Bunny O'Hare (1971)

User Rating:

6.0/10   

Director:

Gerd Oswald

Writers:

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

Release Date:

18 October 1971 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

ENJOY those 'GOLDEN YEARS' with the most profitable pension plan any sweet little mother ever devised

Plot Keywords:

Bank Robbery | Widow | Independent Film | Character Name In Title

Cast

Bette Davis	...	Bunny O'Hare
Ernest Borgnine	...	Bill Green (Greenwald)
Jack Cassidy	...	Lieutenant Greeley
Joan Delaney	...	R.J. Hart
Jay Robinson	...	John C. Rupert
Reva Rose	...	Lulu
John Astin	...	Ad
Robert Foulk	...	Commissioner Dingle
Brayden Linden	...	Frank
Karen Mae Johnson	...	Lola
Francis R. Cody	...	Rhett
Darra Lyn Tobin	...	Elvira
Hank Whickham	...	Speed
David Cargo	...	State Trouper (as Governor David Cargo)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Robert Ball	...	Bellhop
Robert Baur	...	Sensitivity Group
Ed Call	...	Sensitivity Group
Bud Ekins	...	Cedar Crest Bank Guard
Cordy Garcia	...	Officer Gonzales
Tony Genaro	...	Collector #2
Grady Hill	...	Gas Station Attendant
Robert Isenberg	...	Collector #3
J. Rob Jordan	...	Policeman Officer Nerdman
Buck Kartalian	...	Sensitivity Group
Gene Krischer	...	Hippie With Bird
Ann La Fan	...	Scared Lady
Larry Linville	...	Max (Collector #1)
Robert Mader	...	Officer At Road Block (as Sergeant Robert Mader)
Herb Marlis	...	Lloyd
Randi Proctor	...	Ad's Girlfriend #2
David Rain	...	Teller
Barbara Raines	...	Ad's Girlfriend #4
Jose Ramirez	...	Border Guard (as Carlos Jose Ramirez)
Roberta Reeves	...	Sensitivity Group
Luanne Roberts	...	Ad's Girlfriend #3
Madeline A. Russo	...	Little Old Lady
Carol Smith	...	Ad's Girlfriend #1
Bruno VeSota	...	Lab Technician

Runtime:

Spain:88 min | USA:91 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:PG | Sweden:Btl | USA:GP

Filming Locations:

Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA

Company:

American International Pictures (AIP)

Trivia:

Star Bette Davis brought suit claiming the production company censored her dialogue and destroyed the film. The lawsuit was later dropped.

Quotes:

Bunny O'Hare: [to Bill] I didn't rob the bank for myself. I did it for my kids.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Prime Cut (1972)

Soundtrack:

The Ballard Of Bunny O'Hare

Bette and Ernest together again, and it ain't no Catered Affair...It's "Bunny and Clod".

That, of course, is a reference to the first of two films which they did, where Bette spoke with an accent that Meryl Streep would never envy. This second film together, made 15 years after the more well remembered drama, is an obscure action comedy which didn't get enough attention to even rank a nice ad in the New York Times. (Investigating this film, I was stunned to find an ad the size of my thumb nail in microfilmed copies at my local library). Based upon the fact that the two of them were both Oscar Winners and that co-star Jack Cassidy was a popular Broadway performer, this obviously was way even below "B" grade to warrant such lack of publicity. Reviews, of course, were no better. Bette is seen as the opening credits closed pleading with the bank not to forclose on her home. Of course, she can't get a word in edgewise when she contacts her daughter (Reva Rose, who had just come off of playing Lucy in Off-Broadway's "Your a Good Man Charlie Brown") since the phone man disconnects her. When she calls back a second time, the cat is eating her son-in-law's breakfast with the guy sitting right there paying no attention, and the daughter has to rush off. Then, as she is finally getting around to telling her daughter what is going on, a tractor plows the house down. Ernest Borgnine, as the plummer taking out the toilet, offers her a ride to wherever she needs to go, and before he knows it, she has basically become his guest. He tries to get rid of her, but every time he makes an attempt, she some how manages to get back in his trailer. Thanks to a bumpy ride in the back of the trailer, she learns of his past as a bank robber wanted for escaping from prison, and subtly blackmails him into training her on the art of robbing banks. In a rather funny sequence, we see Bette going through all sorts of indignities (running in unglamorous sweats; climbing on monkey bars; and not at all looking like the actress who played all those feisty Warner Brothers heroines in the 30's and 40's.) Even Margo Channing would have never allowed herself to be profiled this way! Noticing a group of hippies protesting the Bank of New Mexico, Davis and Borgnine use their looks to disguise themselves. Nobody seems to notice the lines around Davis's mouth which make it appear she is older, so the local police are on the look-out for young hippies. A funny note about Reva Rose's looks as Bette's daughter; She was a strange choice considering that Ms. Rose is obviously Jewish, and Ms. Davis was obviously not. It's one of those howlingly funny details not considered that make "Bunny O'Hare" comically bad. While John Astin as her son is much more believable (Gomez Addams as Bette's son---how appropriate!), his one-dimentional portrayal seems taken from Dick Shawn's portrayal of Ethel Merman's stupid son in "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World". A string of scantilly clad women are on and off as the latest woman in his life, making Astin a cad the writers obviously used to make the point of how children use and depend on their parents too much, no matter what they are going through themselves. Then, there is Jack Cassidy's oh-so-stupid police commisioner. His opening scene giving a speech to his underlings is oh-so-badly written; Cassidy obviously was by this time becoming a caricturature of his off-screen persona, much like John Barrymore many years before. And when he openly sexually harasses the seemingly willing Joan Delaney (as the younger new female cop assigned to help him capture Davis and Borgnine), he just takes the character into dimensions that would have today's film audiences up in arms. Delaney is supposed to be smarter than Cassidy, but her willingness to be used in this way is destructive to her character. And the finale where all four come together is made unbelievable by what occurs. The cops are presented as buffoons, and Davis, using the money she steals to help her worthless children, isn't too bright, either. The very last scene does have a payoff in that aspect, one of the only good developements which happens towards the end.

In the early 1970's, veteran stars (Barbara Stanwyck, Joan Crawford, Kate Hepburn, Olivia DeHavilland, Joan Bennett, and Bette) were all working; Hepburn and Stanwyck pretty much remained unscathed, while Bennett's "Dark Shadows" was still a hit no matter what the critics thought. DeHavilland sensibly took on smaller parts, but Crawford and Davis simply took any leading script they could get their hands on. If there were awards for "Most embarrasing role for a veteran star", Joan Crawford would have won for 1970's "Trog", and Bette would have won for 1971's "Bunny O'Hare". Watch for a chance to laugh at the buffonery which takes 91 minutes to unravel. It's evidence that the old system of Hollywood wasn't too bad, and what was to follow this era of film trash could only get better.