The Cinemasochist takes a look at movies that have been notoriously rejected by the mass populace, and tells you if you might perchance be missing a classic. Or not.
On second thought, the only person who could have possibly conceived this movie as a star vehicle for Bill Cosby is Bill Cosby. No outside person would have ever looked at his standup, looked at his popular sitcom, looked at his place in the pantheon of comedy history, and reached the conclusion that the perfect role for him would be as a slapstick James Bond-style spy/action hero with barely any dialogue. Critics are quick to point out incredulously that the great Cosby was co-writer and producer of this gargantuan mess. That isn’t the unbelievable part; what’s incredible is that he found someone else to collaborate with him on it.
Since Cosby later attempted to disown Leonard Part 6, and even to buy up all the prints to keep it from being released, it must be assumed that somewhere along the line, everyone realized that it just wasn’t working. Although Cosby cites creative differences between himself and director Paul Weiland, the odor of failure pervades every sight gag and set piece of this unfortunately conceived comedy. The movie is not poorly made at all; it was a turkey before the first scene was shot.
Cosby is Leonard Parker, spy extraordinaire, and the movie is called Part 6 because the first 5 parts are confidential. Just why anyone thought that was a strong enough hook to hang the movie’s title on is beyond me. In Denmark the film was released as Agent Cosby, which is a much more intriguing title. Almost as good as the German one, which translates as Bill Cosby - The Super Gun.
Leonard, whose family fell apart because of his dedication to the whole spy business, has retired and since become a wealthy restaurant owner. However, he’s called into action after a series of murders that seem to have been committed by vicious small animals. He soon finds out that the animals have been trained to kill by a squad of terrorist vegetarians, led by the insane Medusa Johnson (Gloria Foster).
You might assume that a Bill Cosby vehicle might be a showcase for Cosby himself. Considering that Cosby is a magnificent verbal comic, Leonard Part 6 keeps Cosby unsettlingly quiet while the movie happens around him. It bypasses Cosby’s strengths and goes straight for slapstick wackiness. We have little animals killing people, agents tripping over dead bodies, food being thrown in faces, manic car chases, and all manner of goofy occurrences. The most speaking done in the film is by Tom Courtenay, who plays Leonard’s butler and best friend, and narrates the film in voice-over in order to fill in the holes no doubt left by post-production surgery.
All that Cosby does in the film is mug, which admittedly he does very well: no one can roll his eyes in disbelief quite like Cosby (although I came close several times myself during the first half-hour). A sub-plot about his fickle daughter (Victoria Rowell, in her film debut) and her flirtation with acting, as well as with a flamboyant aging director (Moses Gunn), is the most entertaining part of the picture, and provides the only moments where Cosby seems at home. Cosby seems out of his skin playing a dashing spy, but as the haggard father figure he’s the top.
The trouble is that the movie requires little of his talent. Cosby looks incredibly uncomfortable in the role, as if he’s waiting to be allowed to speak. Much of it has him (or an unconvincing stunt double) somersaulting and throwing grenades, pirouetting to evade henchmen, or riding on an ostrich to safety.
The whole movie is this labored. There’s a training montage, in which Leonard gets into shape to woo his estranged ex-wife (Pat Colbert), that features Jane Fonda in a perplexing cameo; and a scene in which Leonard must confront a Scandinavian gypsy fortune teller for advice; as well as a gunfight in a restaurant kitchen where the gunplay is about as convincing as in Plan Nine from Outer Space (in which a character idly used a gun to scratch his head).
The film is professionally made. The special effects, designed by Richard Edlund, are top-notch. The score by Elmer Bernstein is superior. The supporting cast is excellent, and dare I say that Cosby and Courtenay have pretty good chemistry together. The movie certainly has the courage of its goofy convictions, as each scene is sillier than the last, and keeps trying harder and harder.
Leonard Part 6 is a failure entirely in concept. It was obviously designed by Cosby as a way to explore different styles as a comic actor, and it just doesn’t fit to begin with. Cosby could play a master spy, but it would have to be in a movie that was more clever and less slapsticky. The humor would have to be in the dialogue rather than in the wacky plot constructions. Since Cosby seems to have purposely cast himself in a movie where he’s not allowed to be Cosby, the only way to fix this movie would come right at the beginning, by making a different one.
* out of ****
Is it really that bad?: Yes, but I still prefer it to "Cosby Mysteries."
Pain level: Barely on the scale. Walk it off.
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