oldmoo

I give it 5 stars for being such a hoot. This movie has every, I repeat every, cliché in disaster films. It is like a textbook on the prototype. I must admit that there are touches I haven't seen in my favorite volcano movie "Dante's Peak", like the rubber duckie. And having lava come out of your front door! Otherwise, it's all there--the politicians who don't want panic in the streets, like "Jaws". The overbearing FBI agent who won't listen to anyone, the hands- on experts who were once married ("Twister"), the crook trying to make money on a hazardous scheme...

Watch it for the laughs, but don't spend money for it.

This is one of the requisite Christmas movies, because it embodies the spirit of the season-- that the goodness of the heart can flourish where you least expect it. And the actors! How many Aldo Ray films can you name? He's a thug whose violent past may simmer just beneath his facade, but he's a big blond teddy bear. Peter Ustinov is puckish and completely captivating; his facial expressions are masterful. Humphrey Bogart's character exquisitely spoofs his own stereotype. The script is full of memorable quotes that become ever more endearing through repeated viewings. A Christmas isn't complete without seeing this movie and remembering a time when cinematic comedies didn't have to involve profanity and sex, even when the protagonists are admittedly desperate criminals.

Just when all crime/police action series seemed to be falling into a pattern, this one came along and shattered those cliches. You just never know where the story is going. Oh, you can count on Fraser being impossibly upright, clean, and innocent, all of which throws him into high contrast with the grubbiness and cheap vice that surround him in "Chicago". The plots and characters are wonderfully wacky without ever losing credibility. It's reminiscent of the wonderful "Barney Miller", but the Dudley-Doright mountie is a fresh new character. Why don't they issue this series on videotape?