, average characters that aren't that likable & an unmemorable boring story.
If you want to spice the film up watching in x2 mode at-least they sound like Alvin and the Chipmunks - it'll add a little bit of humor that way.
If you happen upon this film, you won't miss anything if you decide not to watch watch it. If you do decide to watch it don't expect very much out of them. It's rather boring.
2/10
If you want to spice the film up watching in x2 mode at-least they sound like Alvin and the Chipmunks - it'll add a little bit of humor that way.
If you happen upon this film, you won't miss anything if you decide not to watch watch it. If you do decide to watch it don't expect very much out of them. It's rather boring.
2/10
Bottom of the barrel comedy
Red-Barracuda17 July 2016
A public relations man goes to Florida for a holiday, when there he comes into contact with some river people who are fixing up a boat. Before long he finds himself assisting the poor folks in their fight against evil corporate types who are polluting the river where they live.
Sadly, I found this comedy to be pretty interminable and completely devoid of laughs. Its story-line was completely forgettable and it was quite a challenge remaining even vaguely interested with events that unfolded on screen. I couldn't really find anything to keep my interest going quite honestly.
Sadly, I found this comedy to be pretty interminable and completely devoid of laughs. Its story-line was completely forgettable and it was quite a challenge remaining even vaguely interested with events that unfolded on screen. I couldn't really find anything to keep my interest going quite honestly.
Enjoyable
Thorsten-Krings16 April 2010
This family comedy has a fairly serious background: the ecological destruction of much of Florida in the late 60s/early 70s and the real estate boom that was also destroying much of the nature in favour of trendy condos. The film is also surprisingly straightforward regarding corrupt poloiticians. this set up reminded me pretty much of John D. MacDonald's late Travis McGee novels which was my main reason for watching it. The film itself was quite enjoyable with some funny moments and some mediocre moments but hardly any bad moments. The story centers around a group of people that seem to be a microcosm of what America should be: all ethnic groups and ahe groups living in tolerance and harmony but without being too obvious about it. Okay, the solution itself is pretty silly and was a bit of a let down but all in all I found it a very entertaining and well made film which for the day and age it was shot in was very open and critical.
Boring family movie
Wizard-827 March 2014
Although "Throw Out the Anchor!" was rated G, a rating that does seem appropriate except maybe for the most prudish of viewers, I don't see any kind of audience for this movie. Kids will be bored stiff, because there's hardly any action and the movie is endless talk, talk, talk. For that matter, parents will find the movie a tough slog as well. Though they may have more patience than their kids, more likely than not they will find it boring as well. They will also find additional issues with the movie, such as its rock bottom production values and the dodgy level of acting. Also, the level of comedy during the lighter portions of the movie is extremely simple-minded slapstick. In short, the negative of the movie should have been attached to the anchor before the anchor was thrown out.
See also
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