What comes to mind when you think of Norman Jewison? "In the Heat of the Night"? "Rollerball"? "Other People's Money"? "The Hurricane"? Well take a big breath, because I'm about to tell you about his directorial debut. The directorial debut of the man who gave us "The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming" and "Fiddler on the Roof" was one of THE stupidest movies ever made: "40 Pounds of Trouble". I recall an interview with Jewison and he noted that he got hired to direct it. Makes sense. The entire movie made me feel as though a drill was getting shoved into my head. During the whole sequence in Disneyland, I kept thinking that there should be a theme park centering on horror flicks, cult movies, etc. Instead of "there's the castle where Cinderella and Prince Charming met", you'd hear "there's the cabin where Ash and his friends awoke the Evil Dead, and the evil spirits began killing everyone".
The point is, "40 Pounds of Trouble" is as much fun as dragging 40 pounds of lead. Something must have gone wrong with Tony Curtis in the early '60s, because it was also around this time that he dumped Janet Leigh (seriously, what kind of man dumps Janet Leigh?). Long story short, you will be a far better person if you NEVER see this movie as long as you live. Norman Jewison directed "Jesus Christ Superstar" and "A Soldier's Story", so there's no reason to waste your time on this. There, I saved you two hours.
Yeah, there should be a theme park for all the campy pop culture. There would have to be an entire section devoted to Elvira.
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