Bunny O'Hare (1971)

Bunny is a penniless widow who blackmails a robber into teaching her the trade. Soon the pair starts a successful crime spree, and the cops aren't turning a blind eye.

Director:

Gerd Oswald

Writers:

Stanley Z. Cherry (screenplay), Coslough Johnson (screenplay)

Stars:

Bette Davis, Ernest Borgnine, Jack Cassidy

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Bette Davis	...	Bunny O'Hare
Ernest Borgnine	...	Bill Green (Gruenwald)
Jack Cassidy	...	Lieutenant Horace Greeley
Joan Delaney	...	R.J. Hart
Jay Robinson	...	John C. Rupert
John Astin	...	Ad O'Hare
Reva Rose	...	Lulu
Robert Foulk	...	Commissioner Dingle
Brayden Linden	...	Frank
Karen Mae Johnson	...	Lola (as Karen Rae Johnson)
Francis R. Cody	...	Rhett (as Francis Cody)
Darra Lyn Tobin	...	Elvira (as Darra Lynn Tobin)
Hank Whickham	...	Speed
J. Rob Jordan	...	Policeman Nerdman
Herb Marlis	...	Lloyd

Storyline

Aged Bunny O'Hare has just lost everything, the Bank of New Mexico which has foreclosed on her mortgage and demolished her house. What possessions of hers that were not repossessed by creditors were destroyed in the demolition. Bunny feels she cannot ask her adult children, Ad and Lulu, for help, as they depend on her. In reality, Ad and Lulu are ungrateful and selfish, wallowing in financial holes of their own making. The one person who seems to provide her some help in at least offering to drop her off wherever she may need or want to go is the man who gutted the house of the plumbing fixtures to sell in Mexico, while she doesn't know that he's really just trying to lose her anywhere. Things change when she discovers that he is William Gruenwald, an escaped convict who was behind bars for bank robbery. She offers him a blackmail deal which he has no choice but to accept: she won't turn him into the police in return for he teaching her how to rob banks. She figures that the Bank of ...

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Plot Keywords:

character name as title | widow | apostrophe in title | two word title | bank robbery | 

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Taglines:

Enjoy those GOLDEN YEARS with a holiday filled with fun and profit!

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Genres:

Comedy

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Certificate:

GP

Did You Know?

Trivia

While the robbers are in town, a movie marquee behind them shows the title playing as "The Case of the Missing Bank Robber". Ernest Borgnine's character is a wanted bank robber and prison escapee.

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Goofs

Jack Cassidy, as Lt Horace Greeley, is being honored at a meeting. The sign for it says Honoring...Horace Greely (sic). Later on he is sitting at his desk with the nameplate of Horace Greeley on it.

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Quotes

Bunny O'Hare: The bank took it away.

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Connections

Referenced in Prime Cut (1972)

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Soundtracks

Right Or Wrong - The Ballad of Bunny O'Hare
Written by Mack David & Mike Curb
Instrumental version Performed by Mike Curb
Vocal version Performed by The Mike Curb Congregation

User Reviews

Davis and Borgnine as elderly robbers

I'm not sure if this was a feature or a TV movie. It came off like a TV movie.

It's cute. Davis plays Bunny O'Hare, a woman whose house is not only foreclosed on, but demolished. She hooks up with Bill (Borgnine) who goes around collecting toilets and sells them in Mexico. She finds out he was a bank robber, and he's wanted, so she asks him to teach her the robbing ropes.

The two deck themselves out as hippies and motorcycle around robbing banks. The only reason Bunny is robbing banks is to help her kids - her daughter's husband is an ex-butcher trying to get back into the meat business, but he doesn't want to cut liver - he needs intensive therapy. Her son (John Astin) is a playboy who tells her he has business plans but in reality is a gambler in constant trouble with loan sharks. This is what she's wasting her time on.

Jack Cassidy has a cartoony role as a police lieutenant who would be brought up on charges in the #metoo movement. He speaks for the adults - he hates, hates hippies Nixon, another lover of my generation, adorns his walls - with Agnew.

This film had potential but really misses the mark. Davis and Borgnine are very good - she's quite subdued in the role. Borgnine is very sweet as her partner in crime. I did like the ending. However, if this wasn't a TV movie, it should have been.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Spanish

Release Date:

18 October 1971 (USA)

Also Known As:

Bunny und Bill

Filming Locations:

Belen, New Mexico, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$900,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

American International Pictures (AIP)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

81 min (theatrical)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1