According to Dick Van Dyke, Robinson was quite hard of hearing by this time. Robinson's first and only Disney picture gave him his biggest role in years, though once again he plays an elder statesman of crime, this time a veteran who plots a heist simply to make his reputation for decades to come. When production began on Never a Dull Moment in 1967, the 73-year-old Hollywood legend was reduced to playing gangsters in supporting roles and cameo bits in European crime dramas and heist pictures. Robinson, who made his name over 35 years before with the iconic gangster classic Little Caesar (1931). Taking second billing as aging mobster Leo Smooth is Edward G. Needless to say, it's all played for comedy here, with Van Dyke showcasing his gangly physical comedy chops for a drunk act (when he discovers that Ace is a notorious drinker) between sneers and stare downs with the gang.
#Never a dull moment farma tv
The script is based on the Jack Albany stories of John Godey (the pen name of Morton Freedgood), best known as the author of The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, a bestseller that was made into two feature films and a TV movie. Forced to play out the role of San Francisco hired gun Ace Williams, he puts on his best tough guy bluff in front of the gang as they plot a major art heist while sneaking away to convince the crime boss' comely art teacher (Dorothy Provine) that they are both in danger.
Acclaimed as a hero, Jack wins both Sally and enough publicity to assure future acting offers.ĭick Van Dyke stars as Jack Albany, a second-rate TV actor rushing across town in his gangster costume when he's mistaken by a young thug for an out-of-town hit man, in Never a Dull Moment (1968), Van Dyke's third and final feature for Walt Disney Productions.
While Jack is holding his adversaries, the police, alerted by a telephone call from Sally, arrive on the scene and round up the would-be thieves. Once there, however, he prevents the mobsters from taking the painting and leads them on a wild chase from one gallery to another, ending up in a pop art exhibition. Aided by a now-convinced Sally, Jack emerges as the victor and the next afternoon he joins Smooth's gang for the raid on the museum. When the real Ace appears, Smooth locks the two men in a room to determine which of them is the killer. Desperate, Jack tries to convince Smooth's pretty art instructress, Sally Inwood, that he is not really Ace Williams, but she refuses to believe him. Smooth is planning to steal a painting recently acquired by a New York museum. Fearing for his life, Jack does not correct the error and is driven to the estate of Florian's employer, gangster Leo Joseph Smooth, who is a lover of art. On his way home after doing a bit on television, struggling actor Jack Albany, thinking that he is being followed by a mugger, ducks into an open doorway and is confronted by a young hoodlum, Florian, who mistakes him for Ace Williams, a notorious hired killer he has been assigned to meet.
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