Back in June or July, Tiger Tales included a letter about a Tiger
featured in a movie. So I placed an order with Reel.com for "Dr. Goldfoot
and the Bikini Machine"; but 2 weeks later they e-mailed me back that it is
no longer offered by the releasing studio. I just received an unused copy I
picked up on eBay; there have been a few over the past few months but I was
looking to pick one up _cheap_.
Other than the Tiger content, there is little to recommend it. In
this B- farce, bad guy Vincent Price, in the title role, is opposed by good
guys Frankie Avalon and Dwayne Hickman. The gags make the humor found in the
recent Austin Powers movies seem sophisticated.
The final 15 minutes or so of the film is a chase scene, with
frequent vehicle changes as Goldfoot's driver wrecks his
cars/motorcycles/whatever, and Avalon & Hickman lose theirs when Goldfoot
destroys them with his "laser", which looks suspiciously like a garage door
opener. For a couple of minutes, it's Sunbeam Tiger vs. Jaguar E-type in
what seems to be downtown San Francisco(?); don't expect any high-speed
cornering, etc. The Tiger looks completely stock, down to the hub caps. As
the film is from 1965, it about has to be a Mk I, and I cannot see a
soft-top 'boot' sticking up. The car is Carnival red, and the side trim and
twin exhausts as visible, it is definitely a Tiger. During the first scene
you see the car, they find it curbside, jump in and drive off; you see a
mechanic on a creeper, who had been under it (OK, a _thin_ mechanic),
rolling across the street. Poking fun at the reliability of British cars?
At one point, it looks like they're doing 50-60 mph, and Avalon asks
"can't you make it go any faster?", and Hickman replies "it won't _go_ any
faster". We could advise them on that subject, eh? Immediately thereafter,
they subject the car to a 270 degree turn in an intersection, turning the
rear tires into smoke, much more satisfying.
Eventually, The car is caught by the "laser"; a puff of smoke, and
the car is stopped. Well, once a car; all of the body panels are off, plus
the windshield frame, etc. A close-up of the Dumb Duo getting out shows the
cowl area, clearly a Sunbeam (did they sacrifice an Alpine instead?), the
shot reminds me of the Tiger Press articles "Skinning the Cat". No rust,
though.
There is no mention of the car's supplier during the ending credits,
unlike today's film credits where they even list who made the coffee the
director drank.
The plot revolves around Goldfoot's "robots", these girls running
around in gold bikinis. Perhaps they should've hired Rosemary Smith to be
one of them, they could have perked up that chase scene.
Lawrence R. Wright, Purchasing Analyst
U S Office Products, Mid-Atlantic District
Formerly Andrews Office Products
larry.wright@usop.com
Ph. 301.386.7923 Fx. 301.386.5333
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