Don't Drink the Water (1969)

Director:

Howard Morris

Writers:

R.S. Allen (writer)
Woody Allen (play)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

They're caught in a security leak!

Plot:

The Hollander family's European vacation is interrupted when their plane is forced to land in Vulgaria...

Plot Keywords:

Diplomat | Hijacking | Tourist | Cold War | Communism

Cast

  (Credited cast)

Jackie Gleason	...	Walter Hollander
Estelle Parsons	...	Marion Hollander
Ted Bessell	...	Axel Magee
Joan Delaney	...	Susan Hollander
Michael Constantine	...	Commissar Krojack
Howard St. John	...	Ambassador Magee
Danny Meehan	...	Kilroy
Richard Libertini	...	Father Drobney
Pierre Olaf	...	Chef
Avery Schreiber	...	Sultan
Mark Gordon	...	Mirik
Phil Leeds	...	Sam Blackwell

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Pathécolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:L | USA:G

Filming Locations:

Miami, Florida, USA

Company:

AVCO Embassy Pictures

Trivia:

Don't Drink the Water opened at the Morosco Theater on November 17, 1966 and ran for 598 performances. Dick (Richard) Libertini reprises his role in the movie.

Goofs:

Continuity: At the party near the end of the movie, Gleason takes a dignitary's wine glass. The next shot shows the dignitary holding the wine glass. Then, Gleason hands the glass back to the dignitary.

Quotes:

Walter Hollander: I don't eat oysters. You have to eat them alive. I like my food dead. Not sick, not wounded -- dead!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Fall (1969)

Soundtrack:

Don't Drink the Water

No worse than a bad cold

I have to side with those who find this version of Woody Allen's play much inferior to the remake by Allen himself which, ironically, has a greater right to be called the original since it was Allen's attempt to show the story as he envisioned it. I think much of the problem lies in the fact that at the time this version was made Allen wasn't yet a respected director and no one worried much about preserving the "Woody Allen touch" --- except Woody Allen, of course.

Interesting note on the comparison between Jackie Gleason's take on the lead character with Allen's own portrayal years later. If you were to combine the physical bellicosity of Jackie Gleason with the sardonic Jewish humor of Woody Allen you might get someone like the recently deceased Lou Jacobi --- who originated the part on Broadway and who was, in Allen's opinion, largely responsible for the success of the play.

(By the way, I stole the line in my summary from Harpo Marx, who used it to describe the phenomenally successful Broadway production of ABIE'S IRISH ROSE.)