Main Cast: Bob Hope, Anita Ekberg, Edie Adams, Lionel Jeffries, Percy Herbert
Release Year: 1963
Country: US/UK
Run Time: 103 minutes
Plot
It's Bob Hope as phony explorer Matt Merriwether, who promotes himself as an expert on the dark continent, basing his exploration of the African subcontinent on old diaries of his uncle. When an American space capsule crashes in an uncharted region of Africa, Merriwether, based on his alleged expert knowledge of the region, is selected to recover the capsule. Joining Merriwether and his pre-Kervorkian suicide kit, is security agent Frederica Larsen (Edie Adams). Hot on their heels are Russian agents Luba (Anita Ekberg) and Dr. Ezra Mungo (Lionel Jeffries), who want to get to the space capsule first. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
Paul Carpenter - Col. Spencer; Arnold Palmer; Orlando Martins - Tribal Chief; Al Mulock - Henchman; Bari Johnson - Uta; Peter Dyneley - Williams; Robert Nichols - American Major; Robert Arden - 1st C.I.A. man; Kevin Scott - CIA Man; Richard Burrell - Reporter
Credit
Sidney Cain - Art Director, Gordon M. Douglas - Director, Peter Hunt - Editor, Muir Mathieson - Composer (Music Score), Monty Norman - Composer (Music Score), Ted Moore - Cinematographer, Albert R. Broccoli - Producer, Harry Saltzman - Producer, Peter Russell - Set Designer, John Stears - Special Effects, Johanna Harwood - Screenwriter, Nate Monaster - Screenwriter
Bob Hope plays a New York writer who has passed off his uncle's memoirs of explorations in Africa as his own. Hope lives his false reputation as a great white hunter to the point of living in a Manhattanapartment furnished to look like an African safari lodge complete with sound effects records of African fauna. Based on his false reputation as an "Africa Expert", he is recruited by the United States Government and NASA to locate a missing secret space probe before it can be located by hostile forces.
Hope's co-stars include Edie Adams and Anita Ekberg playing secret agents. GolferArnold Palmer makes a brief cameo, playing a crazy round of golf with Hope—a scene revisited in the film Spies Like Us where Hope makes a cameo appearance and plays golf through a tent. A scene involving an unseen President John F. Kennedy in his famous rocking chair is parodied with his Russian counterpart Nikita Kruschev rocking in a chair that squeaks loudly.
Production
According to Albert R. Broccoli's autobiography When the Snow Melts,EON Productions was originally contracted by United Artists to make two films a year for them; one James Bond film and one non-Bond film. Many original suggestions were meant to showcase Sean Connery who turned them all down as he didn't want his career totally in the hands of EON. When asked by United Artists executive Donald Zec if they had any ideas for their non-Bond film, Harry Saltzman who had previously made The Iron Petticoat with Hope said he had an idea for a Bob Hope movie. Broccoli asked Zec if he had any ideas and Zec replied that he had seen a British rock and roll group called The Beatles that had sellout crowds and thought about featuring them in a film. Saltzman laughed and asked why he would want to make a film about four young long-haired kids from Liverpool when he had Bob Hope. United Artists made the Beatles film with Walter Shenson and A Hard Day's Night was more successful than Call Me Bwana.
Edie Adams thought that she was actually going to Africa and had her painful inoculations. She remembered that the film seemed to be written as it went along; initially her character was a nuclear scientist, then a big game hunter.[2] One day on the set she met a stuntwoman dressed like her character throwing a male stuntman in a jiu jitsu throw; Adams realised that now her character was a secret agent. Adams original role was given to Anita Ekberg but as Hope had promised her a role the film was rewritten for a new female character.[3]Paul Jarrico made revisions to the script[4]
Art directorSyd Cain recalled that originally wild African animals from British zoos were to be released onto the golf course sequence during the filming but the idea was shelved when they caused expensive damage.[5]
The film was scored by Monty Norman. John Barry claimed that Norman contacted him to orchestrate his theme The Big Safari for the film[6] but the film's orchestration was eventually credited to Muir Mathieson. Barry released a recording of The Big Safari as well as another United Artists comedy The Mouse on the Moon under a psudonym of "The Countdowns".[7] Bob Hope sang a the title song over the end credits.[8]
An advertisement for this film appears on an exterior wall in Istanbul in the film From Russia with Love. After helping shoot a man who had just crawled out of a hole in the wall ad (concealed in Ekberg's face), Bond (Sean Connery) remarks, "She should've kept her mouth shut."
When meeting golfer Arnold Palmer, Palmer relates the fact that his golf clubs were owned by a former friend of Bob's. Bob dumps the golf clubs on the ground and sees they're bent. He then says the line, "Yep...those are Crosby's all right."
During a scene of Hope's Land Rover's tyres being punctured by darts, a stage hand wearing a white shirt can be seen gesturing behind indoor studio foilage.
