Cee Bee Beaumont, girlfriend of rock n' roll star Lonnie Lord, is kidnapped by the dastardly Chain Gang, forcing Lonnie to take action. He and his friend Titus Twimbly transform themselves into the masked marvels Rat Pfink & Boo Boo, the champions of down-trodden, harassed and just plain put-upon women and children everywhere. Unleashing their trusty metal steed The Ratcycle, the dynamic duo begin their search for Cee Bee, checking out go-go parties where rock n' roll-besotted youth dance the watusi. Narrowly escaping many dangers, Rat Pfink & Boo Boo defeat the Chain Gang and rescue Cee Bee, but their pleasure in a job well down is cut short when they are threatened by Kogar the Ape, who has escaped from a local zoo. After defeating the rampaging primate, the three are the celebrants at a parade held in their honor. "Rat Pfink a Boo Boo" is a Crime-Stoppers Textbook classic that proves that the American Way always triumphs over vice in the end. After stopping three crooks from robbing an innocent woman, two dimwits become crime fighters. It is difficult to prepare people exactly for what they are going to see, this movie is a class act of its own: Made by the sixties maestro of improvisation, Ray Dennis Steckler, and this is his true masterpiece. It is jawdroppingly hilarious at every turn and totally inept at the same time, but it is FUN. Much better than most self-confessed comedies. Director Steckler, who always worked without a script, started this little monochrome movie as a dark, sinister thriller about 3 thugs harassing and stalking his gorgeous real-life wife, Carolyn Brandt. For reasons unknown he becomes pretty quickly fed up with the thriller, so our two protagonists are rushed in to a closet and stumbles out in Batman and Robin-like attires as the crimefighting duo, Rat Pfink and his assistant Boo Boo. At this point Rat Pfink feels that needs to remind Boo Boo that they have one weakness: Bullets! And then they are ready to rock. Highspeed chases at 20mph follows, speeded up by the oldest movietrick in the world: Fast motion. An incredibly inept fistfight in a backyard ensues, where poor Boo Boo stumbles and falls all over the place and in between all this our hero just whips out a guitar to sing a song for no reason whatsoever and everyone starts dancing. Steckler hijacked a local town parade for his movie, as his sub-shoestring otherwise wouldn't allow for such extravaganza. Time to round up your buddies for a good laugh, the more, the marrier. Like the crows sing in Disney's Dumbo: "I have seen everything, when I see an elephant fly" 9/10 I feel sorry for the former film student posting here who was fortunate enough to be in one of Steckler's classes and managed to get nothing out of it. Steckler was, and continues to be, an inspiration to those who are determined to do, as in DIY, regardless of obstacles. The negative Nelly seems to have been appalled at Steckler's lack of slickness: well, Nelly can wait for Hollywood or NY to give her the wherewithal and permission to realize her vision, but it's not going to happen. She'll die without having done anything worth remembering (brings to mind the passage in Willeford's The Woman Chaser where the narrator decides the only way to counter the brevity of life is to make a film). Steckler, on the other hand, is remembered, revered, and loved by people who never knew him.<br/><br/>Note that the reviews that give one star are doing it as a tribute and indicate that the film should be seen. This is one of the few films that I've seen more than fifteen times and still enjoy (the others being Apocalypse Now, Beneath the Valley of the Ultravixens, and Once Upon A Time In The West).
Penmahly replied
364 weeks ago