(1967)
1.5
Craig Butler
Although there are some fans of Peter Sellers who maintain that The Bobo contains one of his finest performances, many disagree with this assessment; however, even those who feel that Sellers is in top form here are unlikely to argue that the movie that contains the performance is any good. It starts out promisingly -- very promisingly, as a matter of fact, with a stunning aerial short of Barcelona that is simply breathtaking. Yet after those first few seconds, ennui quickly sets in. There are small spurts of energy here and there along the way, but for the most part, Bobo never jumps to life. Granted, it's not designed as one of Sellers' laugh-out-loud farces; but it does have more than its share of intended-to-be-comic moments, and few of these really land. Worse, its dramatic moments come across as maudlin and sentimental, and an air of pretentiousness hangs over the entire film. Clearly, Sellers was trying to pull a Charlie Chaplin and show us the soul beneath the comic character, but he misses by a wide margin. Perhaps because Robert Parrish was pushed aside as director by Sellers, the film is extremely uneven and suffers from pacing problems. But even with more consistent direction, David R. Schwartz's screenplay would be a muddle. Gerry Turpin's cinematography is noteworthy, as is Francis Lai's score; but little else is.
cast-crew for The Bobo on AllMovie
The Bobo (1967)
