It's hard to watch Bunny O'Hare and not feel sorry for its stars, Bette Davis and Ernest Borgnine. It's not just because these two Oscar winners are forced to work with such terrible material; it's also because they're forced to work in what is obviously a bargain-basement budget film. Bunny reeks of cheap, and not just because its lead characters are from a very working class background; it's shoddy filmmaking. The screenplay is poor, with a one-joke premise that runs out of gas pretty quickly and an inability to come up with fresh ideas: the old people as hippies routine was tired even in 1971, and the pot smoking scene is painful. Even worse is Gerd Oswald's inept direction, which makes one grateful for visible boom mics simply because they provide some sort of visual interest. Fortunately (for the audience, not for them), Bunny has Davis and Borgnine, and they give it a good try. Neither one is turning in a fine performance, but they give the film much more talent than it deserves, and the supporting cast also contributes much more than they get back.
by Craig Butler
review
